|
|
Our Founding
Fathers
The Founding Fathers of the United States were the political leaders
who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 or otherwise took
part in the American Revolution in winning American independence
from Great Britain, or who participated in framing and adopting the
United States Constitution in 1787-1788, or in putting the new
government under the Constitution into effect. Within the large
group known as "the founding fathers," there are two key subsets,
the Signers (who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776) and
the Framers (who were delegates to the Federal Convention and took
part in framing or drafting the proposed Constitution of the United
States). Most 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 or jurists or statesmen
or soldiers or diplomats or ordinary citizens, took part in winning
American independence and creating the United States of America.[2]
The eminent American historian Richard B. Morris, in his 1973 book
Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as
Revolutionaries, identified the following seven figures as the key
founding fathers: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John
Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander
Hamilton.
Warren G. Harding, then a Republican Senator from Ohio, coined the
phrase "Founding Fathers" in his keynote address to the 1916
Republican National Convention. He used it several times thereafter,
most prominently in his 1921 inaugural address as President of the
United States.-Courtesy Wikipedia
|
George
Washington
Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces.
1st President of the United States of America (1789-97)
In May 1787, Washington headed the Virginia delegation to the
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously
elected presiding officer. His presence lent prestige to the
proceedings, and although he made few direct contributions, he
generally supported the advocates of a strong central
government. After the new Constitution was submitted to the
states for ratification and became legally operative, he was
unanimously elected President (1789). |
 |
John Adams
Drafted the Declaration of Independence
2nd President of the United States
In 1774-76, Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to the
Continental Congress in Philadelphia. His speeches and writings
(especially a newspaper series signed "Novanglus" in 1775)
articulating the colonial cause and his brilliant championing of
American rights in Congress caused Thomas Jefferson to call him
the "Colossus of Independence." Adams helped draft the
Declaration of Independence, secured its unanimous adoption in
Congress, and wrote his wife on July 3, 1776, that "the most
memorable Epoch in the History of America has begun." Adams was
revered by his countrymen not only as one of the founding
fathers but also as a plain, honest man who personified the best
of what the nation could hope of its citizens and leaders.
|
 |
Thomas
Jefferson
Governor of Virginia. U.S. Minister to France. Secretary of
State under
George Washington. Vice-President of the United States of
America.
3rd President of the United States
Thomas Jefferson wished to be
remembered for three achievements in his public life. He had
served as the Governor of Virginia, as US Minister to France, as
Secretary of State under George Washington, Vice President of
the United States under John Adams, and two terms as President
of the United States (1801 - 1809). On his tombstone, however,
which he designed and for which he wrote the inscription, there
is no mention of these offices. Rather, it reads that Thomas
Jefferson was "Author of the Declaration of American
Independence, of the State of Virginia for religious freedom,
and Father of the University of Virginia," and, as he requested,
"not a word more." |
 |
James
Madison
4th President of the United States
In 1801, Madison was appointed secretary of state by the new
president, Jefferson
James Madison was the foremost architect of the U.S.
Constitution, a leading theorist of republican government.In
1814, Napoleon's defeat released thousands of veteran British
troops for service in North America. The greatly improved
American armies successfully defended the Niagara frontier, but
the city of Washington itself was captured by the British and
burned. Madison watched the flames from the other side of the
Potomac. Soon afterward, however, the British were defeated in
Baltimore harbor and repulsed in their invasion of New York
State via Lake Champlain.
|
| |
|
 |
Alexander
Hamilton
First Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton was one of the most influential of the United
States' founding fathers. Hamilton's own career was
terminated prematurely when he was killed in a duel with Aaron
Burr in 1804. He proposed, therefore, to pay the nation's debts
in full and also to assume the unpaid debts of the various
states. He urged this candidly as a means of both diminishing
the fiscal importance of the states and cementing the loyalty of
wealthy commercial interests to the federal government. With the
nation's economy thus buttressed and biased toward commerce,
Hamilton proposed that a national bank be established to help
the federal government manage the nation's trade and finance.
These proposals were accepted by Congress, and the Bank of the
United States was chartered in 1791.
|
 |
Benjamin Franklin
In his many careers as printer,
moralist, essayist, civic leader, scientist, inventor,
statesman, diplomat, and philosopher, Benjamin Franklin became
for later generations of Americans both a spokesman, a model for
the national character, and considered as a "Founding Father."
In October 1776, Franklin and his two grandsons sailed for
France, where he achieved an amazing personal triumph and gained
critical French aid for the Revolutionary War. Franklin then
became the first American minister to France. For seven years he
acted as diplomat, purchasing agent, recruiting officer, loan
negotiator, admiralty court, and intelligence chief and was
generally the main representative of the new United States in
Europe.
|
 |
John Jay
First Chief Justice of the United States
Served as the second Secretary of Foreign Affairs
An
American
politician,
statesman,
revolutionary,
diplomat,
President of the Continental Congress
from 1778 to 1779. During and after the
American Revolution, he was a
minister (ambassador) to Spain
and
France, helping to fashion
United States foreign policy
and to secure favorable peace terms from the
British (the
Jay Treaty) and French. He
co-wrote the
Federalist Papers with
Alexander Hamilton and
James Madison. |
| |
|
| |
For a complete list of all the Presidents the United States with
links to their biographies go to this
recommended link. |
| |
|
| |
|
|
