Founding Fathers of the United States

Declaration of Independence, an 1819 painting by John Trumbull, depicts the Committee of Five (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston) presenting their draft to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776.

The Founding Fathers of the United States, or simply the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, led the war for independence from Great Britain, and crafted a framework of government for the new United States nation.

Historians generally recognize prominent leaders of the revolutionary era such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton. In addition, signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are widely credited with the nation's founding, while other scholars include all delegates to the Constitutional Convention whether they signed the Constitution or not. Furthermore, some historians include signers of the Articles of Confederation, which was adopted as the nation's first constitution in 1781.

Beyond this, the criteria for inclusion vary as historians have come to single out individuals ranging from military leaders during the Revolutionary War and participants in events before the war to prominent writers, orators, and other contributors to the American cause, including both men and women. The debate has also shifted from the 19th century concept of the founders as demigods who created the modern nation-state to take into account contemporary concerns over the inability of the founding generation to remedy issues such as slavery and the treatment of Native Americans. More recently, yet another approach has been suggested that recognizes the accomplishments as well as the shortcomings of the nation's founders by viewing them within the context of their times.

Terminology

John Adams, in response to praise for his generation, rejoined, "I ought not to object to your reverence for your fathers, meaning those concerned with the direction of public affairs, but to tell you a very great secret ... I have no reason to believe we were better than you are." He also wrote, "Don't call me, ... Father ... [or] Founder ... These titles belong to no man, but to the American people in general." Even so, the terms fathers, forefathers, and founders were often used in political speeches. In his second inaugural address in 1805, Thomas Jefferson referred to those who first came to the New World as "forefathers". At his 1825 inauguration, John Quincy Adams called the Constitution "the work of our forefathers" and expressed his gratitude to "founders of the Union". In July of the following year, Quincy 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". These terms were used in the United States throughout the 19th century, from the inaugurations of Martin Van Buren and James Polk in 1837 and 1845, to Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union speech in 1860 and his Gettysburg Address in 1863, and all the way up to William McKinley's first inauguration in 1897.

In 1902, the constitutional lawyer and later congressman, James M. Beck, delivered an address titled "Founders of the Republic" on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the holiday known as, George Washington's Birthday. In it, he connected 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." Beck included George Washington, 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 military leaders such as Nathanael Greene, Henry Knox, John Paul Jones, and "Mad Anthony" Wayne.

The phrase "Founding Fathers," was first coined by Senator Warren G. Harding in his keynote speech at the Republican National Convention in 1916. Harding repeated the phrase at his own inauguration in 1921. 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. The term "Founding Fathers" has been widely used in histories of the founding era, beginning with Kenneth Bernard Umbreit's Founding Fathers: Men who Shaped Our Tradition in 1941.

Key founders

George Washington, Revolutionary War hero, presided at the Constitutional Convention, and became the nation's first president.

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.

Morris's selection of seven "greats" has become widely accepted. Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin were members of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. The Federalist Papers, which advocated the ratification of the Constitution, were written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. 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. Franklin, Jay and Adams negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that brought an end to the American Revolutionary War.

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 the first four presidents; Adams and Jefferson as the first two vice presidents; Jay as the nation's first chief justice; Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury; Jefferson and Madison as Secretaries of State; and Franklin as America's most senior diplomat and later governor of Pennsylvania, for a term of three years.

Framers and signers

Further information: Framers

Portraits and autograph signatures of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

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." In addition, as the nation's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union has also gained acceptance as a founding document. As a result, signers of three key documents are generally considered to be Founding Fathers of the United States: Declaration of Independence (DI), Articles of Confederation (AC), and U.S. Constitution (USC). The following table provides a list of these signers, some of whom signed more than one document.

