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The Founding Fathers of the United States, or simply the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, led the war for independence from Great Britain, and built a frame of government for the new United States of America during the later decades of the 18th century.[2]
In identifying founders, most historians agree on a select set of "greats", such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.[3] Signers of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution are also widely credited with the nation's founding, while many scholars include all delegates to the Constitutional Convention—referred to as framers—whether they signed or not.[4][5] In addition, some historians recognize signers of the Articles of Confederation, which was adopted as the nation's first constitution in 1781.[6]
Beyond this, opinions vary widely: there is no definitive list of founding fathers.[7][8][9][10] For the most part, the criteria are a matter of scholarly debate, with historians singling out leaders in the Continental Congress, top military officers during the Revolutionary War, participants in key events preceding the war, prominent writers and orators, and other contributors to the American cause from the 1770s through the start of the 1800s, including both men and women.[11][12][13]
Terminology
The terms fathers, forefathers, and founders were used in political speeches throughout the 1800s.[11] In his second inaugural address in 1805, Thomas Jefferson referred to those who first came to the New World as "forefathers".[14] Twenty years later, at his 1825 inaugural, John Quincy Adams called the Constitution "the work of our forefathers" and expressed his gratitude to "founders of the Union".[15] In July of the following year, Adams, in an executive order upon the deaths of his father John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, paid tribute to the two as both "Fathers" and "Founders of the Republic".[16] Use of these terms continued throughout the 19th century, from the inaugurals of Martin Van Buren in 1837 and James Polk in 1845 to Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union speech in 1860 and Gettysburg Address in 1863 through William McKinley's first inaugural in 1897.[17][18][19][20]
In 1902, constitutional lawyer and later congressman James M. Beck delivered an address titled "Founders of the Republic" on the 100th anniversary of George Washington's Birthday, connecting the concepts of founders and fathers: "It is well for us to remember certain human aspects of the founders of the republic. Let me first refer to the fact that these fathers of the republic were for the most part young men." Besides Washington, Beck included Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Marshall in his pantheon of founders. He also credited the 51 members of the Continental Congress who adopted the Declaration of Independence, mentioned John Hancock, Josiah Quincy, and Joseph Warren for their connections with the Boston Tea Party, and singled out Revolutionary War leaders such as Nathanael Greene, Henry Knox, John Paul Jones, and "Mad Anthony" Wayne.[13]
The phrase Founding Fathers, which combines founders and fathers, was first coined by Senator Warren G. Harding in his keynote speech at the Republican National Convention in 1916.[21] Harding repeated the phrase at his own inauguration in 1921.[22] While presidents and others would use the terms founders and fathers in their speeches throughout the 20th century, it would be another sixty years before one would use Harding's phrase during the inaugural ceremonies. Ronald Reagan referred to "Founding Fathers" at both his first inauguration in 1981 and his second in 1985.[23][24] Meanwhile, the term Founding Fathers has been widely used in histories on the founding era, beginning with Kenneth Bernard Umbreit's Founding Fathers: Men who Shaped Our Tradition in 1941.[25][11]
Key founding fathers
Historian Richard B. Morris identified seven figures as key Founding Fathers in his 1973 book Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries. His selections, based on what Morris called the "triple tests" of leadership, longevity, and statesmanship, included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.[26]
Morris's selection of seven "greats" has become widely accepted.[27][11] Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin were members of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay were authors of The Federalist Papers, advocating ratification of the Constitution. The constitutions drafted by Jay and Adams for their respective states of New York (1777) and Massachusetts (1780) were heavily relied upon when creating language for the U.S. Constitution.[28][29][30] Jay, Adams, and Franklin negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that brought an end to the American Revolutionary War.[31] Washington was Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and later president of the Constitutional Convention. All held additional important roles in the early government of the United States, with Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison serving as president, Adams and Jefferson as vice president, Jay as the nation's first chief justice, Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury, Jefferson and Madison as Secretary of State, and Franklin as America's most senior diplomat and later governor of Pennsylvania.
Framers and signers of founding documents
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The National Archives has identified three founding documents as the "Charters of Freedom": Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, and Bill of Rights. According to the Archives, these documents "have secured the rights of the American people for more than two and a quarter centuries and are considered instrumental to the founding and philosophy of the United States."[32] In addition, as the nation's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union has also gained acceptance as a founding document.[33][34]
As a result, signers of the following documents are widely considered Founding Fathers of the United States: Declaration of Independence (DI),[4] Articles of Confederation (AC),[6] and U.S. Constitution (USC).[5] The following table provides a list of these founders, some of whom signed more than one document.
Notes:
- ^ Morris signed two of the documents, one as a delegate from New York, and one as a delegate from Pennsylvania.
Delegates who did not sign the U.S. Constitution
In addition to recognizing 39 signers of the U.S. Constitution, some sources also consider those who helped write the document but did not sign it to be founders.[5] The following list includes the 16 framers who participated in the Constitutional Convention but for one reason or another did not sign the document presented to the Confederation Congress for adoption by the states:[35][36]
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Additional founders
In addition to the signers of the founding documents and the seven "greats" previously mentioned - Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, Jay, Jefferson, Madison, and Washington - the following are regarded as founders based on their contributions to the birth and early development of the new nation:
- Abigail Adams, wife, confidant, and advisor to John Adams, as well as second First Lady and mother of president John Quincy Adams.[37][38][39]
- Ethan Allen, military leader and founder of Vermont.[40][37]
- Crispus Attucks, believed to be of Native American and African descent, the first person killed in the Boston Massacre of 1770 and thus the first to die in the American Revolution.[41]
- George Clinton, first governor of New York, 1777—1795, and fourth vice president of the U.S., 1805—1812.[42]
- Patrick Henry, gifted orator; served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, first and sixth governor of Virginia, 1776—1779 and 1784—1786.[43]
- Henry Knox, chief artillery officer in the Continental Army in most of Washington's campaigns, later to become the first Secretary of War under the U.S. Constitution in 1789.[13]
- Robert R. Livingston, member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, 1776; first U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 1781—1783, and first Chancellor of New York, 1777—1801.[44][45]
- Dolley Madison, wife of the fourth U.S. president James Madison, regarded as the most important First Lady of the 19th century, 1809—1817.[46][47][48]
- John Marshall, fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1801—1835.[37][49]
- James Monroe, fifth president of the United States, 1817—1825.[50]
- Thomas Paine, author of influential pamphlets in the 1770s; sometimes referred to as "Father of the American Revolution".[37][51][52]
- Peyton Randolph, Virginia delegate to the First Continental Congress, where he served as the Congress's first president.[53]
- Paul Revere, silversmith, member of the Sons of Liberty which staged the Boston Tea Party, and one of two horsemen in the midnight ride[54][37]
- Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress from its formation to its final session, 1774—1789.[55]
- Mercy Otis Warren, poet, playwright and pamphleteer during the American Revolution.[37][56]
- "Mad Anthony" Wayne, a prominent army general during the Revolutionary War.[57][37]
Period of significance
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The First Continental Congress met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September and October 1774. The assembly consisted of 56 delegates from twelve of the thirteen American colonies with Georgia declining to participate because it needed British military support against Indian attacks.[58] Among the delegates was George Washington, who would soon be drawn out of military retirement to command the Continental Army with the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and Peyton Randolph who was unanimously elected its first president.[59] Also in attendance were Patrick Henry and John Adams, who, like all delegates, were elected by their respective colonial assemblies. Other notable delegates included Samuel Adams from Massachusetts, John Dickinson from Pennsylvania, and New York's John Jay. In addition to formulating appeals to the British Crown, the Congress passed the Continental Association, which mandated a colony-wide boycott of British goods.
