 Show
Hamilton was born on January 11, in 1755 or 1757 at Charlestown, on the British island of Nevis. His parents, Rachel Faucette and James Hamilton, were not married when he was born. James abandoned the family in 1766 and Rachel died in 1768. Hamilton spent his adolescence on the Danish possession of St. Croix. Locals recognized Hamilton’s remarkable intelligence after he published an eloquent letter describing a hurricane that hit the island, and raised money to send him to school in Britain’s North American colonies. Hamilton arrived in the colonies in late 1772 and initially applied to the College of New Jersey, but instead attended King’s College in New York City. While in New York, Hamilton became a supporter of colonial protests against British imperial policy. He wrote several pamphlets in 1774 and 1775 attacking the views of outspoken loyalist Samuel Seabury. In 1775, Hamilton drilled with a volunteer company of militia, and was made captain of an artillery company in March 1776. In the American Revolutionary War, he fought at the battles of Kip’s Bay, White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton. The young captain impressed senior officers in the Continental Army, and William Alexander (Lord Stirling) even asked Hamilton to serve as his military aide. On January 25, 1777, the Pennsylvania Evening Post posted an advertisement: “Captain Alexander Hamilton, of the New-York company of artillery, by applying to the printer of this paper, may hear of something to his advantage.”1 This referenced General George Washington’s decision to invite Hamilton to his military staff, which Hamilton accepted, making him a lieutenant colonel. For the next four years, Hamilton was one of Washington’s most valued staff members, and had a variety of responsibilities, including writing letters to Congress, state politicians, and other Continental Army officers. Washington and Hamilton from Mount Vernon on Vimeo. While Washington’s aide, Hamilton wed Elizabeth Schuyler, on December 14, 1780. She was the daughter of Philip Schuyler, who had served as a major general in the Continental Army and was one of the wealthiest men in New York. Hamilton left Washington’s staff in March 1781 after a dispute with the general and out of frustration with his lack of field command. Washington ultimately granted him a field command, and on October 14, 1781, Hamilton led the successful assault of Redoubt 10 during the Siege of Yorktown, which contributed to the surrender of General Lord Charles Cornwallis. Following Yorktown, Hamilton was selected by New York to be a delegate to the Confederation Congress in 1782. As a member of Congress, he was part of a nationalist faction that attempted to use discontent among officers about pay to frighten Congress and the states into adopting an amendment that allowed Congress to tax imports. Certain officers camped at Newburgh, New York, called for force against Congress, and only a personal plea by Washington quelled the so-called Newburgh Conspiracy. Following this incident, Washington warned Hamilton that “the Army is a dangerous instrument to play with.”2 Hamilton served as one of New York’s delegates to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787, and proposed that senators and the executive serve for life, and that the executive have an absolute veto. Although his proposals were not fully adopted, Hamilton passionately campaigned for the Constitution. He joined James Madison and John Jay in writing the Federalist Papers in support of ratification, penning the majority of the essays. Hamilton was also a delegate to the New York ratifying convention in Poughkeepsie during the summer of 1788, and helped convince largely antifederalist New York to ratify the new Constitution. After George Washington was elected the nation’s first president in 1789, he appointed Hamilton secretary of the treasury. Hamilton sought to create a stable financial foundation for the nation and increase the power of the central government. He pushed for the national government to assume state debts, which would bind creditors to the federal government. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Representative James Madison opposed this plan, and only assisted its passage through Congress when Hamilton agreed to a permanent location for the nation’s capital along the Potomac River. Hamilton made the First Bank of the United States a centerpiece of his financial plan. Modeled on the Bank of England, the bank held government funds, issued loans to the government, provided currency, and increased liquid capital to facilitate economic growth. Hamilton’s opponents, led by Jefferson and Madison, believed his policies dangerously empowered the central government and favored the rich over yeoman farmers. In time, Hamilton and Jefferson became the leaders of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties respectively. Jefferson and Hamilton also disagreed over foreign policy. After war broke out between Great Britain and France in 1793, Hamilton favored Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality, which Jefferson opposed. Jefferson resigned in December 1793, frustrated that Washington usually sided with Hamilton. In 1794, Hamilton helped quell the Whiskey Rebellion, and resigned from his cabinet post in January 1795. Hamilton remained active politically after leaving the cabinet, and helped draft Washington’s Farewell Address in 1796. Washington was called out of retirement in 1798 to lead a Provisional Army, when war with France loomed. The aging Washington insisted that Hamilton be his second in command, noting that “I know not where a more competent choice could be made.”3 With Washington’s death in December 1799, Hamilton was briefly the senior-ranking officer of the army, until his departure from the service the following year. When Thomas Jefferson finished in an electoral tie with Aaron Burr in the election of 1800, some Federalist Congressmen wanted to give Burr the election. Hamilton believed Jefferson was preferable to Burr, and wrote to Federalists imploring