Trivia: Which founder called the bald eagle a “bird of bad moral character”?
Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
George Washington
Benjamin Franklin
The correct answer is Benjamin Franklin
So why is this answer correct? : In 1784 Ben Franklin wrote to his daughter, “For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly.” The turkey, Franklin said, “was a much more respectable Bird.” But Franklin was a well-known jokester, and historians believe he was actually making fun of the seal of a club called the Society of the Cincinnati, which featured a bald eagle, but looked more like a turkey.