The ardent champion of birth control—and of the sexual freedom that came with it.

52 Joseph Smith

The founder of Mormonism, America’s most famous homegrown faith.

53 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Known as “The Great Dissenter,” he wrote Supreme Court opinions that continue to shape American jurisprudence.

54 Bill Gates

The Rockefeller of the Information Age, in business and philanthropy alike.

55 John Quincy Adams

The Monroe Doctrine’s real author, he set nineteenth-century America’s diplomatic course.

56 Horace Mann

His tireless advocacy of universal public schooling earned him the title “The Father of American Education.”

57 Robert E. Lee

He was a good general but a better symbol, embodying conciliation in defeat.

58 John C. Calhoun

The voice of the antebellum South, he was slavery’s most ardent defender.

59 Louis Sullivan

The father of architectural modernism, he shaped the defining American building: the skyscraper.

60 William Faulkner

The most gifted chronicler of America’s tormented and fascinating South.

61 Samuel Gompers

The country’s greatest labor organizer, he made the golden age of unions possible.