Founding Fathers of the United States

The **Founding Fathers** refers to certain men who lived during the American Revolutionary War era. These men signed the Declaration of Independence, helped write the Constitution of the United States, or helped win the American Revolutionary War.  Many of these men were members of the Continental Congress at some point. The term "Founding Fathers" was first used for these people in 1916.

There were many people who were Founding Fathers.  Some scholars like to limit them to a small number, such as seven: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison.

Most of the Founding Fathers were large landowners or rich merchants. Most of them owned slaves. After the Constitution, many of the Founding Fathers became leaders in the federal government. Five of them, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and James Monroe, were later elected president of the United States.

## List of Founding Fathers

|style="width:150pt;"|Name|style="width:105pt;"|Province/state|style="width:25pt;"|<abbr title="Declaration of Independence">DI </abbr>(1776)|style="width:25pt;"|<abbr title="Articles of Confederation">AC</abbr> (1777)|style="width:25pt;"|<abbr title="United States Constitution">USC</abbr> (1787)|
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||New York|||||||||
||New York|||||||||
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||New York|||||||||
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||Virginia|||||||||
||New Jersey|||||||||
||Virginia|||||||||
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||New York|||||||||
||New York|||||||||
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||New York|||||||||
|Pennsylvania||||||||||
||New York|||||||||
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||Pennsylvania|||||||||
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||Pennsylvania|||||||||
||Pennsylvania|||||||||
||Delaware|||||||||
||Pennsylvania|||||||||
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||South Carolina|||||||||
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||Connecticut|||||||||
||Pennsylvania|||||||||
||Pennsylvania|||||||||
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||New Jersey|||||||||
||Maryland|||||||||
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||Georgia|||||||||
||New Hampshire|||||||||
||Delaware|||||||||
||Georgia|||||||||
||Georgia|||||||||
||Virginia|||||||||
||New Hampshire|||||||||
||New Hampshire|||||||||
||North Carolina|||||||||
||Connecticut|||||||||
||North Carolina|||||||||
||Pennsylvania|||||||||
||New Jersey|||||||||
||Connecticut|||||||||
||Virginia|||||||||

### Other delegates

The 55 delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention are referred to as framers. Of these, the 16 listed below did not sign the document. Three refused, while the remainder left early, either in protest of the proceedings or for personal reasons. Nevertheless, some sources regard all framers as founders, including those who did not sign:

- 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
<sub>(*) Randolph, Mason, and Gerry were the only three present at the Constitution's adoption who refused to sign.</sub>

## Infobox (historical era)

- **name**: Founding Fathers of the United States
- **location**: Thirteen Colonies
- **start**: 1760s
- **end**: 1820s
- **image**: Declaration of Independence (1819), by John Trumbull.jpg
- **image size**: 300px
- **caption**: The Committee of Five (John Adams, Adams, Robert R. Livingston, Livingston, Roger Sherman, Sherman, Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, Franklin) present their draft of the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on June 28, 1776, as depicted in John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence (painting), 1818 portrait.
- **including**: Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence (1776), Articles of Confederation (1781), and Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution (1789)
- **leaders**: * John Adams
* Samuel Adams
* Benjamin Franklin
* Alexander Hamilton
* John Hancock
* Patrick Henry
* John Jay
* Thomas Jefferson
* Richard Henry Lee
* Robert R. Livingston
* James Madison
* George Mason
* Robert Morris (financier), Robert Morris
* Peyton Randolph
* Roger Sherman
* George Washington
* James Wilson (Founding Father), James Wilson
- **key events**: *Stamp Act 1765, Stamp Act
* Boston Tea Party
* Intolerable Acts
* American Revolutionary War
* Lee Resolution
* United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence
* Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris
* United States Constitution
* United States Bill of Rights, Bill of Rights