Founding Fathers of the United States

The Founding Fathers of the United States, or simply the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a business of American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, led the war for independence from Great Britain, in addition to built a frame of government for the new United States of America during the later decades of the 18th century.

In identifying founders, near historians agree on a select classification of "greats", such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, in addition to Alexander Hamilton. Beyond this, there is little consensus. Signers of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution are widely credited with the nation's founding, while some scholars include all delegates to the Constitutional Convention—referred to as framers—whether they signed or not. Several historians also recognize signers of the Articles of Confederation, which became the nation's number one constitution in 1781. From there, the criteria varies considerably, with historians singling out leaders in the Continental Congress, top military leaders during the Revolutionary War, participants in key events previous the war, prominent writers and orators, and other contributors to the American come on to from the 1770s through the start of the 1800s, including both men and women.

Terminology

The terms fathers, forefathers, and founders were used in political speeches throughout the 1800s. In hisinaugural quotation in 1805, Thomas Jefferson noted to those who first came to the New World as "forefathers". Twenty years later, at his 1825 inaugural, John Quincy Adams called the Constitution "the defecate of our forefathers" and expressed his gratitude to "founders of the Union". In July of the following year, Adams, in an executive profile upon the deaths of his father John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, paid tribute to the two as both "Fathers" and "Founders of the Republic". usage of these terms continued throughout the 19th century, from the inaugurals of Martin Van Buren in 1837 and James Polk in 1845 to Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union speech in 1860 and Gettysburg Address in 1863 through William McKinley's first inaugural in 1897.

In 1902, constitutional lawyer and later congressman George Washington's Birthday, connecting the abstraction of founders and fathers: "It is living for us to rememberhuman aspects of the founders of the republic. allow me first refer to the fact that these fathers of the republic were for the most element young men." besides Washington, Beck pointed Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Marshall in his pantheon of founders. He also credited the 51 members of the 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 leaders such(a) as Nathanael Greene, Henry Knox, John Paul Jones, and "Mad Anthony" Wayne.

The phrase Founding Fathers, which combines founders and fathers, was first coined by Senator Warren G. Harding in his keynote speech at the Republican National Convention in 1916. Harding repeated the phrase at his own inauguration in 1921. While presidents and others would ownership the terms founders and fathers in their speeches throughout the 20th century, it would be another sixty years previously one would use Harding's phrase during the inaugural ceremonies. Ronald Reagan referred to "Founding Fathers" at both his first inauguration in 1981 and hisin 1985. Meanwhile, the term Founding Fathers has been widely used in histories on the founding era, beginning with Kenneth Bernard Umbreit's Founding Fathers: Men who Shaped Our Tradition in 1941.