Name	Province/state	DI (1776)	AC (1777)	USC (1787)
Adams, AndrewAndrew Adams	Connecticut	zed	Yes	zed
Adams, JohnJohn Adams	Massachusetts	Yes	zed	zed
Adams, SamuelSamuel Adams	Massachusetts	Yes	Yes	zed
Adams, ThomasThomas Adams	Virginia	zed	Yes	zed
Baldwin, AbrahamAbraham Baldwin	Georgia	zed	zed	Yes
Banister, JohnJohn Banister	Virginia	zed	Yes	zed
Bartlett, JosiahJosiah Bartlett	New Hampshire	Yes	Yes	zed
Bassett, RichardRichard Bassett	Delaware	zed	zed	Yes
Bedford Jr., GunningGunning Bedford Jr.	Delaware	zed	zed	Yes
Blair, JohnJohn Blair	Virginia	zed	zed	Yes
Blount, WilliamWilliam Blount	North Carolina	zed	zed	Yes
Braxton, CarterCarter Braxton	Virginia	Yes	zed	zed
Brearley, DavidDavid Brearley	New Jersey	zed	zed	Yes
Broom, JacobJacob Broom	Delaware	zed	zed	Yes
Butler, PiercePierce Butler	South Carolina	zed	zed	Yes
Carroll, CharlesCharles Carroll	Maryland	Yes	zed	zed
Carroll, DanielDaniel Carroll	Maryland	zed	Yes	Yes
Chase, SamuelSamuel Chase	Maryland	Yes	zed	zed
Clark, AbrahamAbraham Clark	New Jersey	Yes	zed	zed
Clingan, WilliamWilliam Clingan	Pennsylvania	zed	Yes	zed
Clymer, GeorgeGeorge Clymer	Pennsylvania	Yes	zed	Yes
Collins, JohnJohn Collins	Rhode Island	zed	Yes	zed
Dana, FrancisFrancis Dana	Massachusetts	zed	Yes	zed
Dayton, JonathanJonathan Dayton	New Jersey	zed	zed	Yes
Dickinson, JohnJohn Dickinson	Delaware	zed	Yes	Yes
Drayton, William HenryWilliam Henry Drayton	South Carolina	zed	Yes	zed
Duane, JamesJames Duane	New York	zed	Yes	zed
Duer, WilliamWilliam Duer	New York	zed	Yes	zed
Ellery, WilliamWilliam Ellery	Rhode Island	Yes	Yes	zed
Few, WilliamWilliam Few	Georgia	zed	zed	Yes
Fitzsimons, ThomasThomas Fitzsimons	Pennsylvania	zed	zed	Yes
Floyd, WilliamWilliam Floyd	New York	Yes	zed	zed
Franklin, BenjaminBenjamin Franklin	Pennsylvania	Yes	zed	Yes
Gerry, ElbridgeElbridge Gerry	Massachusetts	Yes	Yes	zed
Gilman, NicholasNicholas Gilman	New Hampshire	zed	zed	Yes
Gorham, NathanielNathaniel Gorham	Massachusetts	zed	zed	Yes
Gwinnett, ButtonButton Gwinnett	Georgia	Yes	zed	zed
Hall, LymanLyman Hall	Georgia	Yes	zed	zed
Hamilton, AlexanderAlexander Hamilton	New York	zed	zed	Yes
Hancock, JohnJohn Hancock	Massachusetts	Yes	Yes	zed
Hanson, JohnJohn Hanson	Maryland	zed	Yes	zed
Harnett, CorneliusCornelius Harnett	North Carolina	zed	Yes	zed
Harrison, BenjaminBenjamin Harrison	Virginia	Yes	zed	zed
Hart, JohnJohn Hart	New Jersey	Yes	zed	zed
Harvie, JohnJohn Harvie	Virginia	zed	Yes	zed
Hewes, JosephJoseph Hewes	North Carolina	Yes	zed	zed
Heyward Jr., ThomasThomas Heyward Jr.	South Carolina	Yes	Yes	zed
Holten, SamuelSamuel Holten	Massachusetts	zed	Yes	zed
Hooper, WilliamWilliam Hooper	North Carolina	Yes	zed	zed
Hopkins, StephenStephen Hopkins	Rhode Island	Yes	zed	zed
Hopkinson, FrancisFrancis Hopkinson	New Jersey	Yes	zed	zed
Hosmer, TitusTitus Hosmer	Connecticut	zed	Yes	zed
Huntington, SamuelSamuel Huntington	Connecticut	Yes	Yes	zed
Hutson, RichardRichard Hutson	South Carolina	zed	Yes	zed
Ingersoll, JaredJared Ingersoll	Pennsylvania	zed	zed	Yes
Jackson, WilliamWilliam Jackson	South Carolina	zed	zed	Yes
Jefferson, ThomasThomas Jefferson	Virginia	Yes	zed	zed
Jenifer, Daniel of St. ThomasDaniel of St. Thomas Jenifer	Maryland	zed	zed	Yes
Johnson, William SamuelWilliam Samuel Johnson	Connecticut	zed	zed	Yes
King, RufusRufus King	Massachusetts	zed	zed	Yes
Langdon, JohnJohn Langdon	New Hampshire	zed	zed	Yes
Langworthy, EdwardEdward Langworthy	Georgia	zed	Yes	zed
Laurens, HenryHenry Laurens	South Carolina	zed	Yes	zed
Lee, Francis LightfootFrancis Lightfoot Lee	Virginia	Yes	Yes	zed
Lee, Richard HenryRichard Henry Lee	Virginia	Yes	Yes	zed
Lewis, FrancisFrancis Lewis	New York	Yes	Yes	zed
Livingston, WilliamWilliam Livingston	New Jersey	zed	zed	Yes
Lovell, JamesJames Lovell	Massachusetts	zed	Yes	zed
Lynch Jr., ThomasThomas Lynch Jr.	South Carolina	Yes	zed	zed
Madison, JamesJames Madison	Virginia	zed	zed	Yes
Marchant, HenryHenry Marchant	Rhode Island	zed	Yes	zed
Mathews, JohnJohn Mathews	South Carolina	zed	Yes	zed
McHenry, JamesJames McHenry	Maryland	zed	zed	Yes
McKean, ThomasThomas McKean	Delaware	Yes	Yes	zed
Morris, GouverneurGouverneur Morris	New York	zed	Yes	zed
	Pennsylvania	zed	zed	Yes
Mifflin, ThomasThomas Mifflin	Pennsylvania	zed	zed	Yes
Morris, LewisLewis Morris	New York	Yes	zed	zed
Morris, RobertRobert Morris	Pennsylvania	Yes	Yes	Yes
Morton, JohnJohn Morton	Pennsylvania	Yes	zed	zed
Nelson Jr., ThomasThomas Nelson Jr.	Virginia	Yes	zed	zed
Paca, WilliamWilliam Paca	Maryland	Yes	zed	zed
Paine, Robert TreatRobert Treat Paine	Massachusetts	Yes	zed	zed
Paterson, WilliamWilliam Paterson	New Jersey	zed	zed	Yes
Penn, JohnJohn Penn	North Carolina	Yes	Yes	zed
Pinckney, CharlesCharles Pinckney	South Carolina	zed	zed	Yes
Pinckney, Charles CotesworthCharles Cotesworth Pinckney	South Carolina	zed	zed	Yes
Read, GeorgeGeorge Read	Delaware	Yes	zed	Yes
Reed, JosephJoseph Reed	Pennsylvania	zed	Yes	zed
Roberdeau, DanielDaniel Roberdeau	Pennsylvania	zed	Yes	zed
Rodney, CaesarCaesar Rodney	Delaware	Yes	zed	zed
Ross, GeorgeGeorge Ross	Pennsylvania	Yes	zed	zed
Rush, BenjaminBenjamin Rush	Pennsylvania	Yes	zed	zed
Rutledge, EdwardEdward Rutledge	South Carolina	Yes	zed	zed
Rutledge, JohnJohn Rutledge	South Carolina	zed	zed	Yes
Scudder, NathanielNathaniel Scudder	New Jersey	zed	Yes	zed
Sherman, RogerRoger Sherman	Connecticut	Yes	Yes	Yes
Smith, JamesJames Smith	Pennsylvania	Yes	zed	zed
Smith, Jonathan BayardJonathan Bayard Smith	Pennsylvania	zed	Yes	zed
Spaight, Richard DobbsRichard Dobbs Spaight	North Carolina	zed	zed	Yes
Stockton, RichardRichard Stockton	New Jersey	Yes	zed	zed
Stone, ThomasThomas Stone	Maryland	Yes	zed	zed
Taylor, GeorgeGeorge Taylor	Pennsylvania	Yes	zed	zed
Telfair, EdwardEdward Telfair	Georgia	zed	Yes	zed
Thornton, MatthewMatthew Thornton	New Hampshire	Yes	zed	zed
Van Dyke, NicholasNicholas Van Dyke	Delaware	zed	Yes	zed
Walton, GeorgeGeorge Walton	Georgia	Yes	zed	zed
Walton, JohnJohn Walton	Georgia	zed	Yes	zed
Washington, GeorgeGeorge Washington	Virginia	zed	zed	Yes
Wentworth Jr., JohnJohn Wentworth Jr.	New Hampshire	zed	Yes	zed
Whipple, WilliamWilliam Whipple	New Hampshire	Yes	zed	zed
Williams, JohnJohn Williams	North Carolina	zed	Yes	zed
Williams, WilliamWilliam Williams	Connecticut	Yes	zed	zed
Williamson, HughHugh Williamson	North Carolina	zed	zed	Yes
Wilson, JamesJames Wilson	Pennsylvania	Yes	zed	Yes
Witherspoon, JohnJohn Witherspoon	New Jersey	Yes	Yes	zed
Wolcott, OliverOliver Wolcott	Connecticut	Yes	Yes	zed
Wythe, GeorgeGeorge Wythe	Virginia	Yes	zed	zed

Other delegates

In addition to recognizing the 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. 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:

• William Richardson Davie, North Carolina
• Oliver Ellsworth, Connecticut
• Elbridge Gerry, Massachusetts
• William Houston, New Jersey
• William Houstoun, Georgia
• John Lansing, Jr., New York
• Alexander Martin, North Carolina
• Luther Martin, Maryland
• George Mason, Virginia
• James McClurg, Virginia
• John Francis Mercer, Maryland
• William Pierce, Georgia
• Edmund Randolph, Virginia
• Caleb Strong, Massachusetts
• George Wythe, Virginia
• Robert Yates, New York

Additional founders

In addition to the signers of the founding documents and the seven notable leaders 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:

• Ethan Allen, military leader and founder of Vermont.
• George Clinton, first governor of New York, 1777–1795, and fourth vice president of the U.S., 1805–1812.
• Patrick Henry, gifted orator, known for his famous quote, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"; served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, first and sixth governor of Virginia, 1776—1779 and 1784–1786. Widely considered the most outspoken anti-federalist in opposing ratification of the Constitution.
• 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.
• 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. He administered the presidential oath of office at the First inauguration of George Washington and with James Monroe negotiated the Louisiana Purchase as the minister to France.
• John Marshall, fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1801–1835.
• James Monroe, elected to the Virginia legislature (1782); member of the Second Continental Congress (1783-1786); fifth president of the United States for two terms (1817–1825); Negotiated the Louisiana Purchase along with Robert Livingston.
• James Otis Jr., considered one of the earliest founders; proponent of American independence. opponent of slavery, and leader of Massachusetts' Committee of Correspondence, all in the 1760s.
• Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense and other influential pamphlets in the 1770s; sometimes referred to as "Father of the American Revolution". While John Adams strongly criticized Paine for failing to see the need for a separation of powers in government, Common Sense proved crucial in building support for independence following its publication in January 1776.
• Peyton Randolph, speaker of Virginia's House of Burgesses, president of the First Continental Congress, and a signer of the Continental Association.
• Paul Revere, silversmith, member of the Sons of Liberty which staged the Boston Tea Party, and one of two horsemen in the midnight ride.
• Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress from its formation to its final session, 1774–1789.
• Joseph Warren, respected physician and architect of the Revolutionary movement, known as the "Founding Martyr" for his death at the Battle of Bunker Hill, drafted the Suffolk Resolves in response to the Intolerable Acts.
• "Mad Anthony" Wayne, a prominent army general during the Revolutionary War.

