Founding Fathers of the United States

The term Founding Fathers of the United States of America refers broadly to those individuals of the Thirteen British Colonies in North America who led the American Revolution against the authority of the British Crown and established the United States of America. It is also used more narrowly, referring specifically to those who either signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 or who were delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and took part in drafting the proposed Constitution of the United States.

Terminology 1
Background 2
Collective biography of the Framers of the Constitution 3
- Political experience 3.1
- Occupations and finances 3.2
- Family and finances 3.3
- Demographics 3.4
- Longevity and family life 3.5
- Religion 3.6
- Post-convention careers 3.7
Slaves and slavery 4
Legacy 5
Lists of the Founding Fathers 6
- Signers of the Continental Association (1774) 6.1
- Signers of the Declaration of Independence (1776) 6.2
- 6.3 Signers of the Articles of Confederation (1777)
- Delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention 6.4
  - Signers of the Constitution 6.4.1
  - Delegates who left the Convention without signing 6.4.2
  - Convention delegates who refused to sign 6.4.3
- Other founders 6.5
See also 7
Notes 8
References 9
External links 10

Terminology

Within the large group known as the "Founding Fathers", there are two key subsets, those who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776) and those who framed the Constitution in 1787. A further subset includes those who signed the Articles of Confederation.^[1]

Some historians define the "Founding Fathers" to mean a larger group, including not only the Signers and the Framers but also all those who, whether as politicians, jurists, statesmen, soldiers, diplomats, or ordinary citizens, took part in winning American independence and creating the United States of America.^[2] Historian

External links

American National Biography Online, (2000).
Richard B. Bernstein, Are We to Be a Nation? The Making of the Constitution (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987).
R. B. Bernstein, The Founding Fathers Reconsidered (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Richard D. Brown. "The Founding Fathers of 1776 and 1787: A Collective View," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 33, No. 3 (Jul. 1976), pp. 465–480 online at JSTOR.
Henry Steele Commager, "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).
Joseph J. Ellis. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History.
Joanne B. Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001).
Jack P. Greene. "The Social Origins of the American Revolution: An Evaluation and an Interpretation," Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 88, No. 1 (Mar. 1973), pp. 1–22 online in JSTOR.
P.M.G. Harris, "The Social Origins of American Leaders: The Demographic Foundations, " Perspectives in American History 3 (1969): 159–364.
Mark E. Kann; The Gendering of American Politics: Founding Mothers, Founding Fathers, and Political Patriarchy (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1999).
Adrienne Koch; Power, Morals, and the Founding Fathers: Essays in the Interpretation of the American Enlightenment (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1961).
Frank Lambert. The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. (Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press, 2003).
Martin, James Kirby. Men in Rebellion: Higher Governmental Leaders and the coming of the American Revolution, (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1973; reprint, New York: Free Press, 1976).
Morris, Richard B. Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
Robert Previdi; "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
Cokie Roberts. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation (New York: William Morrow, 2005); popular
Gordon S. Wood. Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different (New York: Penguin Press, 2006)

