Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
It is easy to fall into the habit of thinking that the Founding Fathers brought about the American Revolution and then faded into some sort of oblivion. Oil reflection, however, we realize that all of them were human beings faced with the need to earn a livelihood even after the glory days.
Benjamin Franklin returned from his post as Ambassador to France and opened a printing shop. Thomas Jefferson took time off from his meticulous architectural drafting to become Secretary of State. George Washington managed a plantation and, in 1785, became president of a company that sought to make the Potomac River navigable.