Women

See also: Women in the American Revolution

Abigail Adams, close advisor to her husband John Adams

Historians also have come to recognize the roles women played in the nation's early development, using the term "Founding Mothers". Among the females honored in this respect are:

• Abigail Adams, wife, confidant, and advisor to John Adams, as well as second First Lady; mother of second U.S. president John Quincy Adams; famously extolled her husband to "remember the ladies" in shaping the new nation.
• Dolley Madison, wife of fourth U.S. president James Madison; regarded as the most important First Lady of the 19th century, 1809–1817.
• Mercy Otis Warren, poet, playwright, and pamphleteer during the American Revolution.

Other patriots

The following men and women also advanced the new nation through their actions, but are not necessarily regarded as founders:

• Richard Allen, African-American bishop, founder of the Free African Society and the African Methodist Episcopal Church
• 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. Of the deaths at Boston John Adams would later write, "On that night the foundations of American independence was laid."
• John Bartram, botanist, horticulturist, and explorer
• 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
• Aaron Burr, vice president under Jefferson
• Cato, a Black Patriot and slave who served as a spy alongside his owner, 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, including Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
• George Rogers Clark, army general, nicknamed "Conqueror of the Old Northwest".
• Tench Coxe, economist in the Continental Congress
• Albert Gallatin, politician and treasury secretary
• Horatio Gates, army general. Present at Battle of Saratoga whose victory was the turning point of the Revolutionary War
• Nathanael Greene, Revolutionary War general; commanded the southern theater
• Nathan Hale, captured U.S. soldier, executed in 1776 for spying on British in New York
• Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton
• 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
• John Paul Jones, U.S. navy captain. Commander of USS Bonhomme Richard; When asked to surrender by the British he uttered his famous cry, "I have not yet begun to fight".
• Tadeusz Kościuszko, American general, former Polish army general
• Bernardo de Galvez, Spanish military, governor of Spanish Louisiana. Captured Baton Rouge, Natchez, and Mobile, all in British West Florida.
• Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French Marquis who became a Continental Army general. Served without pay, brought a ship to America, outfitted for war, provided clothing and other provisions for the patriot cause, all at his own expense.
• John Laurance, New York politician and judge who served as Judge advocate general during the Revolution.
• Henry Lee III, army officer and Virginia governor
• William Maclay, Pennsylvania politician and U.S. senator
• Philip Mazzei, Italian physician, merchant, and author
• Daniel Morgan, military leader and Virginia congressman
• Hercules Mulligan, Irish-American tailor and spy, member of the Sons of Liberty. Introduced Alexander Hamilton into New York society and helped him recruit men for his artillery units.
• Samuel Nicholas, commander-in-chief of the Continental Marines
• Andrew Pickens, army general and South Carolina congressman
• Timothy Pickering, U.S. secretary of state, from Massachusetts
• Oliver Pollock (1737–1823, a merchant, diplomat, and financier of the American Revolutionary War
• Israel Putnam, army general
• Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French army general
• 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
• 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
• Richard Varick, private secretary to George Washington, recorder of New York City (1786); Speaker of the New York Assembly (1787); second attorney general of New York state (1788-1789); Mayor of New York City (1789-1801); founder of the American Bible Society (1828)
• Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian officer; Inspector General of Continental Army; Present at Valley forge with Washington, training militia.
• Noah Webster, political writer, lexicographer, educator. Author of the first English Dictionary containing numerous references to Washington and the revolution.
• 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

The colonies unite (1765–1774)

See also: Stamp Act of 1765

Beginning in the mid-1760s, Parliament began to levy taxes on the colonies to raise funds for Britain's debts from the French and Indian War over the previous decade. Opposition to Stamp Act and Townshend Acts united the colonies in a common cause. While the Stamp Act was withdrawn, taxes on tea remained under the Townshend Acts and took on a new form in 1773 with Parliament's adoption of the Tea Act. The new tea tax, along with stricter customs enforcement, was not well-received across the colonies, particularly in Massachusetts.

On December 16, 1773, 150 colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded ships in Boston and dumped 342 chests of tea into the city's harbor, a protest that came to be known as the Boston Tea Party. Orchestrated by Samuel Adams and the Boston Committee of Correspondence, the protest was viewed as treasonous by British authorities. In response, Parliament passed the Coercive or Intolerable Acts, a series of punitive laws that closed Boston's port and placed the colony under direct control of the British government. These measures stirred unrest throughout the colonies, which felt Parliament had overreached its authority and was posing a threat to the self-rule that had existed in the Americas since the 1600s.

Intent on responding to the Acts, twelve of the Thirteen Colonies agreed to send delegates to meet in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress, with Georgia declining because it needed British military support in its conflict with native tribes. The concept of an American union had been entertained long before 1774, but always embraced the idea that it would be subject to the authority of the British Empire. By 1774, however, letters published in colonial newspapers, mostly by anonymous writers, began asserting the need for a "Congress" to represent all Americans, one that would have equal status with British authority.

Continental Congress (1774–1775)

  First Continental Congress at prayer,
by T. H. Matteson, 1848

The Continental Congress was brought together to deal with a series of pressing issues the colonies were facing with Britain. Its delegates were men considered to be the most intelligent and thoughtful among the colonialists. In the wake of the Intolerable Acts, at the hands of an unyielding British King and Parliament, the colonies were forced to choose between either totally submitting to arbitrary Parliamentary authority or resorting to unified armed resistance. The new Congress functioned as the directing body in declaring a great war, and was sanctioned only by reason of the guidance it provided during the armed struggle. Its authority remained ill defined, and few of its delegates realized that events would soon lead them to deciding policies that ultimately established a "new power among the nations". In the process the Congress performed many experiments in government before an adequate Constitution evolved.

First Continental Congress (1774)

The First Continental Congress, convened at Philadelphia's Carpenter's Hall on September 5, 1774. The Congress, which had no legal authority to raise taxes or call on colonial militias, consisted of 56 delegates, including George Washington of Virginia; John Adams and Samuel Adams of Massachusetts; John Jay of New York; John Dickinson of Pennsylvania; and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. Peyton Randolph of Virginia was unanimously elected its first president.

The Congress came close to disbanding in its first few days over the issue of representation, with smaller colonies desiring equality with the larger ones. While Patrick Henry, from the largest colony, Virginia, disagreed, he stressed the greater importance of uniting the colonies: "The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American!". The delegates then began with a discussion of the Suffolk Resolves, which had just been approved at a town meeting in Milton, Massachusetts. Joseph Warren, chairman of the Resolves drafting committee, had dispatched Paul Revere to deliver signed copies to the Congress in Philadelphia. The Resolves called for the ouster of British officials, a trade embargo of British goods, and the formation of a militia throughout the colonies. Despite the radical nature of the resolves, on September 17 the Congress passed them in their entirety in exchange for assurances that Massachusetts' colonists would do nothing to provoke war.

The delegates then approved a series of measures, including a Petition to the King in an appeal for peace and a Declaration and Resolves which introduced the ideas of natural law and natural rights, foreshadowing some of the principles found in the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. The declaration asserted the rights of colonists and outlined Parliament's abuses of power. Proposed by Richard Henry Lee, it also included a trade boycott known as the Continental Association. The Association, a crucial step toward unification, empowered committees of correspondence throughout the colonies to enforce the boycott. The Declaration and its boycott directly challenged Parliament's right to govern in the Americas, bolstering the view of King George III and his administration under Lord North that the colonies were in a state of rebellion.

Lord Dartmouth, the Secretary of State for the Colonies who had been sympathetic to the Americans, condemned the newly established Congress for what he considered its illegal formation and actions. In tandem with the Intolerable Acts, British Army commander-in-chief Lieutenant General Thomas Gage was installed as governor of Massachusetts. In January 1775, Gage's superior, Lord Dartmouth, ordered the general to arrest those responsible for the Tea Party and to seize the munitions that had been stockpiled by militia forces outside of Boston. The letter took several months to reach Gage, who acted immediately by sending out 700 army regulars. During their march to Lexington and Concord on the morning of April 19, 1775, the British troops encountered militia forces, who had been warned the night before by Paul Revere and another messenger on horseback, William Dawes. Even though it is unknown who fired the first shot, battles broke out and the Revolutionary War began.

