The Constitution of the United States of America by Founding Fathers

The core meaning of 'founding fathers' remains constant, whatever the group's membership. Significantly, however, with few exceptions the phrase has not included those who were not white, whether African American or Native American. Some political writers have sought to remind Americans of the role of women in the nation's history, applying the term 'founding mothers' to such women as Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, and Deborah Sampson. Some historians have used the phrase 'revolutionary generation'-although, depending on whom one includes, the founding fathers spanned three or even four generations, from Benjamin Franklin to Albert Gallatin (1761–1849). Some have used it to identify not only the usual cadre of elite white males but also the middling and common sorts who served in the American Revolution, voted for or against the Constitution, and helped to bring the new government into existence. Morris, the eminent historian of the Revolution, in 1973: Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), George Washington (1732–1799), John Adams (1735–1826), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), John Jay (1745–1829), James Madison (1751–1836), and Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804).īut 'founding fathers' is a protean phrase whose meaning has varied depending on who has used it and when.

At a minimum, the roster would include the seven key founding fathers named by Richard B. More often it means the delegates to the Federal Convention, who met in the same building from May through September of 1787 and framed the proposed Constitution of the United States (more usually known as 'framers'), and those who supported or opposed the Constitution during the ratification controversy of 1787–1788. Sometimes the term covers only the delegates to the Second Continental Congress (more usually known as 'signers'), who in July 1776 in Philadelphia's State House (now known as Independence Hall) declared American independence and adopted Thomas Jefferson's amended Declaration of Independence.

The term 'founding fathers' denotes the politicians, soldiers, jurists, and legislators who held leadership positions during the era of the American Revolution, the Confederation period, and the early Republic.

The Constitution of the United States of America by Founding Fathers