them to support Jefferson. In one letter, he said Burr was “a man of extreme and irregular ambition; that he is selfish to a degree which excludes all social affections” and added “he [Burr] is inferior in real ability to Jefferson.”4 Hamilton helped break the congressional deadlock and Jefferson was elected. During the New York gubernatorial election of 1804, the Albany Register published a letter stating that Hamilton had insulted Aaron Burr, one of the candidates, at a private dinner. Burr lost the election, and after confronting Hamilton about the reported slander, challenged him to a duel. On July 11, 1804, Burr mortally wounded Hamilton in Weehawken, New Jersey, and Hamilton died the following day. Eliza survived her husband by fifty years, passing away in 1854. Today, Hamilton is recognized for his role in creating America’s financial system, and his portrait is on the ten-dollar bill. He gained new acclaim in 2015 with the Broadway production Hamilton, a Tony Award-winning musical about his inspiring rise to prominence. Kieran J. O’Keefe Notes: 1. Pennsylvania Evening Post, January 25, 1777. 2. “To Alexander Hamilton from George Washington, 4 April 1783,” Founders Online, National Archives. 3. “From George Washington to Henry Knox, 16 July 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives. 4. “From Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, 16 January 1801,” Founders Online, National Archives. Bibliography: Borden, Morton. Parties and Politics in the Early Republic: 1789-1815. Arlington Heights, IL: AHM Publishing, 1967. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: The Penguin Press, 2004. Harper, John Lamberton. American Machiavelli: Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. McDonald, Forrrest. Alexander Hamilton: A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton, 1979. Miller, John C. Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in Paradox. New York: Harper, 1959. Declaration of Independence, an 1819 painting by John Trumbull, depicts the Committee of Five[a] presenting their draft to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776.[1] LocationThe Thirteen Colonies, primarily those in the Northeastern USAIncludingSigners of the Declaration of Independence (1776), Articles of Confederation (1781), and United States Constitution (1789)Leader(s)
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, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britain, established the United States of America, and crafted a framework of government for the new 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, as Founding Fathers.[2] In addition, signers of the Declaration of Independence and the US 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.[3][4] Furthermore, some historians include signers of the Articles of Confederation, which was adopted as the nation's first constitution in 1781.[5] Beyond this, the criteria for inclusion vary. Historians have singled 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.[6][7][8][9] 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.[10][11] 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.[12] Founding Father as a titleThe exact phrase Founding Fathers was first coined by Senator Warren G. Harding in his keynote speech at the Republican National Convention in 1916.[13] Harding repeated the phrase at his own inauguration in 1921.[14] While presidents and others used the terms founders and fathers in their speeches throughout the 20th century, it was 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.[15][16] The term Founding Fathers has been widely used in histories of the founding era, beginning in 1941 with Kenneth Bernard Umbreit's Founding Fathers: Men Who Shaped Our Tradition.[17][7] John Adams, in response to praise for his generation, rejoined, "I ought not to object to your reverence for your fathers ... 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."[18] In his second inaugural address (1805), Thomas Jefferson referred to those who first came to the New World as "forefathers".[19] At his 1825 inauguration, John Quincy Adams called the Constitution "the work of our forefathers" and expressed his gratitude to "founders of the Union".[20] 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".[21] 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 up to William McKinley's first inauguration in 1897.[22][23][24][25] At a 1902 celebration of Washington's Birthday in Brooklyn, New York, the constitutional lawyer and later congressman, James M. Beck delivered an address titled "Founders of the Republic". 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 members of the Second 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.[9] Key foundersHistorian 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.[27] Morris's selection of seven "greats" has become widely accepted.[8][7] 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.[28][29][30] Franklin, Jay and Adams negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that brought an end to the American Revolutionary War.[31] Washington was Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and later president of the Constitutional Convention.[32][33] 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;[34] Jay as the nation's first chief justice;[35] Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury;[36] Jefferson and Madison as Secretaries of State;[37][38] and Franklin as America's most senior diplomat and later governor of Pennsylvania, for a term of three years.[39] Framers and signersThe 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."[40] In addition, as the nation's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union has also gained acceptance as a founding document.[41][42] As a result, signers of three key documents are generally considered to be Founding Fathers of the United States: Declaration of Independence (DI),[3] Articles of Confederation (AC),[5] and U.S. Constitution (USC).[4] The following table provides a list of these signers, some of whom signed more than one document.