When the Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, it essentially reconstituted the First Congress. Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting participated in the second.[60] New arrivals included Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, John Hancock of Massachusetts, John Witherspoon of New Jersey, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton of Maryland. Hancock was elected Congress president two weeks into the session when Peyton Randolph was recalled to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses. Thomas Jefferson replaced Randolph in the Virginia congressional delegation.[61] The second Congress declared independence from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, and two days later, on July 4, adopted the Declaration of Independence.[62] The name "United States of America", which first appeared on the Declaration, was formally adopted by the Congress on September 9, 1776.[63]
The newly founded country needed a new government to replace the one created by the British Parliament. In 1778, the Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, a constitution establishing a national government with a one-house legislature. Its ratification by all thirteen colonies gave the second Congress a new name: the Congress of the Confederation, which met from 1781 to 1789.[64] The Constitutional Convention took place during the summer of 1787, in Philadelphia.[65] Although the convention was called to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset for some including James Madison and Alexander Hamilton was to create a new frame of government rather than amending the existing one. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the convention because he had earned all of their trust.[66] The result of the convention was the United States Constitution and the replacement of the Continental Congress with the United States Congress. After the Constitution had been adopted Madison maintained that it was Washington's influence that brought overall acceptance of the Constitution.[67]
Social background and commonalities
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The Founding Fathers represented a cross-section of the 18th-century U.S. population, all were males, non-Hispanic whites of Western European (English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, Dutch) ancestry. All were Christian or deists, Charles and David Carroll among the few Catholics. Some were leaders in their communities; several were also prominent in national affairs. At least 29 members of the Constitutional Convention had served in the Continental Army, some in positions of command.[68][69][70]
Education
Many of the Founding Fathers attended or graduated from the colonial colleges, most notably Columbia (known at the time as "King's College"), Princeton originally known as "The College of New Jersey", Harvard, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, and the College of William and Mary. Some had previously been home schooled or obtained early instruction from private tutors or academies.[68][71] Others had studied abroad. Ironically, Franklin who had little formal education, would ultimately establish the College of Philadelphia (1755) and earned an international reputation in science; "Penn" would have the first medical school (1765) in the thirteen colonies where another Founder, Rush, would eventually teach.
With a limited number of professional schools established in the colonies, Founders also sought advanced degrees from traditional institutions in Scotland, including University of Edinburgh, University of St Andrews, and University of Glasgow.
Colleges attended
- College of William and Mary: Jefferson, Harrison[72]
- Harvard College: John Adams, Samuel Adams, Hancock and William Williams
- King's College (now Columbia): Jay, Hamilton,[73] Gouverneur Morris, Robert Livingston and Egbert Benson.[74]
- College of New Jersey (now Princeton): Madison, Bedford, Rush, and Paterson
- College of Philadelphia, later merged into the University of Pennsylvania: eight signers of the Declaration of Independence and twelve signers of the U.S. Constitution[75]
- Yale College: Wolcott and Andrew Adams
- James Wilson attended the University of St Andrews and the University of Glasgow[76]
Advanced degrees and apprenticeships
Doctors of Medicine
- University of Edinburgh: Rush [77]
- University of Utrecht, Netherlands: Hugh Williamson
Theology
- University of Edinburgh: Witherspoon (attended, no degree)
- University of St Andrews: Witherspoon (honorary doctorate)
Legal apprenticeships
Several like Jay, Wilson, John Williams and Wythe[78] were trained as lawyers through apprenticeships in the colonies while a few trained at the Inns of Court in London. Charles Carroll earned his law degree at Temple in London.
Self-taught or little formal education
Franklin, Washington, John Williams and Wisner had little formal education and were largely self-taught or learned through apprenticeship.
Demographics
The great majority were born in the Thirteen Colonies, but eighteen were born in other parts of the British Empire:
- England: Robert Morris, Banister, Duer, Jackson, and Gwinnett
- Ireland: James Smith, Butler, Fitzsimons, McHenry, Taylor, Thomson, Thornton, and Paterson
- West Indies: Hamilton and Roberdeau
- Scotland: Wilson, Telfair, and Witherspoon
Many of them had moved from one colony to another. Eighteen had lived, studied or worked in more than one colony: Baldwin, Bassett, Bedford, Dickinson, Few, Franklin, Ingersoll, Hamilton, Livingston, Martin, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, Read, Sherman, and Williamson. Several others had studied or traveled abroad.
Occupations
The Founding Fathers practiced a wide range of high and middle-status occupations, and many pursued more than one career simultaneously. They did not differ dramatically from the Loyalists, except they were generally younger and less senior in their professions.[79]
- As many as 35 including Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Jay were trained as lawyers though not all of them practiced law. Some had also been local judges.[68]
- Washington trained as a land surveyor before he became colonel of the Virginia Regiment.