References

^ Stanfield, Jack. America's Founding Fathers: Who Are They? Thumbnail Sketches of 164 Patriots (Universal-Publishers, 2001).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f R. B. Bernstein, The Founding Fathers Reconsidered (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
^ ^a ^b Richard B. Morris, Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
^ americanrevolution.org Key to Trumbull's picture
^ Burnett, Continental Congress, 64–67.
^ Fowler, Baron of Beacon Hill, 189.
^ "Signers of the Declaration". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. p. Biography #54. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
^ "Confederation Congress". Ohio Historical Society. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
^ Calvin C. Jillson (2009). American Government: Political Development and Institutional Change (5th ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 31.
^ See the discussion of the Convention in Clinton L. Rossiter, 1787: The Grand Convention (New York: Macmillan, 1966; reprint ed., with new foreword by Richard B. Morris, New York: W. W. Norton, 1987).
^ See Brown (19764); Martin (19739); "Data on the Framers of the Constitution," at [1]
^ Martin (1973); Greene (1973)
^ Greene (1973)
^ ^a ^b Brown (1976)
^ Greene (1973).
^ Brown (1976); Harris (1969)
^ Staar (January 2009). "Our Founding Fathers". Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
^ Letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813 "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government,"
^ Letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814 "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."
^ The Religion of Thomas Jefferson Retrieved July 9, 2011
^ Quoted in The New England Currant (July 23, 1722), "Silence Dogood, No. 9; Corruptio optimi est pessima." "And it is a sad Observation, that when the People too late see their Error, yet the Clergy still persist in their Encomiums on the Hypocrite; and when he happens to die for the Good of his Country, without leaving behind him the Memory of one good Action, he shall be sure to have his Funeral Sermon stuff'd with Pious Expressions which he dropt at such a Time, and at such a Place, and on such an Occasion; than which nothing can be more prejudicial to the Interest of Religion, nor indeed to the Memory of the Person deceas'd. The Reason of this Blindness in the Clergy is, because they are honourably supported (as they ought to be) by their People, and see nor feel nothing of the Oppression which is obvious and burdensome to every one else."
^
^ See, e.g., Religioustolerance.org/Deism, Jim Peterson (2007) "The Revolution of Belief: Founding Fathers, Deists, Orthodox Christians, and the Spiritual Context of 18th Century America Robert L. Johnson, "The Deist Roots of the United States of America"
^ Gregg L. Frazer, The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders: Reason, Revelation, and Revolution (University Press of Kansas; 2012)
^ Treaty of Peace and Friendship http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/bar1796t.asp
^ Martin (1973)
^ ^a ^b Wright, William D. (2002). Critical Reflections on Black History.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Freehling, William W. (February 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review 77 (1): 87.
^ ^a ^b The Cambridge History of Law in America. 2008. p. 278.
^ Freehling, William W. (February 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review 77 (1): 88.
^ Freehling, William W. (February 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review 77 (1): 85.
^ Joseph J. Ellis; Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. (2001) p. 214.
^ Elizabeth Fox-Genovese; Eugene D. Genovese (2005). The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders' Worldview. Cambridge University Press. p. 278.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Encyclopaedia Britannica. Founding fathers: the essential guide to the men who made America (John Wiley and Sons, 2007).
^ McWilliams, J. (1976). "The Faces of Ethan Allen: 1760-1860". The New England Quarterly 49 (2): 257–282.
^ Newman, Richard. Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers (NYU Press, 2009).
^ Jane Goodall (27 August 2013). Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants. Grand Central Publishing. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-1-4555-1321-5.
^ Ballenas, Carl. Images of America: Jamaica (Arcadia Publishing, 2011).
^ ^a ^b Antieau, Chester James (1960). "Natural Rights and the Founding Fathers—The Virginians". Wash. & Lee L. Rev.: 43.
^ Holmes, David. The Faiths of the Founding Fathers. (Oxford University Press US, 2006).
^ Wood, Gordon S. Revolutionary Characters, What Made the Founding Fathers Different. (New York: Penguin Books, 2007) 225–242.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Buchanan, John. "Founding Fighters: The Battlefield Leaders Who Made American Independence (review)". The Journal of Military History (Volume 71, Number 2, April 2007), pp. 522–524.
^ Stephen Yafa (2006). Cotton: The Biography of a Revolutionary Fiber. Penguin. p. 75.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Dungan, Nicholas. Gallatin: America's Swiss Founding Father (NYU Press 2010).
^ LaGumina, Salvatore. The Italian American experience: an encyclopedia, page 361 (Taylor & Francis, 2000).
^ Unger, Harlow (2009). James Monroe: The Last Founding Father. New York: Da Capo Press.
^ Kann, Mark E. (1999). The Gendering of American Politics: Founding Mothers, Founding Fathers, and Political Patriarchy. ABC-CLIO. p. xi.
^ "Founding Father Thomas Paine: He Genuinely Abhorred Slavery". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (48): 45. 2005.
^ Hall, Max. Harvard University Press: a history, page 138 (Harvard University Press 1986).
^ Burstein, Andrew. "Politics and Personalities: Garry Wills takes a new look at a forgotten founder, slavery and the shaping of America", Chicago Tribune (November 09, 2003): "Forgotten founders such as Pickering and Morris made as many waves as those whose faces stare out from our currency."
^ ^a ^b Rafael, Ray. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Founding Fathers: And the Birth of Our Nation (Penguin, 2011).
^ Schwartz, Laurens R. Jews and the American Revolution: Haym Solomon and Others, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 1987.
^ Kendall, Joshua. The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture (Penguin 2011).
^ Wright, R. E. (1996). "Thomas Willing (1731-1821): Philadelphia Financier and Forgotten Founding Father". Pennsylvania History 63 (4): 525–560.
^ "A Patriot of Early New England", New York Times (December 20, 1931). This book review referred to Wingate as one of the "Fathers" of the United States, per the book title.
^ The New Yorker, Volume I, page 398 (September 10, 1836): "'The Last of the Romans' — This was said of Madison at the time of his decease, but there is one other person who seems to have some claims to this honorable distinction. Paine Wingate of Stratham, N.H. still survives."