Second Continental Congress (1775)

Less than three weeks after the Battles at Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775 in the Pennsylvania State House. The gathering essentially reconstituted the First Congress with many of the same delegates in attendance. Among the new arrivals were Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris, both of Pennsylvania; John Hancock of Massachusetts, John Witherspoon of New Jersey, and Charles Carroll of Maryland. Hancock was elected president two weeks into the session when Peyton Randolph was recalled to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses as speaker. Thomas Jefferson replaced Randolph in the Virginia delegation. They immediately began reviewing depositions from eyewitnesses and other papers recounting the fighting in Massachusetts.

The Congress then appointed a committee to draft rules to govern the military and in so doing established the Continental Army on June 14. The next day Samuel and John Adams nominated Washington as commander-in-chief, a motion that was unanimously approved. Three days later, Patriot and British forces clashed at Bunker Hill on June 17, resulting in a costly British victory. In an effort to justify military preparations, Congress passed the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms on July 6, written by Thomas Jefferson and revised by John Dickinson.

The debate over proportionate representation was hotly debated in the First Continental Congress, but was never resolved due to the lack of colonial population data at the time. Subsequently one of the first issues debated and a major source of contention was over proportionate representation, where the larger colonies would carry greater weight over the smaller ones. Benjamin Harrison and Patrick Henry stood firmly on the idea that the larger states have proportionate voting status. Samuel Chase and Thomas Stone of Maryland, a state with a much smaller population than Virginia, maintained that, "The small colonies have a right to happiness and security; they would not have no safety if the great colonies were not limited." Samuel Huntington of Connecticut aired concerns that if a larger state could have its voting status limited, that it might pave the way to having a colony's borders pared to so limit its territory. Benjamin Franklin held that votes of any colony should be proportional to its population, and that if the smaller states were granted equal voting status that they bear equal financial burdens and provide as many men in military matters as the larger colonies would. William Paterson of New Jersey felt such a policy "struck at the very existence" of the smaller states. Many of the delegates regarded the idea of proportional representation as a way for the larger states, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, in "snuffing out ten states by three", and refused to entrust this responsibility to the people of those states.

The newly founded country needed a government to replace the one created by Parliament. After more than a year of debate, on November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, a constitution establishing a national government with a one-house legislature. Its ratification by all thirteen colonies, which took nearly four years, on March 1, 1781, gave the Congress a new name: the Congress of the Confederation. In spite of its shortcomings, the Articles served as the nation's first Constitution during the last two years of the war and the ensuing five-year period. The idea of proportional representation remained a major issue that kept many of the founders divided over political ideology throughout the revolution and early years of the newly established country.

George Mason, author of the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights and co-father of the United States Bill of Rights

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Under the auspices of the Second Continental Congress and its Committee of Five, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. It was presented to the Congress by the Committee on June 28, and after much debate and editing of the document, on July 2, 1776, Congress passed the Lee Resolution, which declared the United Colonies independent from Great Britain, and two days later, on July 4, adopted the Declaration of Independence. The name "United States of America", which first appeared in the Declaration, was formally adopted by the Congress on September 9, 1776.

In an effort to get this important document promptly into the public realm John Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress, commissioned John Dunlap, editor and printer of the Pennsylvania Packet, to print 200 broadside copies of the Declaration, which came to be known as the Dunlap broadsides. Printing commenced the day after the Declaration was adopted. They were distributed throughout the 13 colonies/states with copies sent to General Washington and his troops at New York with a directive that it be read aloud. Copies were also sent to Britain and other points in Europe.

Fighting for independence

Main article: American Revolutionary War

George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River (25–26 December 1776), by Emanuel Leutze

While the colonists were fighting the British to gain independence their newly formed government, with its Articles of Confederation, were put to the test, revealing the shortcomings and weaknesses of America's first Constitution. During this time Washington became convinced that a strong federal government was urgently needed, as the individual states were not meeting the organizational and supply demands of the war on their own individual accord. Key precipitating events included the Boston Tea Party in 1773, Paul Revere's Ride in 1775, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River was a major American victory over Hessian forces at the Battle of Trenton and greatly boosted American morale. The Battle of Saratoga and the Siege of Yorktown, which primarily ended the fighting between American and British, were also pivotal events during the war. The 1783 Treaty of Paris marked the official end of the war.

After the war Washington was instrumental in organizing the effort to create a "national militia" made up of individual state units, and under the direction of the Federal government. He also endorsed the creation of a military academy to train artillery offices and engineers. Not wanting to leave the country disarmed and vulnerable so soon after the war, Washington favored a peacetime army of 2600 men. He also favored the creation of a navy that could repel any European intruders. He approached Henry Knox, who accompanied Washington during most of his campaigns, with the prospect of becoming the future Secretary of War.

Signature page of the Treaty of Paris of 1783
See also: First Page, image
Transcript of Treaty

Treaty of Paris

After Washington's final victory at the surrender at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, more than a year passed before official negotiations for peace commenced and ultimately a treaty was adopted. The Treaty of Paris was drafted in November 1782, and negotiations began in April 1783, continued through the summer, and the completed treaty was signed on September 3. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay and Henry Laurens represented the United States, and David Hartley, a member of Parliament, and Richard Oswald, a prominent and influential Scotish businessman, represented Great Britain. While in France, Franklin, who had a long established rapport with the French, and was almost entirely responsible for securing an alliance with them during the war, was greeted with high honors from the French council, while the others received due accommodations but were generally considered to be amateur negotiators. Communications between Britain and France was largely effected through Franklin and Lord Shelburne who was on good terms with Franklin. Franklin, Adams and Jay understood the concerns of the French at this uncertain juncture and, using that to their advantage, in the final sessions of negotiations convinced both the French and the British that American independence was in their best interests.

Constitutional Convention

Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy (1940)

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.

The Constitutional Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia. The delegates elected George Washington, whom they all trusted, to preside over the convention. 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 framework of government rather than amend the existing one.

The fifty-five delegates attending the Constitutional Convention were a group of distinguished men who represented a cross-section of eighteenth century American leadership. Nearly all of them were well educated and prominent in their respective states. Nearly all were involved in the revolution and its war, with at least twenty-nine serving in the Continental Army. The group in its entirety had extensive political experience; forty-one of the delegates were or had been members of the Continental Congress.

Because they were about to make major changes to the form of government rather than amend the existing one, which was deemed as something that would prove controversial and impeding, the Delegates to the convention were sworn to secrecy and conducted the business of ratification behind closed doors. As such Madison's notes on the ratification were not published until after his death in 1836.

The result of the convention was the United States Constitution. After four months of debate the Constitution was ratified and adopted on September 17, 1787. After the Constitution had been adopted, Madison maintained that it was Washington's influence that brought overall acceptance of the Constitution. On April 6, 1789 under the new Constitution, the Senate oversaw the counting of a total of sixty-nine ballots where George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States, with thirty-four ballots that elected John Adams as the nation's first Vice-President.

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. After the Constitution became ratified it was Madison who advised President Washington on various important decisions and legislation that placed the young nation on a stable foundation.

Bill of Rights

Main article: United States Bill of Rights

The Constitution, as drafted, was sharply criticized by the Anti-Federalists, led by Patrick Henry, and included George Mason, Samuel Adams and Elbridge Gerry, all of whom refused to sign the document, contending it failed to safeguard individual liberties from the federal government. Henry believed the Articles of Confederation, with its limited federal authority, was overall an adequate form of government. He shared the long established colonial resentment of a central governing authority, doing all in his power to defeat the Constitution, and opposed Madison every step of the way. The criticisms are what brought about the proposal for a Bill of Rights. Madison, the principal author of the bill, was originally opposed to a Bill of rights, but was influenced by the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, primarily written by Mason, and the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, while in France, expressed concerns about how the Constitution as drafted would lend too much authority to a president, but because of his friendship with Madison and the proposed Bill of Rights he never pressed the issue greatly. Alexander Hamilton was opposed to a Bill of Rights on the basis that they were mot needed and maintained that,

""Why declare things shall not be done, which there is no power to do ... that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given by which restrictions may be imposed?"