Other delegatesIn 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.[4] 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:[43][44]
Additional foundersIn 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:
WomenHistorians also have come to recognize the roles women played in the nation's early development, using the term "Founding Mothers".[66][67] Among the females honored in this respect are:
Other patriotsThe following men and women also advanced the new nation through their actions, but are not necessarily regarded as founders:
The colonies unite (1765–1774)In the mid-1760s, Parliament began levying taxes on the colonies to finance Britain's debts from the French and Indian War, a decade-long conflict that ended in 1763.[110][111] Opposition to Stamp Act and Townshend Acts united the colonies in a common cause.[112] 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.[113] 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.[114][115] Orchestrated by Samuel Adams and the Boston Committee of Correspondence, the protest was viewed as treasonous by British authorities.[116] 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.[113] 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.[117] 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.[118] Continental Congress (1774–1775) First Continental Congress at Prayer, 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.[119][120] 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.[121][122] First Continental Congress (1774)The First Continental Congress convened at Philadelphia's Carpenter's Hall on September 5, 1774.[123] 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.[73][124] 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!".[125] The delegates then began with a discussion of the Suffolk Resolves, which had just been approved at a town meeting in Milton, Massachusetts.[126] Joseph Warren, chairman of the Resolves drafting committee, had dispatched Paul Revere to deliver signed copies to the Congress in Philadelphia.[127][128][116] The Resolves called for the ouster of British officials, a trade embargo of British goods, and the formation of a militia throughout the colonies.[126] 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.[129][130] 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.[131] 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.[132] 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.[133] 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.[134][135] 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.[136] 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.[137] Second Continental Congress (1775)
On May 10, 1775, less than three weeks after the Battles at Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress convened in the Pennsylvania State House. The gathering essentially reconstituted the First Congress with many of the same delegates in attendance.[138] Among the new arrivals were Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, John Hancock of Massachusetts, and in June, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. 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, and Jefferson was named to replace him in the Virginia delegation.[139] After adopting the rules of debate from the previous year and reinforcing its emphasis on secrecy [140][141], the Congress took under consideration its foremost concern, the defense of the colonies.[142] In response to the outbreak of fighting, the Provincial Congress in Massachusetts sought the Congress's advice on two matters: whether it should assume the powers of civil government and whether the colony should take over the army being formed in Boston. On June 4, leaders in Massachusetts were given permission to govern within the spirit of the colony's charter. As for the second question, Congress spent most of the next two weeks formulating preparations for bringing the fighting forces of all thirteen colonies into the fray.[143] On June 14, Congress approved provisioning the New England militias, agreed to provide ten companies of riflemen as reinforcements, and appointed a committee to draft rules to govern the military, thus establishing the Continental Army. The next day Samuel and John Adams nominated Washington as commander-in-chief, a motion that was unanimously approved.[144][145][146] Two days later, on June 17, Patriot and British forces clashed at Bunker Hill, a victory for the British but a costly one.[147] In an effort to justify military preparations, Congress passed the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms on July 6, a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson and revised by John Dickinson.[144] The issue of proportionatal representation was hotly debated in the First Continental Congress, but because of the lack of population data the Congress settled on giving each colony one vote regardless of size.[148] Subsequently one of the first issues debated and a major source of contention was over proportional representation, where the larger colonies would carry greater weight over the smaller ones.[citation needed] Benjamin Harrison and Patrick Henry stood firmly on the idea that the larger states have proportional 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.[148][149] William Paterson of New Jersey felt such a policy struck at the existence of the smaller states.[150] 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.[151] 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,[152] gave the Congress a new name: the Congress of the Confederation.[153][154] 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.[155] 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.[156][157] Declaration of Independence (1776)Under the auspices of the Second Continental Congress and its Committee of Five,[158] Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. It was presented to the Congress by the Committee on June 28,[159] and after much debate and editing of the document, on July 2, 1776,[160][161] Congress passed the Lee Resolution, which declared the United Colonies independent from Great Britain. Two days later, on July 4, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.[162] The name "United States of America", which first appeared in the Declaration, was formally approved by the Congress on September 9, 1776.[163] 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.[164][165][159] Fighting for independenceWhile 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.[166][167] 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.[168] 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.[169] 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.[170] 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.[171] Treaty of ParisSee also: First Page, image Transcript of Treaty 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,[172] and David Hartley, a member of Parliament, and Richard Oswald, a prominent and influential Scotish businessman,[173] represented Great Britain.