Notes

Lists of the Founding Fathers

^[33]", lived well into the nineteenth century.Last of the RomansThe last remaining founders, also called the "

"We can win no laurels in a war for independence," Webster acknowledged in 1825. "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."^[32]

– "the founders" represented a heroic but anonymous abstraction whose long shadow fell across all followers and whose legendary accomplishments defied comparison. John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, 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 Joseph J. EllisAccording to the historian

Legacy

Many Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin owned slaves (Franklin later became an abolitionist) .^[27] 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".^[27]^[28] The Founding Fathers, however, did make important efforts to contain slavery. Many Northern states had adopted legislation to end or significantly reduce slavery after the American Revolution.^[28] In 1782 Virginia passed a manumission law that allowed slave owners to free their slaves by will or deed.^[29] As a result, thousands of slaves were manumitted in Virginia.^[29] Thomas Jefferson, in 1784, proposed to ban slavery in all the Western Territories, which failed to pass Congress by one vote.^[28] Partially following Jefferson's plan, Congress did ban slavery in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, for lands north of the Ohio River.^[28] The international slave trade was banned in all states except South Carolina, by 1800. Finally in 1807, President Jefferson signed into law a Federally-enforced ban on the international slave trade throughout the U.S. and its territories.^[30] However, the domestic slave trade was allowed, for expansion, or for diffusion of slavery into the Louisiana Territory.^[31]

Portrait of William Lee.

Slaves and slavery

The 1787 delegates' subsequent careers reflected their abilities as well as the vagaries of fate.^[26] Most were successful, although seven (Fitzsimons, Gorham, Luther Martin, Mifflin, Robert Morris, Pierce, and Wilson) suffered serious financial reverses that left them in or near bankruptcy. Two, Blount and Dayton, were involved in possibly treasonous activities. Yet, as they had done before the convention, most of the group continued to render public service, particularly to the new government they had helped to create.

Post-convention careers

The Treaty of Tripoli, states that "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"^[25] and was passed unanimously by the Senate and signed by President John Adams.

Historian Gregg L. Frazer argues that the leading Founders (Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Wilson, Morris, Madison, Hamilton, and Washington) were neither Christians nor Deists, but rather supporters of a hybrid "theistic rationalism".^[24]

A few prominent Founding Fathers were anti-clerical Christians, such as Thomas Jefferson^[18]^[19]^[20] (who created the so-called Jefferson Bible) and Benjamin Franklin.^[21] Others (most notably Thomas Paine, who authored the religious book The Age of Reason^[22]) were deists, or at least held beliefs very similar to those of deists.^[23]

Lambert (2003) has examined the religious affiliations and beliefs of the Founders. Of the 55 delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, 49 were Protestants, and two were Roman Catholics (D. Carroll, and Fitzsimons). Among the Protestant delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 28 were Church of England (or Episcopalian, after the American Revolutionary War was won), eight were Presbyterians, seven were Congregationalists, two were Lutherans, two were Dutch Reformed, and two were Methodists.

Religion

Most of the delegates married and raised children. Sherman fathered the largest family: 15 children by two wives. At least nine (Bassett, Brearly, Johnson, Mason, Paterson, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Sherman, Wilson, and Wythe) married more than once. Four (Baldwin, Gilman, Jenifer, and Alexander Martin) were lifelong bachelors. Many of the delegates also had children conceived illegitimately.^[17]

Secretary Charles Thomson lived to the age of 94. Johnson died at 92. John Adams lived to the age of 90. A few—Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Williamson, and Wythe—lived into their eighties. Either 15 or 16 (depending on Fitzsimons's exact age) died in their seventies, 20 or 21 in their sixties, eight in their fifties, and five only in their forties. Three (Alexander Hamilton, Richard Dobbs Spaight and Button Gwinnett) were killed in duels.

For their era, the 1787 delegates (like the 1776 signers) were average in terms of life spans.^[14] Their average age at death was about 67. The first to die was Houston in 1788; the last was Madison in 1836.

Death age of the Founding Fathers.

Longevity and family life

The Founding Fathers had strong educational backgrounds at some of the colonial colleges or abroad.^[16] Some, like Franklin and Washington, were largely self-taught or learned through apprenticeship. Others had obtained instruction from private tutors or at academies. About half of the men had attended or graduated from college. Some men held medical degrees or advanced training in theology. Most of the education was in the colonies, but several were lawyers who had been trained at the Inns of Court in London.

Most of the 1787 delegates were natives of the Thirteen Colonies. Only 9 were born elsewhere: four (Butler, Fitzsimons, McHenry, and Paterson) in Ireland, two (Davie and Robert Morris) in England, two (Wilson and Witherspoon) in Scotland, and one (Hamilton) in the West Indies.
Many of them had moved from one state to another. Seventeen individuals had already lived, studied or worked in more than one state or colony: Baldwin, Bassett, Bedford, Dickinson, Few, Franklin, Ingersoll, Hamilton , Livingston, Alexander Martin, Luther Martin, Mercer, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, Read, Sherman, and Williamson.
Several others had studied or traveled abroad.

