Quick Study: Who were the Founding Fathers?

Monday, February 2, 2015 - 10:19 By Chuck Springston

Founders include (clockwise, from left), Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington and James Madison.

Americans often speak of the Founding Fathers, usually fondly and frequently to show that certain political views are descendants of noble spirits we hold in high esteem. But what exactly makes someone a Founding Father?

       There is no official, universally accepted definition.
       Many references limit the term to this group: the men who served as delegates to the 1787 convention that produced the Constitution. That covers Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.
       Neither John Adams nor Thomas Jefferson attended the Constitutional Convention. But they are arguably the two most significant members of the Continental Congress that issued the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Many Americans would be shocked to learn that some sources don't consider Adams and Jefferson Founding Fathers.
       Both the Constitution and the declaration are founding documents of the country. The 105 men who signed the declaration or attended the Constitutional Convention (six men did both) should all be considered Founding Fathers, or founders for short.
       The founding of the United States, however, was not the work of those men alone. Uncountable soldiers, sailors, pioneers, lawyers, doctors, journalists, poets, pamphleteers, merchants, artisans, teachers and farmers, women and men, native born and inspired newcomers, moved the Colonies toward independence and a national identity.
      They are all part of the "founding generation," a group of 2.5 million people in 1776, stretching from New Hampshire to Georgia, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Appalachian Mountains, with an equally wide-ranging collection of political philosophies, religious beliefs and personality traits.
     In the resources section,you will find lists of the signers of the declaration, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and other notables of the founding generation.

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