[174] 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.[175] Communications between Britain and France was largely effected through Franklin and Lord Shelburne who was on good terms with Franklin.[176] 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.[177] Constitutional ConventionIn the winter and spring of 1786–87, 12 of the 13 states chose 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 replied, "I smelled a rat." He believed that the frame of government the convention organizers were intent on building would trample upon citizens' rights.[178] The Constitutional Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia.[179] The delegates elected George Washington, whom they all trusted, to preside over the convention.[180] 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.[180] The 55 delegates attending the Constitutional Convention were a group of distinguished men who represented a cross-section of 18th-century American leadership. Nearly all were well-educated and prominent in their respective states. Nearly all were involved in the revolution and its war, with at least 29 serving in the Continental Army. The group in its entirety had extensive political experience; 41 of the delegates were or had been members of the Continental Congress.[181] Because they were about to make major changes to the form of government rather than amend the existing one, which was deemed 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.[182][183] As such, Madison's notes on the ratification were not published until after his death in 1836.[184] 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.[179] After it had been adopted, Madison maintained that it was Washington's influence that brought overall acceptance of the Constitution.[185] On April 6, 1789, under the new Constitution, the Senate oversaw the counting of a total of 69 ballots that unanimously elected Washington as the first president of the United States, with 34 ballots that elected John Adams as the nation's first vice president.[186] Rhode Island's lack of representation at the convention was the result of suspicions of the convention delegates' motivations. As Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams as a sanctuary for Baptists, its absence at the convention in part explains the absence of Baptist affiliation among those who attended. Of the 55 delegates who attended at some point, no more than 38 showed up at one time.[187] After the Constitution was ratified, Madison advised President Washington on various important decisions and legislation that placed the young nation on a stable foundation.[188] Religious freedomReligious persecution had existed for centuries around the world and it existed in colonial America.[189] Founders such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry and James Mason first established a measure of religious freedom in Virginia in 1776 with the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which became the model for religious liberty for the nation.[190] The Baptists, Presbyterians and the Lutherans had been for a decade prior petitioning against the established church of England for religious liberties. Jefferson had left the Continental Congress to return to Virginia to join the fight for religious freedom, which proved difficult, as many members of the Virginia legislature belonged to the established church. While he was not completely successful, Jefferson managed to have the laws which punished those with different religious beliefs repealed.[191][192][193] Jefferson was also the architect for separation of Church and State, was opposed to the use of public funds to support the established church and thought it unwise to link civil rights to religious doctrine.[194][193] Freedom of religion, along with freedom of speech, ultimately became the law of the nation. The first statement in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution proclaims the right to Freedom of Religion, and became part of the Bill of Rights which was adopted in 1791.[189] Bill of RightsThe Constitution, as drafted, was sharply criticized by the Anti-Federalists, a group that contended the document failed to safeguard individual liberties from the federal government. Leading Anti-Federalists included Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, both from Virginia, and Samuel Adams of Massachusetts. Delegates at the Constitutional Convention who shared their views were Virginians George Mason and Edmund Randolph and Massachusetts representative Elbridge Gerry, all of whom refused to sign the final document.[195] Henry, who derived his hatred of a central governing authority from his Scottish ancestry, did all in his power to defeat the Constitution, opposing Madison every step of the way.[196] The criticisms are what led to the amendments proposed under the Bill of Rights. Madison, the bill's principal author, was originally opposed to the amendments, but was influenced by the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, primarily written by Mason, and the Declaration of Independence, by Thomas Jefferson.[197] Jefferson, while in France, shared Henry's and Mason's fears about a strong central government, especially the president's power, but because of his friendship with Madison and the pending Bill of Rights, he quieted his concerns.[198] Alexander Hamilton, however, was opposed to a Bill of Rights believing the amendments not only unnecessary but dangerous:
Madison had no way of knowing the debate between Virginia's two legislative houses would delay the adoption of the amendments for more than two years.[200] The final draft, referred to the states by the federal Congress on September 25, 1789,[201] was not ratified by Virginia's Senate until December 15, 1791.[202]
Madison came to be recognized as the founding era's foremost proponent of religious liberty, free speech, and freedom of the press.[204] Ascending to the presidencyThe 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.[205]
Demographics and other characteristicsThe Founding Fathers represented the upper echelon of political leadership in the British colonies during the latter half of the 18th century.[206][207] All were leaders in their communities and respective colonies who were willing to assume responsibility for public affairs.[208] 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.[209][210] Nearly half were lawyers, while the remainder were primarily businessmen and planter-farmers.[211][212][213] The average age of the founders was 43.[214] Benjamin Franklin, born in 1706, was the oldest, while only a few were born after 1750 and thus were in their 20s.[215][216][217] 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 experienceNearly all of the Founding Fathers had extensive political experience at the national and state levels.[218][219] 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.