Madison did not predict that the continued debating between the two houses would forestall any serious consideration for adopting the proposed Amendments. The final draft was completed on September 25, 1789 by joint resolution but wasn't ratified and passed by the Senate until December 15, 1791. The Bill of rights drew its authority from the consent of the people and held that,

“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." — Article 11.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." — Article 12.

Madison thus came to be widely considered the foremost champion of religious liberty, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press in the founding era.

Ascending to the presidency

The first five U.S. presidents are regarded as Founding Fathers and for their active participation in the American Revolution: Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. They all previously served as delegates in the Continental Congress.

George Washington (1789–1797)   John Adams (1797–1801)   Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)   James Madison (1809–1817)   James Monroe (1817-1825)

Demographics and other characteristics

The Founding Fathers represented the upper echelon of political leadership in the British colonies during the latter half of the 18th century. All were leaders in their communities and respective colonies who were willing to assume responsibility for public affairs.

Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and U.S. Constitution, nearly all were native born and of British heritage, including Scots, Irish, and Welsh. Nearly half were lawyers, while the remainder were primarily businessmen and planters-farmers. The average age of the founders was 43. Benjamin Franklin, born in 1706, was the oldest, while only a few were born after 1750 and thus were in their 20s.

The following sections discuss these and other demographic topics in greater detail. For the most part, the information is confined to signers/delegates associated with the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution.

Prior political experience

Nearly all of the Founding Fathers had extensive political experience at the national and state levels. In fact, all signers of the Declaration and Articles were members of Second Continental Congress, while four-fifths of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention had served in the Congress either during or prior to the convention.

• John Adams, Elected to the Massachusetts General Court as a representative of Boston; Member of the First and Second Continental Congress; Served on the committee to draft a petition to the King with an appeal to "natural rights"; drafted the Constitution of Massachusetts and successfully navigated it through to adoption.
• Daniel Carroll, member of the Second Continental Congress (1781), signed the Articles of Confederation; Served in the Maryland Senate.
• George Clymer was a member of the Philadelphia Committee of Safety and the Continental Congress.
• John Dickinson, member of the First and Second Continental Congress; wrote the first and second petition to the King seeking a peaceful solution to colonial and British differences. In 1781 he was elected Supreme Executive Council of Delaware (governor).
• Benjamin 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. Minister to Sweden and then France. He was Governor of Pennsylvania from 1785 to 1788, replacing Dickinson.
• Elbridge Gerry was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.
• Nathaniel Gorham, member of the Massachusetts General Court from 1771 to 1775; delegate to the Provincial Congress, 1774-75; Member of the Board of War in the Second Continental Congress serving from 1778-1781; Served as president of the Continental Congress.
• John Jay, secretary of a royal commission for settling the boundary between New Jersey and New York in 1773; summoned to Paris by Franklin to assume his post as joint commissioner for negotiating peace terms with Great Britain; Minister to Spain drafted the constitution of New York, and successfully navigated it through to adoption; served as president of the Continental Congress. Peace Commissioner who help negotiate the Treaty of Paris (1783).
• Thomas Jefferson, delegate from Virginia to the Second Continental Congress (1775-1776); Second Governor of Virginia (1779-1781); Minister to France (1785-1789).
• Thomas Mifflin, beginning in 1772 he was elected to the Provincial Assembly for four years; Member First Continental Congress in 1774; aide-de-camp to Washington in 1775; Member of Second Continental Congress and president in 1783. Mifflin accepted on behalf of Congress General Washington's resignation on December 23, 1783.
• Gouverneur Morris had been a member of the New York Provincial Congress and the Second Continental Congress.
• John Langdon, Member of the Second Continental Congress (1783); state senator in 1784; served his first term as chief executive (president) of New Hampshire in 1785; served a second term and became speaker of the legislature in 1786-1787.
• Edward Rutledge, was a member of First and Second Continental Congress and governor of South Carolina.
• 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 and member of the Second Continental Congress.
• Roger Sherman had served in the First and Second Continental Congress, Connecticut House of Representatives and Justice of the Peace.
• George Read was a member of the Delaware Provincial Assembly, Attorney General for the Lower Counties, resigning in 1774, and a commissioner of Charlestown, Maryland.
• George Wythe was Virginia Attorney general in 1754, mayor of Williamsburg in 1768 and had served as a member of Virginia's House of Burgesses.

Nearly all of the Founding Fathers had some experience in colonial and state government, and the majority had held county and local offices. Those who lacked national congressional experience were Bassett, Blair, Brearly, Broom, Davie, Dayton, Martin, Mason, McClurg, Paterson, Charles Pinckney, and Strong.

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. 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; Pennsylvania would have the first medical school (1765) in the thirteen colonies where another Founder, Benjamin 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 the University of Edinburgh, the University of St Andrews, and the University of Glasgow.

Colleges attended

• College of William and Mary: Jefferson, Harrison
• Harvard College: John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and William Williams.

• King's College (now Columbia): Jay, Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Livingston and Egbert Benson.
• College of New Jersey (now Princeton): James Madison, Gunning Bedford, Benjamin Rush, and William 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
• Yale College: Oliver Wolcott and Andrew Adams
• James Wilson attended the University of St Andrews and the University of Glasgow

Advanced degrees and apprenticeships

Doctors of Medicine

• University of Edinburgh: Rush
• University of Utrecht, Netherlands: Hugh Williamson.

Theology

• University of Edinburgh: John Witherspoon: Master of Arts

• University of St Andrews: John Witherspoon: Honorary doctorate degree in Divinity

Legal apprenticeships

Several like Jay, Wilson, John Williams and Wythe 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 Roger Sherman had little formal education and were largely self-taught, attended common schools or learned through apprenticeship.

Ethnicity

The greater majority of the founders were born in the Thirteen Colonies, but eighteen were born in other parts of the British Empire:

• England: Robert Morris, William Duer, William Jackson, and Burton Gwinnett
• Ireland: James Smith, Pierce, Butler, Thomas Fitzsimons, McHenry, George Taylor, Charles Thomson, Matthew Thornton, and William Paterson

• West Indies: Alexander Hamilton and Daniel Roberdeau
• Scotland: James Wilson, Edward Telfair, and William Witherspoon

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.

• 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.
• Washington trained as a land surveyor before he became colonel of the Virginia Regiment.
• At the time of the convention, 13 men were merchants: Jacob Broom, Clymer, Fitzsimons, Gilman, Gorham, Robert Morris, Pierce, Sherman, and Wilson.
• John Langdon was a prosperous farmer and merchant in New Hampshire who donated generously to the revolutionary cause.
• William Blount, farmer and land speculator in North Carolina.
• Jacob Broom and William Few were small farmers.
• Franklin, McHenry and Mifflin had retired from active economic endeavors.
• Hugh Williamson, physician, scientist, close friend of Franklin and collaborated with him in numerous experiences in electricity.
• James McHenry, Benjamin Rush, and Joseph Warren, killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, 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.

• 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 slave labor and women particularly in the Southern colonies: Bassett, Blair, Blount, Butler, Charles Carroll, Davie, 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.

Religion

See also: First Great Awakening, Religious views of George Washington, and Religious views of Thomas Jefferson

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). 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. A few prominent Founding Fathers were anti-clerical, notably Jefferson. 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". 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.

Cultural impact (1843–present)

See also: Commemoration of the American Revolution and Legacy of George Washington

Holidays

Fireworks (such as those shown at the Washington Monument) are an annual national holiday tradition on Independence Day (July 4) to celebrate the founding of the United States.

Independence Day (colloquially called the Fourth of July) is a United States national holiday celebrated every year on July 4 to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the nation. George Washington's birthday is also observed as a national federal holiday, and is commonly called Presidents' Day.

Institutions

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.

