Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

"... the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become. Indeed, the roots of which of much of what distinguishes to nation can be found in Franklin: its cracker-barrel humor and wisdom; its technological ingenuity; its pluralistic tolerance; its ability to weave together individualism and community cooperation; its philosophical pragmatism; its celebration of meritocratic mobility; the idealistic streak ingrained in its foreign policy; and the Main Street (or Market Street) virtues that serve as the foundation for its civic values."
From "Benjamin Franklin. An American Life", by Walter Isaacson