The Founding Fathers
The Founding Fathers were important people who helped establish the United States. They played big parts in the American Revolution and setting up the government. You can see their impact in their contributions to important documents and how they led and inspired others.
The Founding Fathers are those who signed important documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. The National Archives refers to these three documents as the Charters of Freedom. However, some of them did even more to help their country. In 1973, a historian named Richard B. Morris said there were seven key Founding Fathers. These seven individuals include John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
Each of these men played a big role in helping the United States become independent and grow in its early years. For example, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin helped write the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Franklin, Adams, and John Jay ended the Revolutionary War by signing the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Jay worked hard to get the Constitution approved and wrote the Federalist Papers from 1787 to 1788. Lastly, George Washington led the Continental Army during the war and later became the president of the Constitutional Convention.
After the Revolution, these men kept helping their country grow. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison became the first four presidents. Adams and Jefferson were the first two vice presidents. John Jay was the first chief justice of the Supreme Court. Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury, and Jefferson was the first Secretary of State. Franklin became the first American diplomat.
Origin of the Name
Senator Warren G. Harding first coined the phrase “Founding Fathers” during the Republican National Convention of 1916. Harding reintroduced the phrase at his inauguration on March 4, 1921. Many presidents used the terms “founders” and “fathers” throughout the early 20th century. However, the phrase didn’t surface again until Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and again in his second inauguration on January 21, 1985.
Even though the phrase didn’t take its current shape until 1916 and wasn’t popularized until the 1980s, numerous semantically similar instances are scattered throughout the years leading up to its formal debut in 1916.
Thomas Jefferson referred to the brave souls who first came to the New World as “forefathers” in his second inaugural address in 1805. Martin Van Buren incorporated “forefathers” into his inaugural address in 1837, as did James Polk in 1845. Abraham Lincoln referenced “our fathers” in his Gettysburg Address in 1863. William McKinley later stated that “our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers…” in his first inaugural address.