Currency and postage

Four U.S. Founders are minted on American currency — Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington; Washington and Jefferson both appears on three different denominations.

Founding Father name	Currency image	Denomination
George Washington		Quarter dollar (quarter) 25¢
		Dollar coin $1
		One dollar $1
Thomas Jefferson		Five cents (nickel) 5¢
		Dollar coin $1
		Two dollars $2
Alexander Hamilton		Ten dollars $10
Benjamin Franklin		One hundred dollars $100

Selected stamps of Founders

<div style="float: left; margin: 1px; width: px">

Alexander Hamilton, 1870 issue

<div style="float: left; margin: 1px; width: px">

Thomas Jefferson, 1904 issue

<div style="float: left; margin: 1px; width: px">

George Washington,
1917 issue

<div style="float: left; margin: 1px; width: px">

Benjamin Franklin, 1920 issue

See also: Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps

Selected stamps of Founding events

<div style="float: left; margin: 1px; width: px">

Declaration of Independence, 1869 issue

<div style="float: left; margin: 1px; width: px">

Washington at Cambridge, 1925 issue

<div style="float: left; margin: 1px; width: px">

Washington at the Battle of Brooklyn, 1951 issue

<div style="float: left; margin: 1px; width: px">

Drafting the Articles of Confederation, 1977 issue

Media and theater

See also: List of plays and musicals about the American Revolution, List of films about the American Revolution, and List of television series and miniseries about the American Revolution

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.

Sports

Several major professional sports teams based in the Northeastern United States pay homage to Founding Father events, monuments, and ideals, including:

• New England Patriots (men's American football)
• New England Revolution (men's soccer)
• New York Liberty (women's basketball)
• Philadelphia 76ers (men's basketball)
• Philadelphia Phillies (men's baseball)
• Washington Capitals (men's ice hockey)
• Washington Nationals (men's baseball)

Slavery

George Washington and his valet slave William Lee, by John Trumbull, 1780

Further information: Slavery in the United States

See also: George Washington and slavery, Thomas Jefferson and slavery, and James Madison and 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". 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. 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.

Franklin, though he was a key founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, 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, although he did negotiate slave transactions for his wife's family, the Schuylers. Many of the Founding Fathers never owned slaves, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Paine.

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". 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. In 1782, Virginia passed a manumission law that allowed slave owners to free their slaves by will or deed. As a result, thousands of slaves were manumitted in Virginia. 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.

Scholarly analysis

Main article: Historiography of the United States

Historians who wrote about the American Revolutionary era and the founding of the United states government now number in the thousands, and whose inclusion would go well beyond the scope of this article. Some of the most prominent ones, however, are listed below. While most scholarly works maintain overall objectivity, historian Arthur H. Shaffer notes that many of the early works about the American Revolution often express a national bias, or anti-bias, but maintains that this bias lends a direct insight into the minds of the founders and their adversaries respectively. He notes that any bias is the product of a national interest and prevailing political mood, and as such cannot be dismissed as having no historic value for the modern historian. Conversely, various modern accounts of history contain anachronisms, modern day ideals and perceptions used in an effort to write about the past and as such can distort the historical account in an effort to placate a modern audience.

Early historians

Several of the earliest histories of America's founding and its founders were written by Jeremy Belknap, author of his three volume work, The history of New-Hampshire, published in 1784.

David Ramsay, one of the first major historians of the American Revolutionary War.

Mercy Otis Warren wrote extensively about the Revolution and Post Revolution. All of her works were published anonymously until 1790.

Mason Locke Weems wrote the first biography of Washington in 1800. It contains the famous story about the young Washington and the cherry tree.

William Wirt wrote the first biography about Patrick Henry in 1805, but was accused for much bias in his praise of Henry.

John Marshall, a Supreme Court Justice who completed and published a two volume biography of Washington in 1832, three years before his death.

Rufus Wilmot Griswold authored Washington and the Generals of the Revolution, a two volume work published in 1885.

Henry Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams, wrote a nine volume work, The History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, acclaimed for its literary style, and documentary evidence, and first hand knowledge of major figures during the early period.

Albert Bushnell Hart, Professor of History at Harvard University, editor of a definitive twenty-seven volume work entitled, The American Nation - A History, published in 1904-1918.

Modern historians

Articles and books by 20th and 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.

Dumas Malone is noted for his six-volume biography on Thomas Jefferson, entitled Jefferson and His Time, for which he received the 1975 Pulitzer Prize, and for his co-editorship of the twenty-volume Dictionary of American Biography.

Douglas Southall Freeman wrote an extensive seven volume biography on George Washington. Historian and George Washington biographer John E. Ferling maintains that no other biography for Washington compares to that of Freeman's work.

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.

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. Freeman has documented the often opposing visions of the Founding Fathers as they tried to build a new framework for governance."

Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian and Harvard Law School professor. She is noted for changing scholarship on Jefferson regarding his alleged 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."

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.

Jack P. Greene is an American historian, specializing in Colonial American history . Peter S. Onuf and Jack N. Rakove have researched Jefferson extensively.

Noted collections

• 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 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 Papers of Benjamin Franklin at Yale University

See also

• Charters of Freedom
• Father of the Nation
• Founders Online
• History of the United States Constitution
• History of the United States (1776–1789)
• Journals of the Continental Congress
• 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
• 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

