Edward Gray

Thomas Jefferson praised Tom Paine as the greatest political writer of the age. The author of "Common Sense" and Rights of Man, Paine helped make revolutions in America and France. But beyond his inspiring calls to action, Paine harbored a deeper political vision for his adopted country. It was embodied in an architectural project that he spent decades planning: an iron bridge to span the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia. The bridge was Paine's answer...

Young minister Charles Loring Brace founded the Children's Aid Society, sending orphans west to begin new lives with farm families. Until 1929, Brace's Society and other charities sent more than 150,000 neglected children by train to 47 states.