American Colonial History
A New Country
© North Carolina Community College System
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We know King George III of England
angered the colonists.
• He required the colonists to
keep British soldiers in their
homes for free.
• He required the colonists to pay high taxes.
• He did not let the colonists
have self-government.
So the colonists
declared their
independence.
The men who led the
country to
independence are
called
Founding Fathers.
Thomas Jefferson is a
Founding Father.
He wrote the
Declaration of
Independence.
The colonies adopted
it on July 4, 1776.
George Washington is a
Founding Father.
• Washington led the American
army fighting the British.
• Washington was
also the first
President of the
United States.
• He is called the
“Father of Our
Country.”
As free people, Americans
had to set up a government.
The Founding Fathers wrote
the U.S. Constitution in 1787 at the
Constitutional Convention.
To encourage people to vote for (ratify)
the Constitution, New York newspapers
printed a series of 85 essays.
We call these essays the
Federalist Papers.
Nobody knew who was writing the
Federalist Papers. The essays had the
signature “Publius.”
http://www.foundingfathers.info/
(“Publius” is a senator in Shakepeare’s play “Julius Caesar.”)
Today we know that “Publius” was
three Founding Fathers:
• John Jay (President of the Continental
Congress and first Chief Justice of the United
States, Jay wrote 5 of the essays.)
• Alexander Hamilton (First United
States Secretary of the Treasury,
Hamilton wrote 52 of the essays.)
• James Madison (Fourth
President of the United States,
Madison wrote 28 of the essays.)
Benjamin Franklin is one of the
most amazing Founding
Fathers.
• Franklin was the
oldest member of
the Constitutional
Convention.
• He was the first
Postmaster
General of the
United States.
• He was the first
American Diplomat.
He went to France.
He got France to
support America in
her fight for
independence from
Britain.
• He wrote “Poor Richard’s Almanac.”
His almanac had a calendar,
weather predictions, Franklin’s own
wise sayings, and astrological
signs.
Early to bed and early to
rise, makes a man
healthy, wealthy, and
wise.
-Benjamin Franklin
• He started the
first free
libraries.
The Founding Fathers established the
important principles of American
democracy in
• the Declaration of Independence,
1.------------------• the Constitution, and
2.-----------------3.-----------------• the Bill of Rights.
4.-----------------5.-----------------6.------------------
In the next lesson, we will see
how the United States
faced new problems
in the 1800s.