External links

• The Papers of Alexander Hamilton

Bibliography

• Adams, John (1961). Diary and autobiography of John Adams. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://archive.org/details/diaryautobiograp02adam. 
• Adler, Bill (2015). America's Founding Fathers : their uncommon wisdom and wit. Lanham; Boulder; New York. https://archive.org/details/americasfounding0000unse_z7h8. 
• Alexander, John K. (2002). Samuel Adams: America's revolutionary politician. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-21148. https://archive.org/details/samueladamsameri0000alex. 
• Allen, Steven W. (2002). Founding Fathers: Uncommon Heroes. Mesa, Arizona: Legal Awareness Series. ISBN 1879033763. https://archive.org/details/foundingfathersu0000alle. 
• Altman, John A. (May 2003). "The Articles and the Constitution: Similar in Nature, Different in Design". Pennsylvania Legacies 3 (1): 20–21. 
• Ammerman, David (1974). In the common cause: American response to the Coercive acts of 1774. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. ISBN 9780813905259. https://archive.org/details/incommoncauseame0000amme/page/n3/mode/2up. 
• Andrilk, Todd (2012). Reporting the Revolutionary War : before it was history, it was news. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks. ISBN 978-1-4022-69677. https://archive.org/details/reportingrevolut0000unse/page/n3/mode/2up. 
• Beard, Charles A. (1914). An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. New York, New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. 330. https://archive.org/details/economicinterpre00bear_3/page/n7/mode/2up. 
• (May 2020) "The International Law Origins of American Federalism". Columbia Law Review 120 (4): 835–940. 
• Bernstein, Richard B. (2011). The Founding Fathers Reconsidered. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199832576.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-983257-6. https://archive.org/details/foundingfathersr0000bern. 
• Boston City Council (1925). Celebration of the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1925. Boston, MA: Boston City Council. https://books.google.com/books?id=O5OvzewHm1YC. 
• (2005) "Founding Father Thomas Paine: He Genuinely Abhorred Slavery". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (48): 45. 
• Bowen, Catherine (2010). Miracle at Philadelphia: the story of the Constitutional Convention, May to September, 1787. New York: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-10261-2. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781415548141/page/n7/mode/2up. 
• Bradford, Melvin Eustace (1994). Founding Fathers: Brief Lives of the Framers of the United States Constitution. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-06566. https://archive.org/details/foundingfathersb0000brad/mode/2up. 
• Braff, David (2009). "Forgotten Founding Father: The Impact of Thomas Paine". In Joyce Chumbley. Forgotten Founding Father: The Impact of Thomas Paine ;In Search of the Common Good. Spokesman Books. https://philpapers.org/rec/BRAFFF. 
• (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. 
• Buchanan, John (April 2007). "Founding Fighters: The Battlefield Leaders Who Made American Independence (review)". The Journal of Military History 71: 522–524. 
• Burnett, Edmund Cody (1941). The Continental Congress. New York: Macmillan Co.. https://archive.org/details/continentalcongr0000burn/page/122/mode/2up. 
• Callahan, Kerry P. (2003). The Articles of Confederation : a primary source investigation into the document that preceded the U.S. Constitution. New York: Rosen Primary Source. ISBN 978-0-8239-37998. https://archive.org/details/articlesofconfed00call. 
• Campbell, Norine Dickson (1969). Patrick Henry : patriot and statesman. New York: Devin-Adair Co.. ISBN 978-0-8159-65015. https://archive.org/details/patrickhenrypatr0000camp/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22second+continental+congress%22. 
• Carp, Benjamin L. (2010). Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America. ISBN 9780300117059. https://archive.org/details/defianceofpatrio00benj/page/n5/mode/2up. 
• Brands, H. W. (2000). The First American : The life and times of Benjamin Franklin. New York : Doubleda. ISBN 978-0-3854-95400. https://archive.org/details/firstamericanlif00bran. 
• Cary, John Henry (1961). Joseph Warren; physician, politician, patriot. Urbana, Univ. of Illinois Press. https://archive.org/details/josephwarrenphys00cary/page/n5/mode/2up. 
• Chaffin, Robert J. (1999). "The Townshend Acts crisis, 1767–1770". The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. ISBN 1-55786-547-7. 
• Chernow, Ron (2010). Washington: A Life. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1594202667. https://archive.org/details/washingtonlife0000cher. 
•    (2004). Alexander Hamilton. New York : Penguin Press. ISBN 978-0-1430-34759. https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto0000cher_y4u1. 
• Chorlton, Thomas Patrick (2011). The First American Republic 1774–1789. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4567-53887. https://books.google.com/books?id=QseFSxXzuGgC. 
• Cogliano, Francis D. (2006). Thomas Jefferson: reputation and legacy. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-27336. https://archive.org/details/thomasjeffersonr0000cogl/page/n5/mode/2up. 
• Conant, Sean (2015). The Gettysburg Address: Perspectives on Lincoln's Greatest Speech. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-022745-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=_bmyBwAAQBAJ&pg=PR9. 
• Cooney, Charles W. (July 10, 1967). The American revolution and the Post-Revolutionary Generation of American Historians (Master of Arts). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University. https://www.marquette.edu/library/theses/already_uploaded_to_IR/coone_c_1967.pdf. 
• Dangerfield, George (1960). Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746–1813. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.. https://archive.org/details/chancellorrobert00dang/page/n7/mode/2up. 
• Deetz, James F. (1996). In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life. New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday. ISBN 9780385080316. https://archive.org/details/insmallthingsfor00deet/page/n3/mode/2up. 
• Dugan, Nicholas (2010). Gallatin: America's Swiss Founding Father. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-21124. https://books.google.com/books?id=_zChBwAAQBAJ. 
• Ellis, Joseph J. (2001). Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. 
• Ellis, Joseph J. (2007). American Creation. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-307-26774-0. https://archive.org/details/americancreation0000elli_t3w8/page/n5/mode/2up. 
• Ellis, Joseph J., ed (2007). Founding Fathers: The Essential Guide to the Men Who Made America. John Wiley and Sons (Encyclopedia Britannica). 
• Ferling, John (1996). John Adams, A Life. New York : Henry Holt & Co.. ISBN 978-0-8050-45765. https://archive.org/details/johnadamslife0000ferl_h6y7. 
•    (2007). Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. Oxford University Press9. ISBN 978-0-1997-58470. https://books.google.com/books?id=lyjjEsqlqo0C&vq=morale. 
•    (2014). Jefferson and Hamilton : The rivalry that forged a nation. New York : Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 978-1-6081-95435. https://archive.org/details/jeffersonhamilto0000ferl. 
• Franklin, Benjamin (1895). Henry Altemus. ed. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin with his essays and will. Chicago : W.B. Conkey Co. https://archive.org/details/autobiography00fran/page/n9/mode/2up. 
• Freehling, William W. (February 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review 77: 81–93. DOI:10.2307/1856595. 
• Friedenwald, Herbert (1895). "The Continental Congress". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 19 (2): 197–207. 
• Friedenwald, Herbert (1904). The Declaration of independence, an interpretation and an analysis. New York: The Macmillan Company. https://archive.org/details/declarationofind00frierich/page/n7/mode/2up?q=dunlap. 
• Grafton, Anthony (1990). Forgers and critics : creativity and duplicity in western scholarship. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-6911-91836. https://archive.org/details/forgerscriticscr00graf_0. 
• Greene, Jack P. (March 1973). "The Social Origins of the American Revolution: An Evaluation and an Interpretation". Political Science Quarterly 88 (1): 1–22. DOI:10.2307/2148646. 
• Griswold, Rufus Wilmot (1855). The Republican Court, or, American Society in the Days of Washington. D. Appleton & Co.. https://archive.org/details/republicancourt00grisrich/page/n7/mode/2up. 
• Harris, P.M.G. (1969). "The Social Origins of American Leaders: The Demographic Foundations". Perspectives in American History. 3. pp. 159–364. 
• Hart, Albert Bushnell, ed (1904-1918). The American Nation - A History. I. New York : Harper & Bros.. https://archive.org/details/americannationhi01hartuoft/page/n7/mode/2up. 
• Holmes, David (2006). The Faiths of the Founding Fathers. New York: Oxford University Press. 
• Isaacson, Walter (2004). Benjamin Franklin : an American life. New York : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-6848-07614. https://archive.org/details/benjaminfranklin0000isaa. 
• Jensen, Merrill (1968). The founding of a nation: a history of the American Revolution, 1763–1776. New York: Oxford University Press. https://archive.org/details/foundingofnation0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up. 
• Jillson, Calvin C.; Wilson, Rick K. (1994). Congressional Dynamics: Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774–1789. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-22933. https://books.google.com/books?id=82_KQwDU5eYC&q=laurens. 
• Jillson, Calvin C. (2016). American Government: Political Development and Institutional Change (5th ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-203-88702-8. https://archive.org/details/americangovernme0000jill_g2h8/mode/2up. 
• Kann, Mark E. (1999). The Gendering of American Politics: Founding Mothers, Founding Fathers, and Political Patriarchy. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-96112-1. https://archive.org/details/genderingofameri0000kann. 
• Kendall, Joshua C. (2010). The forgotten founding father. G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 978-1-1014-86542. https://archive.org/details/forgottenfoundin00kend. 
• Kidd, Thomas S. (2011). Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00928-2. https://archive.org/details/patrickhenryfirs0000kidd_o4b5. 
• Labunski, Richard E. (2006). James Madison and the struggle for the Bill of Rights. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1997-40994. https://archive.org/details/jamesmadisonstru00rich/mode/2up. 
• 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. https://archive.org/details/foundin_lam_2003_00_2547. 
• Levy, Michael I., ed (2010). The Founding Fathers. New York: Fall River Press (Encyclopedia Britannica). ISBN 978-1-4351-2389-2. https://archive.org/details/foundingfathers0000unse. 
• Lutz, Donald S. (Winter 1990). "The Articles of Confederation as the Background to the Federal Republic". Publius 20 (1): 55–70. DOI:10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a037862. 
• Maier, Pauline (1998). American scripture : making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-3077-91955. https://archive.org/details/americanscriptur00paul. 
• MacDonald, William, ed (1899). Select charters and other documents illustrative of American history, 1606–1775. New York: Macmillan Co.. https://archive.org/details/selectchartersot0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22Declaration+and+Resolves%22. 
• Malone, Dumas (1932). Dictionary of American biography. III. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer03ilamer/page/n7/mode/2up. 
•    (1932). Dictionary of American biography. V.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.174528. 
•    (1932). Dictionary of American biography. VI.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer06ilamer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1932). Dictionary of American biography. VII.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer07ilamer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1932). Dictionary of American biography. IX.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer09ilamer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1932). Dictionary of American biography. X.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer10ilamer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1932). Dictionary of American biography. XI.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer11amer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1934). Dictionary of American biography. XIII.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer13amer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1934). Dictionary of American biography. XIV.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer14amer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1935). Dictionary of American biography. XVII.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer17amer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1936). Dictionary of American biography. XVIII.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer18amer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
•    (1936). Dictionary of American biography. XX.
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer19amer/page/n5/mode/2up. 
• Martin, James Kirby (1973). Men in Rebellion: Higher Governmental Leaders and the coming of the American Revolution. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.  Reprint, New York: Free Press, 1976.
• McCullough, David G. (2001). John Adams. ISBN 978-0-7432-18290. https://archive.org/details/johnadams00mccu. 
• McLaughin, Andrew Cunningham (2002). The Foundations of American Constitutionalism. The Lawbook Exchange. ISBN 978-1-5847-72279. https://books.google.com/books?id=YgiltAGGbIoC&q=founders. 
• Morris, Richard Brandon (1965). The peacemakers; the great powers and American independence. New York, Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-9303-50369. https://archive.org/details/peacemakersgrea00morr. 
• Morris, Richard B. (1973). Seven who shaped our destiny; the Founding Fathers as revolutionaries. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-0609-04548. https://archive.org/details/sevenwhoshapedou00morr. 
• Morton, Joseph (2006). Shapers of the great debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 : a biographical dictionary. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-3133-30216. https://archive.org/details/shapersofgreatde0000mort. 
• O'Brien, Michael Joseph (1937). Hercules Mulligan, confidential correspondent of General Washington. New York : P.J. Kenedy & Sons. https://archive.org/details/herculesmulligan00obri/page/n7/mode/2up. 
• Murison, Justine S. (October 2013). "Anachronism, Literary Historicism, and Miraculous Plagues". The William and Mary Quarterly 70 (4): 821-823. 
• 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. 
• (1958) "The World of the Founding Fathers". Social Research 25 (2): 191–214. 
• Perry, Richard L. (1959). Sources of our liberties; documentary origins of individual liberties in the United States Constitution and Bill of rights. Chicago: American Bar Foundation. https://archive.org/details/sourcesofourlibe0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up. 
• Phillips, Kevin (2012). 1775 : A good year for Revolution. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-6700-2512-1. https://archive.org/details/1775goodyearforr0000phil/page/n7/mode/2up. 
• Powell, William S. (2000). Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: John Williams. VI. Univ of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-66993. 
• (1922) "Randolph". The Virginia Law Register 8 (6): 415–418. DOI:10.2307/1105871. 
• Renehan, Edward (2007). The Treaty of Paris: The Precursor to a New Nation. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-04300. https://archive.org/details/treatyofparispre0000rene. 
• Roberts, Cokie (2004). Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. New York: Harper Large Print. ISBN 0060533315. https://archive.org/details/foundingmothersw0000robe. 
• Scaife, Lauriston L. (1921). Milton and the Suffolk resolves. Milton Historical Society. https://archive.org/details/miltonsuffolkres00scai/page/n1/mode/2up?q=suffolk+resolves. 
• Stewart, David O. (2015). Madison's Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781451688597. https://books.google.com/books?id=poGMCwAAQBAJ. 
• Swindler, William F. (February 1981). "Our First Constitution: The Articles of Confederation". American Bar Association Journal 67 (2): 166-169. 
• Umbreit, Kenneth Bernard (1941). Founding Fathers: Men who Shaped Our Tradition. Harper & Brothers. https://books.google.com/books?id=KYMTAQAAMAAJ. 

