The Founding Fathers

The Founding Fathers were the men who supported the colonists' separation from Britain and the creation of a new government in the colonies.  They created the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution.

George Washington:
He was the commander and chief of the army in the revolutionary war. He was selected as the first President of the United States of America after the war. He thought that political parties would be detrimental to the United States. Political parties have been an issue specially recently when the government was shut down because of the split between the two parties. Also he was against meddling in the business of other countries and warned future leaders to stay out of foreign problems.

Thomas Jefferson:
He was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence, and 3rd President of the United States of America. He was a anti-federalist, and tried to weaken the power of the Federal government while he was the President. During his Presidency he was most well known for his belief in self-government.

Benjamin Franklin:
He had many accomplishments across different fields. His scientific achievements ranged from mapping the golf streams to creating swimming fins. He started the research that led to the creation of electricity. He served as the US ambassador to France and later on the governor of Virginia.

John Adams:
He was the first vice-President and the second President of the United States of America. Big influence on the separation of powers in the government, and also drafted the preamble in The Constitution. He joined the Federalist party and supported the federal government. He followed a lot of George Washington's ideas and created the laws to keep them part of the government. He was the President during the XYZ Affair that created peace with France, and he also signed the alien and sedition acts.

James Madison:
The main writer of the Constitution, and the fourth President. During the writing of the constitution he proposed the Virginia plan which he had come up with. The Virginia plan wanted rule by population, but that was turned down for the Connecticut plan. His ideas on government were heavily federalist as he wanted the government to take away sovereignty from the people. During his presidency he wanted to start a trade war with Britain because he thought that Britain needed America to survive but America could survive on its own land. This caused a big fight in the congress and thus started the split up of the people into two parties the Jeffersonian-Republicans and the Federalist.

Patrick Henry:
"Give me liberty or give me death!" This is the most well known of a couple famous quotes from Patrick Henry. But another one that is also very important is, "I smelt a rat" which was directed toward James Madison. Patrick Henry refused to go to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 because he thought that James Madison wanted to put in a dictator or revert back to the ways of a monarch. Even though at first he was very against the federal system of the Constitution, he eventually decided it was for the best to have a strong central government, and he spoke for the Federalist party in 1798.

Thomas Pain:
He was one of the biggest philosophers that believed in the writes of man. He wrote the book Rights of Man and it was published in 1971. This book was used to refute Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Even though he wasn't at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 his book was a huge influence on the Constitution.