Brown (1976) and Harris (1969) provide detailed demographic information on each man.

Demographics

A few of the 1787 delegates were wealthy, but many of the country's top wealth-holders were Loyalists who went to Britain. Most of the others 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.^[15]

Family and finances

Thirty-five had legal training, though not all of them practiced law. Some had also been local judges.^[14]
At the time of the convention, 13 men were merchants: Blount, Broom, Clymer, Dayton, Fitzsimons, Shields, Gilman, Gorham, Langdon, Robert Morris, Pierce, Sherman, and Wilson.
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.
Fourteen owned or managed slave-operated plantations or large farms: Bassett, Blair, Blount, Johnson, Butler, Carroll, Jenifer, Jefferson, Madison, Mason, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Rutledge, Spaight, and Washington.
Many wealthy Northerners owned domestic slaves: Franklin later freed his slaves and was a key founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. 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 signed into law a gradual abolition law; fully ending slavery as of 1827. He freed his own slaves in 1798.
Broom and Few were small farmers.
Eight of the men received a substantial part of their income from public office: Baldwin, Blair, Brearly, Gilman, Livingston, Madison, and Rutledge.
Three had retired from active economic endeavors: Franklin, McHenry, and Mifflin.
Franklin and Williamson were scientists, in addition to their other activities.
McClurg, McHenry, Rush, and Williamson were physicians, and Johnson was a college president.

The 1787 delegates 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.^[13]

Occupations and finances

Thomas Mifflin and Nathaniel Gorham had served as President of the Continental Congress.
The ones who lacked congressional experience were Washington and Yates.
Eight men (Wythe) had signed the Declaration of Independence.
Six (Carroll, Dickinson, Gerry, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, and Roger Sherman) had signed the Articles of Confederation.
Two, Sherman and Robert Morris, signed all three of the nation's basic documents.
Dickinson, Franklin, Langdon, and Rutledge had been governors.

The Framers of the Constitution had extensive political experience. By 1787, four-fifths (41 individuals), were or had been members of the Continental Congress. Nearly all of the 55 delegates had experience in colonial and state government, and the majority had held county and local offices.^[12]

Political experience

These delegates represented a cross-section of 18th-century American leadership. Almost all of them were well-educated men of means who were leaders in their communities. Many were also prominent in national affairs. Virtually every one had taken part in the American Revolution; at least 29 had served in the Continental Army, most of them in positions of command. Several of the latter were instrumental in establishing the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783. Scholars have examined the collective biography of them as well as the signers of the Declaration and the Constitution.^[11]

In the winter and spring of 1786–1787, twelve of the thirteen states chose a total of 74 delegates to attend what is now known as the Federal Convention in Philadelphia. Nineteen delegates chose not to accept election or attend the debates; for example, Patrick Henry of Virginia thought that state politics were far more interesting and important than national politics, though during the ratification controversy of 1787–1788 he claimed, "I smelled a rat." Rhode Island did not send delegates because of its politicians' suspicions of the Convention delegates' motivations. 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.^[10]

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

Collective biography of the Framers of the Constitution

The newly founded country of the United States had to create a new government to replace the United States Constitution.

The Patrick Henry, and John Adams, were elected by their respective colonial assemblies. Other notable delegates included Samuel Adams from Massachusetts, John Dickinson from Pennsylvania and New York's John Jay. This congress in addition to formulating appeals to the British crown, established the Continental Association to administer boycott actions against Britain. When the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10, 1775, it was, in effect, a reconvening of the First Congress. Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting participated in the second.^[5] Notable new arrivals included Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, John Hancock of Massachusetts, and John Witherspoon of New Jersey. Hancock was elected Congress President two weeks into the session when Peyton Randolph was summoned back to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses. Thomas Jefferson replaced Randolph in the Virginia congressional delegation.^[6] The second Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Witherspoon was the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration. He also signed the Articles of Confederation and attended the New Jersey (1787) convention that ratified the Federal Constitution.^[7]

Declaration of Independence, a painting by John Trumbull depicting the Committee of Five presenting their draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Congress on June 28, 1776. Trumbull's painting appears on the reverse of the United States two-dollar bill.^[4]

Background

, advocating ratification of the Constitution. The Federalist Papers Three of these (Hamilton, Madison and Jay) were authors of the [3]

This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.

Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.

By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.

Founding Fathers of the United States