Unger, Harlow (2009). James Monroe: The Last Founding Father. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81808-0. https://archive.org/details/lastfoundingfath0000unge. 

• Wood, Gordon S. (2007). Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founding Fathers Different. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 9781594200939. https://archive.org/details/revolutionarycha0000wood_o2p3. 
• Wright, William D. (2002). Critical Reflections on Black History. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. p. 125. https://books.google.com/books?id=GYs4YUVGtewC&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
• Yafa, Stephen (2006). Cotton: The Biography of a Revolutionary Fiber. Penguin. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-1430-37224. https://books.google.com/books?id=DZoxe0aO9AEC. 
• Young, Rowland L. (November 1977). "The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union". American Bar Association Journal 63 (11): 1572–1575. 

Online sources

---

• "Chronological List of Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents of the United States". The Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/057_chron.html. Retrieved August 19, 2022. 
• Emily Sneff (December 4, 2016). "December Highlight: Founding Fathers?". Declaration Resources Project, Harvard University. https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/blog/december-founders. 
• Morris, Richard B.. "Essay: John Jay and the Constitution". Columbia University Libraries. https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/jay/jay_constitution. 
• Jefferson, Thomas (March 4, 1805). "Thomas Jefferson Second Inaugural Address". The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jefinau2.asp. 
• Adams, John Quincy (March 4, 1825). "Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams". The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/qadams.asp. 
• Adams, John Quincy (July 11, 1826). "Executive Order [on the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams"]. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley. University of California Santa Barbara. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-the-deaths-thomas-jefferson-and-john-adams. 
• Van Buren, Martin (March 4, 1837). "Martin Van Buren: Inaugural Address". The American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/inaugural-address-28. 
• Polk, James (March 4, 1845). "Inaugural Address of James Knox Polk". The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/polk.asp. 
• McKinley, William (March 4, 1897). "First Inaugural Address of William McKinley". The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/mckin1.asp. 
• Harding, Warren G. (March 4, 1921). "Inaugural Address of Warren G. Harding". The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/harding.asp. 
• Reagan, Ronald (January 21, 1981). "First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan". The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/reagan1.asp. 
• Reagan, Ronald (January 21, 1985). "Second Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan". The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/reagan2.asp. 
• "First Continental Congress". George Washington's Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/first-continental-congress/. 
• "The Robert Livingston Papers". The Gotham Center for New York City History. https://www.gothamcenter.org/robert-livingston-papers. 
• "Peyton Randolph (1721–1775)". George Washington's Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/peyton-randolph-1721-1775/#note6. 
• "The Story of the Suffolk Resolves". Milton, Massachusetts: Miltom Historical Commission. 1973. http://www.miltonhistoricalsociety.org/DigitalArchives/1973%20The%20Story%20of%20the%20Suffolk%20Resolves.pdf. 
• "John Adams & the Massachusetts Constitution". Massachusetts Court System. https://www.mass.gov/guides/john-adams-the-massachusetts-constitution#-why-study-the-massachusetts-constitution-. 
• "Confederation Congress". Ohio Historical Society. http://ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2327. 
• "Declaration of Independence". Architect of the Capitol. https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/declaration-independence. 
• "How Do You Define Founding Fathers?". Journal of the American Revolution. December 1, 2015. https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/12/how-do-you-define-founding-fathers/. 
• "Signers of the Declaration of Independence". National Archives. November 6, 2015. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/signers-factsheet. 
• "Meet the Framers of the Constitution". National Archives. November 2, 2015. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/founding-fathers. 
• "The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription". National Archives and Records Administration. September 17, 1787. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript. 
• "The Dickinson Story". Dickinson College Pennsylvania. https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20048/history_of_the_college/1404/the_dickinson_story. Retrieved August 20, 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. https://archive.org/details/americanfounding00barl. 
• 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. (2000). Founding brothers : the revolutionary generation. New York : Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-3754-05440. https://archive.org/details/foundingbrothers0000elli_s9z2. 
• 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).
• Harris, Matthew, and Thomas Kidd, eds. The founding fathers and the debate over religion in revolutionary America: a history in documents (Oxford UP, 2012).
• King George III (1867). The correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North from 1768 to 1783. London: John Murray. https://archive.org/details/cu31924088017870/page/n5/mode/2up. 
• Lefer, David. The Founding Conservatives: How a Group of Unsung Heroes Saved the American Revolution (2013)
• 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)
• 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).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Founding Fathers of the United States

• Founders Online: Correspondence and Other Writings of Seven Major Shapers of the United States
• The Federalist Papers, The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldmaan Law Library, Yale University
• 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

Template:American Revolutionary War