William Temple, left, and Tom Whitmore in colonial garb at CPAC. (Photo by Benjamin R. Freed)

OXON HILL, Md. — Most people at the Conservative Political Action Conference dress for the office, dark suits and khaki-and-blazer combinations dominate. Then again, CPAC is the kind of event where plain, wholesome Americanness is encouraged.

But some opt for even more retrograde dress. Standing outside the conference halls of the modern Gaylord Resort and Convention Center is William Temple, up from Brusnwick, Ga., but today he’s playing the role of Button Gwinnett. Just who the hell is Button Gwinnet?

Just the first person to ink his signature on the Declaration of Independence. “If you’ve got something with his name on it, well, you’ve got some money,” says Temple, adopting a lilt meant to evoke the real Gwinnett’s northern English birthplace.

Temple says he’s been dressing up in colonial garb at least twice a month since President Obama took office in 2009 and he started protesting federal income tax collections. “I go around and quote the founders,” he says. Temple is dressed in a black-tri-corner hat, a long green jacket, khaki breeches, and knee-high boots. He’s also carrying a few accessories, such as copper kettle clipped to his waist.

“People think I look like a pirate,” he adds. But, if he’s a pirate, he would have a cutlass, I tell him.

Actually, Temple left his weapons at home this year. At CPACs past, he says he would walk around with a sword and a musket, sometimes attached with a bayonet. And this is when CPAC was held at the Marriott Wardman Park in the District. But those props are verboten this year.

Soon enough, Temple is joined by Tom Whitmore, dressed in a black colonial suit and playing the role of Monticello. Of course, his throwback costume is slightly undone by his clutching a 21st-century coffee cup from the Gaylord.

Whitmore, who lives in Mannassas, Va., says this is his formal wear. Usually, his Jefferson get-up would include a pair of red breeches.

“There’s a formal reception, and this is in place of a tux,” he says. He’s also wearing a name tag that reads “Jack Victory,” a name that would seem more apt for either a porn star or low-rent superhero than a conservative activist. He says he told his organization, the Committee for the Republic, to list a bunch of fake names when applying for CPAC credentials, and that’s what he got.

So, what would Jack Victory’s superpower be? “Convincing the American people to put their social agenda on the back-burner,” Whitmore says, and adopting policies consistent with those held by the signers of the Constitution. In other words, a form of mind control.

“I would call it ‘enlightenment’,” he says.

Temple and Whitmore chat each other up, switching back and forth between their real names and their character names. All the while, people stop to take photos or have their photos taken with the two men.

“There’s an old saying,” Temple begins. “One re-enactor is an oddball. Two re-enactors is a photo shoot.”