- At the time of the convention, 13 men were merchants: Blount, Broom, Clymer, Dayton, Fitzsimons, Gilman, Gorham, Langdon, Robert Morris, Pierce, Sherman, and Wilson.
- Broom and Few were small farmers.
- Franklin, McHenry and Mifflin had retired from active economic endeavors.
- Franklin and Williamson were scientists, in addition to their other activities.
- McHenry, Rush and Williamson were physicians.
- William Samuel Johnson and Witherspoon were college presidents.
Finances
A few of them were wealthy or had financial resources that ranged from good to excellent, but there are other founders who were less than wealthy. On the whole they were less wealthy than the Loyalists.[79]
- Seven were major land speculators: Blount, Dayton, Fitzsimmons, Gorham, Robert Morris, Washington, and Wilson.
- Eleven speculated in securities on a large scale: Bedford, Blair, Clymer, Dayton, Fitzsimons, Franklin, King, Langdon, Robert Morris, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Sherman.
- Many derived income from plantations or large farms which they owned or managed, which relied upon the labor of enslaved men and women particularly in the Southern colonies: Bassett, Blair, Blount, Butler, Charles Carroll, Davie,[80] Jefferson, Jenifer, Johnson, Madison, Mason, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Rutledge, Spaight, and Washington.
- Eight of the men received a substantial part of their income from public office: Baldwin, Blair, Brearly, Gilman, Livingston, Madison, and Rutledge.
Prior political experience
Several of the Founding Fathers had extensive national, state, local and foreign political experience prior to the adoption of the Constitution in 1787. Some had been diplomats. Several had been members of the Continental Congress.
- Franklin began his political career as a city councilman and then Justice of the Peace in Philadelphia. He was then elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly and was sent to London as a colonial agent which helped hone his diplomatic skills.
- Jefferson, Adams, Jay and Franklin all acquired significant political experience as ministers to countries in Europe.
- Adams and Jay drafted the constitutions of their respective states, Massachusetts and New York, and successfully navigated them through to adoption.
- Jay, Mifflin and Gorham had served as president of the Continental Congress.
- Gouverneur Morris had been a member of the New York Provincial Congress.
- Dickinson, Franklin, Langdon, and Rutledge had been governors or presidents of their states.
- Robert Morris had been a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly and president of Pennsylvania's Committee of Safety. He was also a member of the Committee of Secret Correspondence.
- Sherman had served in the Connecticut House of Representatives.
- Gerry was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.
- Daniel Carroll served in the Maryland Senate.
- Wythe had served as a member of Virginia's House of Burgesses.
- Read was a commissioner of Charlestown, Maryland.
- Clymer was a member of the Philadelphia Committee of Safety and the Continental Congress.
Nearly all of the Founding Fathers had some experience in colonial and state government, and the majority had held county and local offices.[81] Those who lacked national congressional experience were Bassett, Blair, Brearly, Broom, Davie, Dayton, Martin, Mason, McClurg, Paterson, Charles Pinckney, and Strong.
Religion
Of the 55 delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, 28 were Anglicans (i.e. Church of England; or Episcopalian, after the American Revolutionary War was won), 21 were other Protestant, and two were Roman Catholic (Daniel Carroll and Fitzsimons; Charles Carroll was Roman Catholic but was not a Constitution signatory).[82] Among the Protestant delegates to the Constitutional Convention, eight were Presbyterians, seven were Congregationalists, two were Lutherans, two were Dutch Reformed, and two were Methodists.[82] A few prominent Founding Fathers were anti-clerical, notably Jefferson.[83][84] Historian Gregg L. Frazer argues that the leading Founders (John Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Wilson, Morris, Madison, Hamilton, and Washington) were neither Christians nor Deists, but rather supporters of a hybrid "theistic rationalism".[85] Many Founders deliberately avoided public discussion of their faith. Historian David L. Holmes uses evidence gleaned from letters, government documents, and second-hand accounts to identify their religious beliefs.[86]
Slavery
The Founding Fathers were not unified on the issue of slavery. Many of them were opposed to it and repeatedly attempted to end slavery in many of the colonies, but predicted that the issue would threaten to tear the country apart and had limited power to deal with it. In her study of Jefferson, historian Annette Gordon-Reed discusses this topic, "Others of the founders held slaves, but no other founder drafted the charter for freedom".[87] In addition to Jefferson, Washington and many other of the Founding Fathers were slaveowners, but some were also conflicted by the institution, seeing it as immoral and politically divisive; Washington gradually became a cautious supporter of abolitionism and freed his slaves in his will. Jay and Hamilton led the successful fight to outlaw the slave trade in New York, with the efforts beginning as early as 1777.[88][89] Conversely, many Founders such as Samuel Adams and John Adams were against slavery their entire lives. Rush wrote a pamphlet in 1773 which criticizes the slave trade as well as the institution of slavery. In the pamphlet, Rush argues on a scientific basis that Africans are not by nature intellectually or morally inferior, and that any apparent evidence to the contrary is only the "perverted expression" of slavery, which "is so foreign to the human mind, that the moral faculties, as well as those of the understanding are debased, and rendered torpid by it." The Continental Association contained a clause which banned any Patriot involvement in slave trading.[90][91][92][93]
Franklin, though he was a key founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society,[94] originally owned slaves whom he later manumitted (released from slavery). While serving in the Rhode Island Assembly, in 1769 Hopkins introduced one of the earliest anti-slavery laws in the colonies. When Jefferson entered public life as a young member of the House of Burgesses, he began his career as a social reformer by an effort to secure legislation permitting the emancipation of slaves. Jay founded the New York Manumission Society in 1785, for which Hamilton became an officer. They and other members of the Society founded the African Free School in New York City, to educate the children of free blacks and slaves. When Jay was governor of New York in 1798, he helped secure and signed into law an abolition law; fully ending forced labor as of 1827. He freed his own slaves in 1798. Hamilton opposed slavery, as his experiences in life left him very familiar with slavery and its effect on slaves and on slaveholders,[95] although he did negotiate slave transactions for his wife's family, the Schuylers.[96] Many of the Founding Fathers never owned slaves, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Paine.[97]
