The Founding Fathers: An Overview
Before we look at each of the Founding Fathers individually, let’s review them as a group in general.
When we hear or read the term “Founding Father,” the individuals that first come to remembrance are Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison. If you are a real American history buff (like me) you will also remember John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Roger Sherman, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Gouverneur Morris. But if you’re a REAL American history buff (like me 
) you will also remember Benjamin Rush, Fisher Ames, George Mason, Richard Henry Lee, Robert Morris, James Wilson, Oliver Wolcott and Oliver Wolcott, Jr., John Witherspoon (er, make that: REVEREND John Witherspoon), William Livingstone, Charles Cotesworth Pinkney, Caleb Strong, and many, MANY others.
No doubt you have not heard of most of these individuals, but that’s what this blog is for! There’s no better way to learn about the Founding Fathers than to 1) read their writings and the words of those who knew them, and 2) reading blogs like this which make this info available in a fun and catchy format.
First, let’s briefly examine the most well-known.
George Washington embodies everything it is to be a Founding Father and an American. He is known as the “Father of His Country” because of his leadership in the events that led to American independence and the early administration of our form of government. As a young colonel in the British Army (while America was still a collection of British colonies) he unwittingly started the French and Indian War while on a journey to a French fort on behalf of Virginia’s colonial governor William Dinwiddie. (When the Americans took over during the Revolution, they dignified both the office and the names of those who held the office.) Colonel Washington was to deliver a message to the French commander telling him (in a polite and formal manner, of course) “Get off my land!” When the French commander refused, replying that the French king had given him his orders, Washington returned with the news which made war between England and France (with the American colonists in between) inevitable. Most of the colonists sided with England, including George Washington, who was responsible for the first outbreak of battle between the two armies. Washington and his Indian allies accidentally ambushed and killed a party of French diplomats in the American wilderness, and although it was Washington’s intent to take the diplomats prisoner, his Indian allies murdered them, and Washington would forever bear the responsibility of the Frenchmen’s deaths. What does the French and Indian War have to do with American Independence? The French and Indian War first) helped give the American colonies a sense of unity, whereas before they had just been a bunch of colonies that had very little to do with one another except when it came to trade (nothing unites people like a common enemy), and second) it made the British feel that they deserved more power in and over the colonists, which the colonists believed the British had no constitutional right to, and this caused the Americans to foment rebellion against the tyranny of the British crown.
When the Revolutionary War officially broke out in 1775, George Washington was appointed by the Continental Congress to be the Commander-in-Chief of the American Continental Army. His courage, perseverance, leadership, and trust in God lead America successfully through this trying time.
After the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which created the United States Constitution, the first outline of federal constitutional republican government in the world. When the Constitution was ratified by enough states, George Washington was unanimously elected as its first President, and by dispensing this important trust with wisdom and just moderation, he set important precedent for all Americans who would take the head of the federal government after him. George Washington was indeed the “first in war, the first in peace, the first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
Thomas Jefferson is perhaps one of the three most well-known Founding Fathers (Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin being perhaps the three most well-known), having been the chief writer of the Declaration of Independence (besides the Continental Congress, which debated Jefferson’s draft to a pulp), and served as the third U.S. President under the Constitution, responsible for annexing the Louisiana Territory to the United States. In addition to these, his next greatest role in the government was serving as the first Secretary of State under the Constitution. Naturally, by being the first to fill that position, he set much important precedent for that department, but more notably, he was responsible for forming one of the major political parties in America under the Constitution, due to major political disputes with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
Thomas Jefferson is perhaps more famous for his high-flown writings than for his direct contributions to American government; the only founding document he signed was the Declaration of Independence, and was neither present nor a signer of any other founding document. His writings on liberty, government, and philosophy have been the essence of American thought, especially since the nineteenth century. Most of the public offices he held, he appears to have held out of reluctance, desiring more to attend to his family, books, and farm than to the affairs of his government. He made many major contributions to his local area and his home state of Virginia. He desired that his epitaph list what he though were the three greatest accomplishments of his life: his authorship of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Liberty, and the Founder of the University of Virginia.
One of the most remarkable events of Jefferson’s life was that he died on the same day (July 4, Independence Day) as his early compatriot John Adams, as foretold in a dream of Benjamin Rush, a friend of both of men, who also signed the Declaration of Independence.
John Adams is another familiar name among the Founding Fathers. Though his accomplishments to American liberty and independence are not as widely known as those of his contemporaries Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin, he was largely responsible for leading the charge for national independence in the Continental Congress, along with his second cousin, Samuel Adams. In fact, a fellow Continental Congressman Richard Stockton (who signed the Declaration of Independence) called John Adams the “Atlas of American Independence.” Though Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, and Washington are the most associated with the rise of American independence, none of them would have gained their name had not John Adams been the primary mover in Congress for announcing American independence.
