Founding Fathers of the United States

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

John Trumbull's famous painting is usually incorrectly identified as a depiction of the signing of the Declaration. What the painting actually depicts is the five-man drafting committee presenting their work to the Congress. Trumbull's painting can also be found on the back of the U.S. $2 bill.

Founding Fathers of the United States, also known to some Americans as the Fathers of Our Country, the Forefathers, Framers or the Founders, are the political leaders who signed the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution, or otherwise participated in the American Revolution as leaders of the Patriots.

Signatories of the Declaration of Independence

John Adams Samuel Adams Josiah Bartlett Carter Braxton Charles Carroll Samuel Chase Abraham Clark George Clymer William Ellery William Floyd Benjamin Franklin Elbridge Gerry Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall John Hancock Benjamin Harrison John Hart Joseph Hewes Thomas Heyward, Jr.

William Hooper Stephen Hopkins Francis Hopkinson Samuel Huntington Thomas Jefferson Francis Lightfoot Lee Richard Henry Lee Francis Lewis Philip Livingston Thomas Lynch, Jr. Thomas McKean Arthur Middleton Lewis Morris Robert Morris John Morton Thomas Nelson, Jr. William Paca John Penn

Robert Treat Paine George Read Caesar Rodney George Ross Benjamin Rush Edward Rutledge Roger Sherman James Smith Richard Stockton Thomas Stone George Taylor Matthew Thornton George Walton William Whipple William Williams James Wilson John Witherspoon Oliver Wolcott George Wythe

Constitutional Convention delegates

Delegates who signed

Abraham Baldwin Richard Bassett Gunning Bedford, Jr. John Blair William Blount David Brearly Jacob Broom Pierce Butler Daniel Carroll George Clymer Jonathan Dayton John Dickinson William Few Thomas Fitzsimons Benjamin Franklin Nicholas Gilman Nathaniel Gorham Alexander Hamilton Jared Ingersoll

Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer William Samuel Johnson Rufus King John Langdon William Livingston James Madison James McHenry Thomas Mifflin Gouverneur Morris Robert Morris William Paterson Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Charles Pinckney George Read John Rutledge Roger Sherman Richard Dobbs Spaight George Washington (president of the Convention) Hugh Williamson James Wilson William Jackson (Secretary)

16 Delegates who did not sign

William Richardson Davie Oliver Ellsworth Elbridge Gerry William Houston William Houstoun John Lansing, Jr. Alexander Martin Luther Martin

George Mason James McClurg John Francis Mercer William Pierce Edmund Randolph Caleb Strong George Wythe Robert Yates

Other Revolutionary-era figures considered as Founding Fathers

Ethan Allen Richard Bland George Clinton Patrick Henry John Jay Henry Lee III Robert R. Livingston John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. James Monroe, Continental Congressman and fifth President of the United States, the last of the "Republican Generation" Thomas Paine, who went on to champion the French Revolution in his Rights of Man. He was elected to the National Convention and helped to write the constitution of France. Peyton Randolph

See also

• Founding Fathers (worldwide)
• List of Continental Congress Delegates
• List of signatories of the United States Constitution
• Gallery of the Founding Fathers of the United States
• History of the United States Constitution
• History of the United States

References

• Joseph J. Ellis. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (2002), Pulitzer Prize
• Frank Lambert. The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. 2003.
• Gordon S. Wood. Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different (2006)

External links

• NARA - America's founding fathers
• ColonialHall.com: Biographies of America's Founding Fathers
• The Founding Fathers of the American Revolution - Biographies and Information