Slaves and slavery are mentioned only indirectly in the 1787 Constitution. For example, Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 prescribes that "three-fifths of all other Persons" are to be counted for the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives and direct taxes. Additionally, in Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3, slaves are referred to as "persons held in service or labor".[94][98] The Founding Fathers, however, did make important efforts to contain slavery. Many Northern states had adopted legislation to end or significantly reduce slavery during and after the American Revolution.[98] In 1782, Virginia passed a manumission law that allowed slave owners to free their slaves by will or deed.[99] As a result, thousands of slaves were manumitted in Virginia.[99] In the Ordinance of 1784, Jefferson proposed to ban slavery in all the western territories, which failed to pass Congress by one vote. Partially following Jefferson's plan, Congress did ban slavery in the Northwest Ordinance, for lands north of the Ohio River. The international slave trade was banned in all states except South Carolina by 1800. Finally in 1807, President Jefferson called for and signed into law a federally enforced ban on the international slave trade throughout the U.S. and its territories. It became a federal crime to import or export a slave. However, the domestic slave trade was allowed for expansion or for diffusion of slavery into the Louisiana Territory.[98]
Attendance at conventions
In the winter and spring of 1786–1787, twelve of the thirteen states chose a total of 74 delegates to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Nineteen delegates chose not to accept election or attend the debates. Among them was Henry, who in response to questions about his refusal to attend was quick to reply, "I smelled a rat." He believed that the frame of government the convention organizers were intent on building would trample upon the rights of citizens.[100] Also, Rhode Island's lack of representation at the convention was the result of suspicions of the convention delegates' motivations. As the colony was founded by Roger Williams as a sanctuary for Baptists, Rhode Island's absence at the convention in part explains the absence of Baptist affiliation among those who did attend. Of the 55 who did attend at some point, no more than 38 delegates showed up at one time.[101]
Spouses and children
Only four (Baldwin, Gilman, Jenifer, and Martin) were lifelong bachelors. Many of the Founding Fathers' wives, such as Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Sarah Livingston Jay, Dolley Madison, Mary White Morris and Catherine Alexander Duer, were strong women who made significant contributions of their own to the fight for liberty.[102] Sherman fathered the largest family: 15 children by two wives. At least nine (Bassett, Brearly, Johnson, Mason, Paterson, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Sherman, Wilson, and Wythe) married more than once. Washington, who became known as "The Father of His Country",[103] had no biological children, though he and his wife raised two children from her first marriage and two grandchildren.
Post-constitution life
Subsequent events in the lives of the Founding Fathers after the adoption of the Constitution were characterized by success or failure, reflecting the abilities of these men as well as the vagaries of fate.[104] Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe served in the highest U.S. office of president. Jay was appointed as the first chief justice of the United States and later was elected to two terms as governor of New York. Hamilton was appointed the first Secretary of the Treasury in 1789, and later Inspector General of the Army under President John Adams in 1798.
Seven (Fitzsimons, Gorham, Luther Martin, Mifflin, Robert Morris, Pierce, and Wilson) suffered serious financial reversals that left them in or near bankruptcy. Robert Morris spent three of the last years of his life imprisoned following bad land deals.[102] Two, Blount and Dayton, were involved in possibly treasonous activities. Yet, as they had done before the convention, most of the group continued to render public service, particularly to the new government they had helped to create.
Many of the Founding Fathers were under 40 years old at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776: Hamilton was 21 and Gouverneur Morris was 24. The oldest was Franklin at 70.[105] A few Founding Fathers lived into their nineties, including: Charles Carroll, who died at age 95; Thomson, who died at 94; William Samuel Johnson, who died at 92; and John Adams, who died at 90. The last remaining Founders, also poetically called the "Last of the Romans", lived well into the 19th century.[106] The last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence was Charles Carroll, who died in 1832.[107] The last surviving member of the Continental Congress was John Armstrong Jr., who died in 1843.[108] Three (Hamilton, Spaight, and Gwinnett) were killed in duels. Adams and Jefferson died on the same day, July 4, 1826.[109]
Legacy and cultural impact
Institutions formed by founders
Several Founding Fathers were instrumental in establishing schools and societal institutions that still exist today:
- Franklin founded the University of Pennsylvania, while Jefferson founded the University of Virginia.
- Washington supported the founding of Washington College by consenting to have the "College at Chester" named in his honor, through generous financial support, and through service on the college's Board of Visitors and Governors.
- Rush founded Dickinson College and Franklin College, (today Franklin & Marshall College) as well as the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest medical society in America.
- Hamilton founded the New York Post, The Bank of New York, Hamilton-Oneida Academy (now Hamilton College), as well as what would become the United States Coast Guard.
Founding Fathers on current U.S. currency
Four U.S. Founders are currently minted on American currency — Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington; Washington appears on three different denominations and Jefferson appears on two.
Founding Father name | Currency image | Denomination |
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Benjamin Franklin | ![]() |
One hundred dollars $100 |
Alexander Hamilton | ![]() |
Ten dollars $10 |
Thomas Jefferson | ![]() |
Five cents (nickel) 5¢ |
Thomas Jefferson | ![]() |
Two dollars $2 |
George Washington | ![]() |
Quarter dollar (quarter) 25¢ |
George Washington | ![]() |
Dollar coin $1 |
George Washington | ![]() |
One dollar $1 |
In stage and film
The Founding Fathers were portrayed in the Tony Award–winning 1969 musical 1776, which depicted the debates over, and eventual adoption of, the Declaration of Independence. The stage production was adapted into the 1972 film of the same name. The 1989 film A More Perfect Union, which was filmed on location in Independence Hall, depicts the events of the Constitutional Convention. The writing and passing of the founding documents are depicted in the 1997 documentary miniseries Liberty!, and the passage of the Declaration of Independence is portrayed in the second episode of the 2008 miniseries John Adams and the third episode of the 2015 miniseries Sons of Liberty. The Founders also feature in the 1986 miniseries George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation, the 2002-03 animated television series Liberty's Kids, the 2020 miniseries Washington, and in many other films and television portrayals.