EducationNearly a third of the Founding Fathers attended or graduated from the five colleges located in the American colonies. A significant number also attended college abroad, primarily in England and Scotland. All other founders were either home schooled, studied under tutors, completed apprenticeships, or were self-educated. American collegesFollowing is a listing of founders who graduated from the six colleges in the Americas during the Colonial Era. The notation "(attended)" following a name indicates the founder attended but did not graduate from the institution.
United Kingdom collegesFollowing are founders who studied in England and Scotland. Unless otherwise noted, those listed are graduates.
EthnicityThe greater majority of founders were natives of the American Colonies, while just nineteen were born in other parts of the British Empire.
OccupationsWhile the Founding Fathers were engaged in a broad range of occupations, the greater majority had careers in three professions: about half the founders were lawyers, a sixth were planters/farmers, another sixth were merchants/businessmen, and the others were spread across miscellaneous professions.
ReligionOf 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).[363] 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.[363] A few prominent Founding Fathers were anti-clerical, notably Jefferson.[364][365] 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".[366] 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.[80] Founders on currency and postageFour U.S. Founders are minted on American currency—Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington; Washington and Jefferson both appear on three different denominations.
Selected stamps of Founders Alexander Hamilton, 1870 issue Thomas Jefferson, 1904 issue George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, 1920 issue Selected stamps of Founding events Declaration of Independence, 1869 issue Washington at Cambridge, 1925 issue Washington at the Battle of Brooklyn, 1951 issue Drafting the Articles of Confederation, 1977 issue Cultural impact (1843–present)HolidaysIndependence Day (colloquially called the Fourth of July) is a United States national holiday celebrated yearly on July 4 to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the nation. Washington's Birthday is also observed as a national federal holiday, and is also known as Presidents' Day. InstitutionsSeveral Founding Fathers were instrumental in establishing schools and societal institutions that still exist today:
Media and theaterThe 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.[citation needed] 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.[373] SportsSeveral major professional sports teams based in the Northeastern United States pay homage to Founding Father events, monuments, and ideals, including:
SlaveryThe 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".[374] 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.[375][376] 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.[377][378][379][380] Franklin, though he was a key founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society,[381] 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,[382] although he did negotiate slave transactions for his wife's family, the Schuylers.[383] Many of the Founding Fathers never owned slaves, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Paine.[384] 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".[381][385] 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.[385] In 1782, Virginia passed a manumission law that allowed slave owners to free their slaves by will or deed.[386] As a result, thousands of slaves were manumitted in Virginia.[386] 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.[385] Scholarly analysisHistorians 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.[387] 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.[388][389] Early historiansSeveral 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.[390] David Ramsay, one of the first major historians of the American Revolutionary War.[391] Mercy Otis Warren wrote extensively about the Revolution and Post Revolution. All of her works were published anonymously until 1790.[391][52] Mason Locke Weems wrote the first biography of Washington in 1800. It contains the famous story about the young Washington and the cherry tree.[392] William Wirt wrote the first biography about Patrick Henry in 1805, but was accused for much bias in his praise of Henry.[393] 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.[394] 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.[395] Modern historiansArticles 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.[396] 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.
Daniel Webster, 1825[397] 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.[398][399][400] Freeman has documented the often opposing visions of the Founding Fathers as they tried to build a new framework for governance."[401] 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."[374] 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.[402] 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
See also
Explanatory notes
Citations
BibliographyPrint references
Online sources
Further reading
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Founding Fathers of the United States.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Founding Fathers of the United States.
|
Which of the following founders was the principal architect of the constitution?
Pos Terkait
Copyright © 2024 ketiadaan Inc.