Yet despite his leading role not only in establishing American independence but also in creating the new American government, John Adams is a largely unpopular figure among the most well-known Founding Fathers (Adam’s lack of popularity is second only to that of Alexander Hamilton). His frank and blunt manner made him unpopular and open to extreme criticism even in his own day. But Adams could not help his bluntness — it was his natural Yankee trademark. And besides, most of the times Adams was right, and dared to espouse even the most unpopular causes. Such people are certainly worthy of our admiration and imitation.
James Madison is another well-known Founding Father, because of his great involvement in shaping the U. S. Constitution and the original Bill of Rights. In fact, Madison has been widely considered the “Father of the Constitution” in spite of his attempts to waive the title. Before the Convention which framed the Constitution convened, Madison had been one of the primary leaders for a more energetic and well-organized federal government. During the Convention, Madison took the most detailed notes of the debates and proceedings, and these notes have proven indispensable to any accurate study of the intent and spirit of the Constitution. After the Convention adjourned, Madison co-authored The Federalist Papers along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. He is also famous for serving as the fourth U. S. President, during the troublesome years of the War of 1812. Also notable is the fact that Madison was the last of the signers of the Constitution to pass away.
Madison’s quiet, non-combative personality combined with his genius and persuasiveness earned him the nickname “the great little Madison” at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was reserved and fair in his judgments, but he never compromised what he thought was right.
Sometimes, however, I find it difficult to detect consistency in his beliefs, and he remains a somewhat controversial figure among the Founding Fathers (though his beliefs are not quite as hotly disputed as are the beliefs of men like Washington, Jefferson, or Hamilton). For instance, during the Constitutional Convention, Madison seems to have taken a more “federal” stand on issues relating to the relationship between the federal government and the state governments. Madison made this position known both in his speeches at the Convention and in several issues of the Federalist Papers. But after the Constitution He also seems to have changed positions several times on issues surrounding Alexander Hamilton’s fiscal policies — during the Convention, Hamilton and Madison agreed on these issues, but when Hamilton became the first Secretary of the Treasury, Madison became the most outspoken opponent of the measure. Madison also opposed a national central bank, but during his own presidency and the outbreak of the War of 1812, Madison switched his position again, and supported the establishment of a Second Bank of the United States. Madison’s quotes have been used for as well as against the argument for “separation of church and state.” In my upcoming posts, we shall discover more about this Founding Father.
Alexander Hamilton is certainly one of the most interesting Founding Fathers, and all those people whom I have read who have begun to study his life have found it captivating. One of the reasons for this is that he was so “one-sided” in a sense; he never liked to be looked on as being “neutral” (unless he believed both extremes were wrong), and always took a strong stand on (unfortunately for his popularity) very divisive issues (the federal government, slavery, economics, dueling, etc.). There are perhaps many people who would like to attribute such a disposition to arrogance or blind brashness, but the truth is that Hamilton was a person who always liked to know everything there was to know about an issue. He’d study it, be consumed with it, and after thoroughly examining the evidence, he came to his conclusion. As he once said:
“Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have is this. When I have a subject in mind. I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. My mind becomes pervaded with it… the effort which I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.”
But Hamilton did more than just come to strong conclusions; he voiced them passionately and with an irresistible conviction that made him most convincing — whether it was in Washington’s military staff, on the floor of the legislature, in the Convention, in Washington’s Presidential Cabinet, or before a grand jury.
Another thing that makes the study of his life, and indeed the man himself, captivating is the fact that he is extremely controversial. Especially within the past several years, his true political beliefs are beginning to be more and more contested. Over the past century, we Americans have taken for granted that Hamilton and Founders like him shaped this government for the enrichment of the rich, that they wanted a powerful bureaucratic government that was not very accountable to the people, and that Hamilton was anti-American. Now that the movement of people who are insisting that we read the Founders’ own writings and rely on original sources is gaining dynamo, new light is being shed on Hamilton’s REAL beliefs, as well as the REAL beliefs of the Founding Fathers in general. This is a movement of which I am a proud part, as my ancestral heritage dates all through the entire history of the formation of American government. These issues I also plan to discuss in later posts.
In my later posts, I will reintroduce to the American public those names that have been LONG -forgotten in American history. Names such as Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, George Mason, Gouverneur Morris, John Jay, Benjamin Rush, Elias Boudinot, Roger Sherman, William Livingston, and many, many more.
Stay tuned!
One Response to “The Founding Fathers: An Overview”
September 27th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
George Mason was a colonel in the Revolutionary Army under Washington. He held out for a Bill of Rights in the Federal Constitution, and he never signed that document. He was opposed to slavery. His statue in Washington depicts him keeping the books of Rousseau, Locke and Cicero.
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