Several Founding Fathers—Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison—were reimagined in Hamilton, a 2015 musical inspired by Ron Chernow's 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton, with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The musical won eleven Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[110]
Scholarship on the founders
Several of the earliest histories of America's founding and its founders were written by Jeremy Belknap, William Gordon, David Ramsay, and Mercy Otis Warren.[2]
Modern historians who focus on the Founding Fathers
Articles and books by 21st-century historians combined with the digitization of primary sources like handwritten letters continue to contribute to an encyclopedic body of knowledge about the Founding Fathers.
Ron Chernow won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2010 biography of Washington. His 2004 bestselling book Alexander Hamilton inspired the 2015 blockbuster musical of the same name.
According to Joseph Ellis, the concept of the Founding Fathers of the U.S. emerged in the 1820s as the last survivors died out. Ellis says "the founders", or "the fathers", comprised an aggregate of semi-sacred figures whose particular accomplishments and singular achievements were decidedly less important than their sheer presence as a powerful but faceless symbol of past greatness. For the generation of national leaders coming of age in the 1820s and 1830s – men like Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun – "the founders" represented a heroic but anonymous abstraction whose long shadow fell across all followers and whose legendary accomplishments defied comparison.
We can win no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are there places for us ... [as] the founders of states. Our fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation.
Daniel Webster, 1825.[111]
Joanne B. Freeman's area of expertise is the life and legacy of Hamilton as well as political culture of the revolutionary and early national eras.[112][113][114] Freeman has documented the often opposing visions of the Founding Fathers as they tried to build a new framework for governance, "Regional distrust, personal animosity, accusation, suspicion, implication, and denouncement—this was the tenor of national politics from the outset."[115]
Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian and Harvard Law School professor. She is noted for changing scholarship on Jefferson regarding his relationship with Sally Hemings and her children. She has studied the challenges faced by the Founding Fathers particularly as it relates to their position and actions on slavery. She points out "the central dilemma at the heart of American democracy: the desire to create a society based on liberty and equality" that yet does not extend those privileges to all."[87]
David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning 2001 book, John Adams., focuses on the Founding Father, and his 2005 book, 1776, details Washington's military history in the American Revolution and other independence events carried out by America's founders.
Both Peter S. Onuf and Jack N. Rakove researched Jefferson extensively.
Noted collections of the Founding Fathers
- Adams Papers Editorial Project
- Founders Online – a searchable database of over 178,000 documents authored by or addressed to George Washington, John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.
- The Papers of Alexander Hamilton
- The Selected Papers of John Jay at Columbia University
- The Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University
- The Papers of James Madison at University of Virginia
- The Washington Papers at University of Virginia
- The Franklin Papers at Yale University
Presidents of the United States
The first five U.S. presidents are regarded as Founding Fathers because of their active participation in the American Revolution[citation needed]: Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. They all previously served as delegates in the Continental Congress.
George Washington served as delegate from Virginia in 1774-1775.
John Adams served as delegate from Massachusetts in 1774-1777.
Thomas Jefferson served as delegate from Virginia in 1775-1776 and 1783-1784.
James Madison served as delegate from Virginia in 1780-1783 and 1787-1788.
James Monroe served as delegate from Virginia in 1783-1786.
Other notable patriots of the period
The following men and women also advanced the new nation through their actions.
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220712232244im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Abigail_Adams.jpg/170px-Abigail_Adams.jpg)
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220712232244im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/George_Mason.jpg/170px-George_Mason.jpg)
- Richard Allen, African-American bishop, founder of the Free African Society and the A.M.E. Church[116]
- John Bartram, botanist, horticulturist, and explorer[117]
- Israel Bissell, a patriot post rider in Massachusetts who rode the news to Philadelphia of the British attack on Lexington and Concord.
- Elias Boudinot, New Jersey delegate to Continental Congress[118]
- Aaron Burr, vice president under Jefferson[119]
- Cato, a Black Patriot and slave who served as a spy alongside his enslaver, Hercules Mulligan. Cato carried intelligence gathered by Mulligan to officers in the Continental Army and other revolutionaries, including through British-held territory, which was credited for likely saving George Washington's life on at least two occasions. He was granted freedom in 1778 for his service.
- Angelica Schuyler Church, sister-in-law of Alexander Hamilton, corresponded with many of the leading Founding Fathers
- George Rogers Clark, army general,[57] nicknamed "Conqueror of the Old Northwest".
- Tench Coxe, economist in the Continental Congress[120]
- Albert Gallatin, politician and treasury secretary[121]
- Horatio Gates, army general[57]
- Nathanael Greene, Revolutionary War general; commanded the southern theater[57]
- Nathan Hale, captured U.S. soldier executed in 1776[122]
- Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton[123][124]
- Esek Hopkins, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy
- James Iredell, essayist for independence and advocate for the constitution, one of the first Supreme Court justices[37]
- John Paul Jones, navy captain[57]
- Tadeusz Kościuszko, American general, former Polish army general[121]
- Bernardo de Galvez, Spanish military, governor gof Spanish Louisiana.
- Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French Marquis who became a Continental Army general[125]
- John Laurance, New York politician and judge who served as judge advocate general during the Revolution.[126]
- Henry Lee III, army officer and Virginia governor[57]
- William Maclay, Pennsylvania politician and U.S. senator[37]
- Philip Mazzei, Italian physician, merchant, and author[127]
- Daniel Morgan, military leader and Virginia congressman[57]
- Hercules Mulligan, Irish-American tailor and spy, member of the Sons of Liberty
- Samuel Nicholas, commander-in-chief of the Continental Marines
- James Otis Jr., Massachusetts lawyer and politician[128]
- Andrew Pickens, army general and South Carolina congressman[57]
- Timothy Pickering, U.S. secretary of state, from Massachusetts[129]
- Oliver Pollock (1737-1823, a merchant, diplomat, and financier of the American Revolutionary War
- Israel Putnam, army general[130]
- Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French army general[121]
- John Rogers, Maryland lawyer and judge, delegate to the Continental Congress who voted for the Declaration of Independence but fell ill before he could sign it.
- Philip Schuyler, Revolutionary War general, U.S. senator from New York, father of the Schuyler sisters.
