The Founding Fathers
George Washington
Leadership Qualities
• Tall, commanding presence
• Symbol of American virtue
• Charismatic warrior and
politician
• Abigail Adams said, “He
has the dignity which
forbids familiarity mixed
with an easy affability
which creates love and
reverence.”
...continued
Public Life
• Land surveyor
• Early military experience
• Virginia House of
Burgesses
• Delegate to the Continental
Congress
• Commander in chief of
Continental Army
• Presiding officer of the
Constitutional Convention
• First US president and
“Father of His Country”
Thomas Paine
• Immigrated to colonies
shortly before Revolution
• Wrote Common Sense, a
call to revolution, in 1776
• Wrote ideas of revolution
in simple language for all to
understand
• His pamphlet, The Crisis,
inspired the army to fight
• Unsuccessful in a variety
of jobs, he died a penniless
drunkard
“These are the times that
try men’s souls.”
Thomas Jefferson
A Renaissance Man
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Political philosopher
Architect
Musician
Book collector
Scientist
Horticulturist
Diplomat & Linguist
Inventor
Politician
Referred to his years as
president as “splendid
misery.”
Jefferson’s Tombstone
“…and not one word more.”
Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of
Independence
Of the Statute of Virginia for
Religious Freedom
And Father of the University of
Virginia
Benjamin Franklin
• As a printer he established
the Pennslyvania Gazette
and wrote Poor Richard’s
Almanack
• Invented the lightning rod,
Franklin stove, and bifocal
glasses
• An accomplished musician,
he played the violin, harp,
and guitar
• As a scientist he was
interested in electricity
and the weather
…continued
• As a statesman and
diplomat he signed all four
important documents of
the Revolutionary era:
– Declaration of
Independence
– Alliance with France
– Treaty of Paris
– US Constitution
• As an economist, he said
“waste neither time nor
money”
Samuel Adams
Major early leader of the
American Revolution:
• Led protest against Stamp
Act
• Founded the Sons of
Liberty
• Organized the Boston Tea
Party
• Served in the Continental
Congress
• Signed the Declaration of
Independence
Alexander Hamilton
• Aide-de-camp to
Washington
• Experience at Valley Forge
brought him to feel that a
strong central government
was needed
• At the Annapolis
Convention he drafted a
call for the Constitutional
Convention where he made
the longest speech
• Co-authored with Madison
the Federalist Papers
• States’ rights issue divided
Madison and Hamilton
…continued
• Dramatic orator with personal appeal
• As Secretary of the Treasury he was responsible for
establishing a policy of national credit and credibility
– Pay all foreign debts
– Pay domestic debts
– Assume state debts
• According to a contemporary, “the mighty mind of
Hamilton would at times bear down all opposition by its
comprehensive grasp and the strength of his reasoning
power.”
Patrick Henry
• A passionate and fiery
orator who proposed the
Virginia Stamp Act
Resolutions
• As a lawyer he argued for
broader suffrage
• Served in the 1st
Continental Congress and
as Governor of Virginia
• Strongly opposed the
Constitution, favoring
strong state governments
and a weak federal
government
James Madison
• Served in the Virginia House
of Delegates
• Served in the Continental
Congress
• “Father of the Constitution”
• Sponsor of the Bill of Rights
• Co-Author of the Federalist
Papers
• Secretary of State under
Jefferson
• 4th president of the United
States
John Adams
• Harvard law graduate
• Led Massachusetts
movement for revolution
• Served in Continental
Congresses
• Diplomatic service in
Holland, France, Britain
• Negotiated Treaty of Paris
• 1st vice president and 2nd
president
“My country has in its wisdom
contrived for me the most
insignificant office that ever
the invention of man contrived
or his imagination conceived.”
Treaty 0f Paris, 1783
George Mason
• One of the wealthiest
Virginia planters
• Protested Stamp Act
• Protested Intolerable Acts
in the Fairfax County
Resolves
• US Bill of Rights based on
Mason’s Virginia
Declaration of Rights
• Delegate to the
Constitutional Convention,
but refused to sign the
final document
George III
• Known as the king who lost
the American colonies and
went mad
• Surrounded by poor
ministers whose primary
concern was their own
interests
• Opposed until the end the
colonists’ revolt
• Many of the colonists’
grievances were against
acts of Parliament not
actions of the king
…continued
• John Adams said of the British: “The pride and vanity
of that nation is a disease; it is a delirium; it has been
flattered and inflamed so long by themselves and others
that it perverts everything.”
• About the loss of America, George III said: “...that
knavery seems to be so much the striking feature of its
inhabitants that it may not be in the end an evil that
they become aliens to this Kingdom.”
John Jay
• President of the Continental
Congress 1778-1779
•Co-writer of the federalist
papers
•Authored the Jay treaty 1794
•First Chief Justice of the U.S.
1789-1795
•Governor of New York 17951801
•Opponent of slavery –
emancipated slaves in New York
James Monroe
• Studied law under Thomas Jefferson
• Delegate in the Continental Congress
• Ardent Anti-federalist who fought against
ratification of the Constitution
• Senator
• Governor of Virginia
• Helped negotiate the Louisiana
Purchase 1803
• 5th President of the U.S. Declared
the Monroe doctrine – continued
attempts by Europe to colonize in
the western hemisphere would be
seen as an act of aggression against
the U.S.
Benjamin Rush
• A member of the Sons of Liberty
• Consulted with Thomas Paine in
the writing of “Common Sense”
• Surgeon General in the
Continental Army
• Signed the declaration of
Independence
• Served in the Continental
Congress
• Helped reconcile the friendship
of Thomas Jefferson and John
Adams
John Hancock
• As President of the Continental Congress he was
the first to sign the Declaration of Independence
• First and third Governor of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.
• According to legend, Hancock signed his name
largely and clearly so that King George could read
it without his spectacles, but this fanciful story
did not appear until many years later
John Witherspoon
• Signatory of Declaration
of Independence as a
New Jersey representative
• President of Princeton
• Only active clergyman and president of a University
to sign.
• Appointed congressional chaplain by John Hancock.
• Taught moral philosophy at Princeton and was a
staunch believer in natural law.
• Helped draft the Articles of the Confederation.
• Famous descendent – Reese Witherspoon!
John Peter Muhlenberg
• Pennsylvania Congressman
• Pennsylvania Senator
• Flair for the dramatic – On January 21, 1776 in
the Lutheran church in Virginia he took his sermon
text from the third chapter Ecclesiastes, which
starts with "To every thing there is a season...";
after reading the eighth verse, "a time of war, and
a time of peace," he declared, "And this is the
time of war," removing his clerical robe to reveal
his Colonel's uniform.
• Appointed Colonel of the Virginia 8th at the
request of George Washington.
Charles Carroll
• Participated in burning the Peggy Stewart – a tea
ship – to protest the tea tax.
• Only Catholic signer of Declaration of
Independence.
• Oldest and last surviving signatory – died at age 95
• Delegate to Continental Congress
• Senator from Maryland
• Participated in printed debates for war in
the Maryland Gazette under the
pseudonym “First Citizen”
• One of the richest men in America he
donated a great deal of money to the war
effort
Jonathan Trumbull Sr.
• Governor of Connecticut
• Only Colonial Governor to
continue in office through the
revolution.
• Only Colonial Governor to side
with the revolution
• Friend and Advisor of George
Washington
• Blatantly refused to help British
General Thomas Gage.