- Haym Solomon, financier and spy for the Continental Army[131]
- Arthur St. Clair, major general, president of the Confederation Congress, and later first governor of the Northwest Territory
- Thomas Sumter, South Carolina military leader, and member of both houses of Congress[57]
- Richard Varick, private secretary to George Washington, mayor of New York City, second attorney general of New York state, and founder of the American Bible Society
- Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian officer[121]
- Joseph Warren, doctor, revolutionary leader[130]
- Noah Webster, writer, lexicographer, educator[132]
- Thomas Willing, delegate to the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania, the first president of the Bank of North America, and the first president of the First Bank of the United States[133]
See also
- Charters of Freedom
- Father of the Nation
- Founders Online
- History of the United States Constitution
- History of the United States (1776–1789)
- List of military leaders in the American Revolutionary War
- List of national founders
- Rights of Englishmen
- Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
- Signing of the United States Constitution
- Sons of Liberty
- 1776 Commission
- Adams Memorial (proposed)
- Benjamin Franklin National Memorial
- Jefferson Memorial
- George Mason Memorial
- Washington Monument
- Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
References
- ^ Architect of the Capitol
- ^ a b Cooney, 1967 Master of Arts Thesis
- ^ Richard B. Morris, p. 1
- ^ a b "Signers of the Declaration of Independence". archives.gov. National Archives. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ a b c "Meet the Framers of the Constitution". archives.gov. National Archives. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ a b Padover, Saul K. (1958). "The World of the Founding Fathers". Social Research. 25 (2): 191–214. JSTOR 40982556.
- ^ History.com: essay
- ^ All Things Liberty, 2015, essay
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 12
- ^ Uncommon Heroes, p. vii
- ^ a b c d Emily Sneff (December 4, 2016). "December Highlight: Founding Fathers?". harvard.edu. Declaration Resources Project, Harvard University. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ Bernstein, 2009, pp. 6-7
- ^ a b c "Hamilton Club Honors Memory of Washington". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. February 23, 1902. p. 8. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
- ^ Jefferson, Thomas (March 4, 1805). "Thomas Jefferson Second Inaugural Address". avalon.law.yale.edu. The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Adams, John Quincy (March 4, 1805). "Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams". avalon.law.yale.edu. The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ "Executive Order [on the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams]". The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Van Buren, Martin (March 4, 1837). "Martin Van Buren: Inaugural Address". presidency.ucsb.edu. The American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Polk, James (March 4, 1805). "Inaugural Address of James Knox Polk". avalon.law.yale.edu. The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Conant, Sean (2015). The Gettysburg Address: Perspectives on Lincoln's Greatest Speech. New York: Oxford University Press. p. ix. ISBN 978-0-19-022745-6.
- ^ McKinley, William (March 4, 1897). "First Inaugural Address of William McKinley". avalon.law.yale.edu. The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Bernstein, 2009, pp. 3-5
- ^ Harding, Warren G. (March 4, 1921). "Inaugural Address of Warren G. Harding". avalon.law.yale.edu. The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Reagan, Ronald (January 21, 1981). "First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan". avalon.law.yale.edu. The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Reagan, Ronald (January 21, 1985). "Second Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan". avalon.law.yale.edu. The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Umbreit, Kenneth Bernard (1941). Founding Fathers: Men who Shaped Our Tradition. Harper & Brothers. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Richard B. Morris, Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
- ^ Bernstein, 2009, pp. 6-7
- ^ "The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription". archives.gov. National Archives and Records Administration. September 17, 1787. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
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- ^ "America's Founding Documents". US National Archives. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
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- ^ Bellia, Anthony J.; Clark, Bradford R. (May 2020). "The International Law Origins of American Federalism". Columbia Law Review. Columbia Law Review Association, Inc. 120 (4): 835–940. JSTOR 26915803.
- ^ Bernstein, 2009, pp. 177-179
- ^ Bradford, Melvin Eustace (1994). Founding Fathers: Brief Lives of the Framers of the United States Constitution. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. p. 222.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Bernstein, 2009, p. 180
- ^ Michals, PhD, Debra (2015). "Abigail Smith Adams". womenshistory.org. National Women's History Museum. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
- ^ Ellis, Joseph. "John Adams". britannica.com. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
- ^ McWilliams, J. (1976). "The Faces of Ethan Allen: 1760–1860". The New England Quarterly. 49 (2): 257–282. doi:10.2307/364502. JSTOR 364502.
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, pp. 172-173
- ^ Bernstein, 2009, p. 179
- ^ Patrick Henry, history.com, essay
- ^ "The Robert Livingston Papers". gothamcenter.org. The Gotham Center for New York City History. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
- ^ Dangerfield, George (1960). Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746-1813. New York, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
- ^ Founding Mothers, p. 396
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, pp. 159-162
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- ^ "American Founders: K-O". loc.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
- ^ Unger, Harlow (2009). James Monroe: The Last Founding Father. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81808-0.
- ^ "Founding Father Thomas Paine: He Genuinely Abhorred Slavery". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (48): 45. 2005. JSTOR 25073236.
- ^ David Braff (2009). "Forgotten Founding Father: The Impact of Thomas Paine". In Joyce Chumbley (ed.), Thomas Paine: In Search of the Common Good (2009) pp. 39–43
- ^ Ramage, C.J. (1922). "Randolph". The Virginia Law Register. 8 (6): 415–418. doi:10.2307/1105871. JSTOR 1105871.
- ^ "The Founding Fathers". The History Channel. March 23, 2021.
- ^ Bowling, Kenneth R. (1976). "Good-by "Charle": The Lee-Adams Interest and the Political Demise of Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, 1774-1789". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 100 (3): 314–335. JSTOR 20091077.
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, pp. 166-167
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Buchanan, John. "Founding Fighters: The Battlefield Leaders Who Made American Independence (review)". The Journal of Military History (Vol. 71, No. 2, April 2007), pp. 522–524.
- ^ "First Continental Congress". mountvernon.org. George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
- ^ "Peyton Randolph (1721-1775)". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
- ^ Burnett, Continental Congress, 64–67.
- ^ Fowler, Baron of Beacon Hill, 189.
- ^ "Declaration of Independence (1776)". billofrightsinstitute.org. Bill of Rights Institute. July 4, 1776. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
- ^ "Congress Renames the Nation 'United States of America'". history.com. Biography. September 1, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
- ^ "Confederation Congress". Ohio Historical Society. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
- ^ Calvin C. Jillson (2009). American Government: Political Development and Institutional Change (5th ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-203-88702-8.
- ^ Jillson, 2009, p. 42
- ^ McLaughin, 2002, p. 150
- ^ a b c Brown, 1976, pp. 465-480
- ^ Werther, Richard J. (October 24, 2017). "Analyzing the Founders: A Closer Look at the Signers of Four Founding Documents". Journal of the American Revolution. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ also see Martin (1973)
- ^ also see Harris (1969)
- ^ "The Alma Maters of Our Founding Fathers". July 2, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
- ^ Aibgail Forget. "Hamilton and Jay: Get the Low Down on Columbia's Founding Fathers". Columbia Alumni Association. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- ^ "A Brief History of Columbia". Columbia University. 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
- ^ "Penn Signers of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence". Archives.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
- ^ "The University of Glasgow Story James Wilson". Retrieved March 26, 2018.
- ^ "Benjamin Rush (1746–1813)". Penn University Archives and Records Center. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ^ "George Wythe". Colonial Williamsburg. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ^ a b Greene (1973).
- ^ William R. Davie, Blackwell P. Robinson. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1957.
- ^ Martin (1973); Greene (1973)
- ^ a b Lambert, Franklin T. (2003). The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press (published 2006). ISBN 978-0691126029.
- ^ Onuf, 2007, pp. 139-168
- ^ Letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814. "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."
- ^ Frazer, Gregg L. (2012). The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders: Reason, Revelation, and Revolution. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0700620210.
- ^ David L. Holmes in The Faiths of the Founding Fathers (Oxford University Press, 2006)
- ^ a b Annette Gordon-Reed, Engaging Jefferson: Blacks and the Founding Father, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Jan. 2000), pp. 171–182
- ^ "The Founders and Slavery: John Jay Saves the Day". The Economist. July 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
- ^ The Selected Papers of John Jay. Columbia University.
- ^ Notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts, by George Henry Moore (author)
- ^ James A. Rawley and Stephen D. Behrendt, The Transatlantic Slave Trade: A History (2008)
- ^ Thomas N. Ingersoll, The Loyalist Problem in Revolutionary New England (2016)
- ^ Dolbeare, Kenneth M.; Cummings, Michael S. (2010). American political thought (6 ed.). p. 44.
- ^ a b Wright, William D. (2002). Critical Reflections on Black History. West Port, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. p. 125.
- ^ Horton, James O. (2004). "Alexander Hamilton: Slavery and Race in a Revolutionary Generation". New York Journal of American History. 91 (3): 1151–1152. doi:10.2307/3663046. JSTOR 3663046. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
- ^ Magness, Phillip. "Alexander Hamilton's Exaggerated Abolitionism". Retrieved April 6, 2017.
- ^ "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ^ a b c Freehling, 1972, p. 85
- ^ a b The Cambridge History of Law in America. 2008. p. 278.
- ^ Williams, J. D. (Summer 1987). "The Summer of 1787: Getting a Constitution". Brigham Young University Studies. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University. 27 (3): 67–89. JSTOR 43041299.
- ^ See the discussion of the Convention in Clinton L. Rossiter, 1787: The Grand Convention (New York: Macmillan, 1966; reprint ed., with new foreword by Richard B. Morris, New York: W. W. Norton, 1987).
- ^ a b Griswald, 1855
- ^ George Washington's Mount Vernon. "Father of His Country". Retrieved April 6, 2017.
- ^ Martin (1973)
- ^ Andrlik, Todd (August 20, 2013). "How Old Were the Leaders of the American Revolution on July 4, 1776?".
- ^ Elizabeth Fox-Genovese; Eugene D. Genovese (2005). The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders' Worldview. Cambridge University Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-0521850650.
- ^ Hallac, Joanna (March 16, 2012). "Irish Americans in the U.S. Congress". Washington, D.C.: U.S. Capitol Historical Society. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ "John Armstrong, Jr. Passes Away". Today in Masonic History, masonrytoday.com. April 1, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ History. "Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Die".
- ^ Robert Viagas (June 13, 2016). "Hamilton Tops Tony Awards With 11 Wins". Playbill. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ^ Joseph J. Ellis; Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. (2001) p. 214.
- ^ Jennifer Schuessler (January 9, 2017). "Up From the Family Basement, a Little-Seen Hamilton Trove". The New York Times.
- ^ Joanne B. Freeman (August 4, 2015). "The Long History of Political Idiocy". The New York Times.
- ^ Joanne B. Freeman (November 11, 2015). "How Hamilton Uses History: What Lin-Manuel Miranda Included in His Portrait of a Heroic, Complicated Founding Father—and What He Left Out". Slate. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ^ Chris Bray (July 6, 2014). "Tip and Gip Sip and Quip-The politics of never". The Baffler. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
- ^ Newman, Richard. Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers (NYU Press, 2009).
- ^ Goodall, Jane (2013). Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants. Grand Central Publishing. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-1-4555-1321-5.
- ^ Holmes, David (2006). The Faiths of the Founding Fathers. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Wood, Gordon S. (2007). Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founding Fathers Different. New York: Penguin Books, pp. 225–242.
- ^ Yafa, Stephen (2006). Cotton: The Biography of a Revolutionary Fiber. Penguin. p. 75. ISBN 978-0143037224.
- ^ a b c d Dungan, Nicholas, 2010
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: J. Ellis, 2007, p. 86
- ^ Roberts, Cokie (2005). Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. Harper Perennial.
- ^ Roberts, Cokie (2008). Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation. Harper.
- ^ Dungan, Nicholas, 2010, pp. 3, 4, 187-189
- ^ Jones, Keith Marshall, III. John Laurance: The Immigrant Founding Father America Never Knew. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2019.
- ^ LaGumina, Salvatore (2000). The Italian American experience: an encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis, p. 361.
- ^ Kann, Mark E. (1999). The Gendering of American Politics: Founding Mothers, Founding Fathers, and Political Patriarchy. ABC-CLIO. p. xi. ISBN 978-0-275-96112-1.
- ^ Burstein, Andrew. "Politics and Personalities: Garry Wills takes a new look at a forgotten founder, slavery and the shaping of America", Chicago Tribune (November 9, 2003). "Forgotten founders such as Pickering and Morris made as many waves as those whose faces stare out from our currency."
- ^ a b Raphael, Ray. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Founding Fathers And the Birth of Our Nation (Penguin, 2011).
- ^ Schwartz, Laurens R. Jews and the American Revolution: Haym Solomon and Others, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 1987.
- ^ Kendall, Joshua. The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture (Penguin 2011).
- ^ Wright, R. E. (1996). "Thomas Willing (1731–1821): Philadelphia Financier and Forgotten Founding Father". Pennsylvania History. 63 (4): 525–560. JSTOR 27773931.
Bibliography
- Allen, Steven W. (2002). Founding Fathers: Uncommon Heroes. Mesa, Arizona: Legal Awareness Series, Inc. ISBN 1879033763.
- Ammerman, David (1974). In the common cause: American response to the Coercive acts of 1774. Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia. ISBN 9780813905259.
- Bernstein, Richard B. (2011). The Founding Fathers Reconsidered. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199832576.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-983257-6.
- Brown, Richard D. (July 1976). "The Founding Fathers of 1776 and 1787: A Collective View". The William and Mary Quarterly. 33 (3): 465–480. doi:10.2307/1921543. JSTOR 1921543.
- Chorlton, Thomas Patrick (2011). The First American Republic 1774-1789. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4567-53887.
- Campbell, Norine Dickson (1969). Patrick Henry : patriot and statesman. New York, N.Y. : Devin-Adair Co. ISBN 978-0-8159-65015.
- Ellis, Joseph J., ed. (2007). Founding Fathers: The Essential Guide to the Men Who Made America. John Wiley and Sons (Encyclopedia Britannica).
- Dugan, Nicholas (2010). Gallatin: America's Swiss Founding Father. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-21124.
- Freehling, William W. (February 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review. 77 (1): 81–93. doi:10.2307/1856595. JSTOR 1856595.
- Griswold, Rufus Wilmot (1855). The Republican Court, or, American Society in the Days of Washington. D. Appleton & Co.
- Levy, Michael I. (ed.). The Founding Fathers. New York, New York: Fall River Press (Encyclopedia Britannica). ISBN 978-1-4351-2389-2.
- McLaughin, Andrew Cunningham (2002). The Foundations of American Constitutionalism. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-5847-72279.
- Onuf, Peter S. (2007). The Mind of Thomas Jefferson, Chapter:'Jefferson's Religion: Priestcraft, Enlightenment and the Republican Revolution. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-26117.
- Roberts, Cokie (2004). Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. New York, New York: Harper Large Print. ISBN 0060533315.
- Online sources
- "Declaration of Independence". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- "The Founding Fathers". history.com. History. March 23, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- "How Do You Define Founding Fathers?". allthingsliberty.com. Journal of the American Revolution. December 1, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- "Patrick Henry". history.com. History.com. March 18, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
Further reading
- American National Biography Online, (2000).
- Bailyn, Bernard. To Begin the World Anew (Knopf, 2003) online
- Barlow, J. Jackson; Levy, Leonard Williams (1988). The American founding : essays on the formation of the Constitution. New York : Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-3132-56103.
- Bernstein, Richard B. Are We to Be a Nation? The Making of the Constitution. (Harvard University Press, 1987).
- Commager, Henry Steele. "Leadership in Eighteenth-Century America and Today," Daedalus 90 (Fall 1961): 650–673, reprinted in Henry Steele Commager, Freedom and Order (New York: George Braziller, 1966) online.
- Dreisbach, Daniel L. Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers (2017) online review
- Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000) online.
- Ellis, Joseph J. The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783–1789 (New York: Vintage Books, 2016) online.
- Freeman, Joanne B. Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
- Green, Steven K. Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding. (Oxford University Press, 2015).
- Greene, Jack P. "The Social Origins of the American Revolution: An Evaluation and an Interpretation," Political Science Quarterly, 88#1 (Mar. 1973), pp. 1–22 JSTOR 2148646.
- Harris, Matthew, and Thomas Kidd, eds. The founding fathers and the debate over religion in revolutionary America: a history in documents (Oxford UP, 2012).
- Harris, P.M.G., "The Social Origins of American Leaders: The Demographic Foundations, " Perspectives in American History 3 (1969): 159–364.
- King george III (1867). The correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North from 1768 to 1783. London, John Murray.
- Lefer, David. The Founding Conservatives: How a Group of Unsung Heroes Saved the American Revolution (2013)
- Kann, Mark E. The Gendering of American Politics: Founding Mothers, Founding Fathers, and Political Patriarchy (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1999). online
- Koch, Adrienne. Power, Morals, and the Founding Fathers: Essays in the Interpretation of the American Enlightenment (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1961).
- Kostyal, K. M. Founding Fathers: The Fight for Freedom and the Birth of American Liberty (2014)
- Lambert, Franklin T. The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. (Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press, 2003).
- Martin, James Kirby. Men in Rebellion: Higher Governmental Leaders and the coming of the American Revolution, (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1973; reprint, New York: Free Press, 1976) online.
- Morris, Richard B. Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
- Previdi, Robert. "Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America," Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 29, 1999
- Rakove, Jack. Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2010) 487 pages; scholarly study focuses on how the Founders moved from private lives to public action, beginning in the 1770s
- Trees, Andrew S. The founding fathers and the politics of character (Princeton University Press, 2005). online
- Valsania, Maurizio. The French Enlightenment in America: Essays on the Times of the Founding Fathers (U of Georgia Press, 2021).
- Wood, Gordon S. Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different (New York: Penguin Press, 2006) online
External links
- Founders Online: Correspondence and Other Writings of Seven Major Shapers of the United States
- The Fates of Signers of the Declaration of Independence: Debunking the Myths, published June 28, 2005
- What Would the Founding Fathers Do Today? American Heritage, 2006 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-01-14)
- "Founding Father Quotes, Biographies, and Writings"
- Were the Founding Fathers 'Ordinary People'?, PolitiFact