US Founding Fathers

The term “Founding Fathers” is an inexact term that usually references the 56 signers of the 1776 Declaration of Independence and the 55 delegates to the 1787 US Constitutional Convention. The term has also been applied to Supreme Court justices who served from 1789 to 1795, commanding soldiers in the American Revolution, early government office holders, authors of key Revolutionary-era literature, and delegates to the early Continental Congresses and the 1789 Philadelphia Convention. Some 115 American Revolution-era figures are considered “Founding Fathers.”

The US National Archives and Records Administration describes the “Founding Fathers” in a document titled “The Founding Fathers: A Brief Overview”:

“In terms of religious affiliation, the men mirrored the overwhelmingly Protestant character of American religiouslife at the time and were members of various denominations. Only two… were Roman Catholics.”

“35 were lawyers or had benefited from legal training… 13 individuals were businessmen, merchants, or shippers…six were major land speculators… 11 speculated in securities on a large scale… 12 owned or managed slave-operated plantations or large farms…two were small farmers… 9 received a substantial part of their income from public office… [and] three had retired from active economic endeavors.”

“Some men held advanced and honorary degrees… [two] were scientists…[Two] were physicians… [one] a university president… [one] a minister, [three or more] had studied theology but had never been ordained.”

“A Considerable number of the men were born into leading families… Others were self-made men who had risen from humble beginnings… Most of the delegates were natives of the 13 colonies. Only eight were born elsewhere… many of them had moved from one state to another… Most of the delegates married and raised children… [but] four were… lifelong bachelors.”

List of Founding Fathers of the United States of America

	Name (alphabetical)	State	Declaration of Independence Signatory (1776)	Constitutional Convention Delegate (1787)	Early Supreme Court Justice (1789-1795)
1	John Adams	Massachusetts	X
2	Samuel Adams	Massachusetts	X
3	Ethan Allen*	Vermont	* Early American Revolutionary commander
4	Abraham Baldwin	Georgia		X
5	Josiah Bartlett	New Hampshire	X
6	Richard Bassett	Delaware		X
7	Gunning Bedford, Jr.	Delaware		X
8	John Blair	Virginia		X	X
9	Richard Bland*	Virginia	* Delegate to the Continental Congress (1774-1775)
10	Carter Braxton	Virginia	X
11	David Brearly (Brearley)	New Jersey		X
12	Jacob Broom	Delaware		X
13	Pierce Butler	South Carolina		X
14	Charles Carroll of Carrollton	Maryland	X
15	Daniel Carroll	Maryland		X
16	Samuel Chase	Maryland	X
17	Abraham Clark	New Jersey	X
18	George Clinton*	Virginia	* American Revolutionary soldier, Governor of New York (1801-1804), and US Vice President under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (1805-1812)
19	George Clymer	Pennsylvania	X	X
20	William Cushing	Massachusetts			X
21	William R. Davie	North Carolina		X
22	Jonathan Dayton	New Jersey		X
23	John Dickinson	Delaware		X
24	William Ellery	Rhode Island	X
25	Oliver Ellsworth (Elsworth)	Connecticut		X	X
26	William Few	Georgia		X
27	Tomas Fitzsimons (FitzSimons; Fitzsimmons)	Pennsylvania		X
28	William Floyd	New York	X
29	Benjamin Franklin	Pennsylvania	X	X
30	Elbridge Gerry	Massachusetts	X	X
31	Nicholas Gilman	New Hampshire		X
32	Nathaniel Gorham	Massachusetts		X
33	Button Gwinnett	Georgia	X
34	Lyman Hall	Georgia	X
35	Alexander Hamilton	New York		X
36	John Hancock	Massachusetts	X
37	Benjamin Harrison	Virginia	X
38	John Hart	New Jersey	X
39	Patrick Henry*	Virginia	* Commander in the American Revolution, and Governor of Virginia (1776-1779, 1784-1786)
40	Thomas Heyward, Jr.	South Carolina	X
41	Joseph Hewes	North Carolina	X
42	William Hooper	North Carolina	X
43	Stephen Hopkins	Rhode Island	X
44	Francis Hopkinson	New Jersey	X
45	William Houston	Georgia		X
46	William C. Houston	New Jersey		X
47	Samuel Huntington	Connecticut	X
48	Jared Ingersoll	Pennsylvania		X
49	James Iredell	North Carolina			X
50	John Jay	New York			X
51	Thomas Jefferson	Virginia	X
52	Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer	Maryland		X
53	William Samuel Johnson	Connecticut		X
54	Rufas King	Massachusetts		X
55	John Lansing, Jr.	New York		X
56	John Langdon	New Hampshire		X
57	Richard Henry Lee	Virginia	X
58	Henry Lee III*	Virginia	* Soldier in the American Revolution, and Governor of Virginia (1791-1794)
59	Francis Lewis	New York	X
60	Francis Lightfoot Lee	Virginia	X
61	Philip Livingston	New York	X
62	Robert R. Livingston*	New York	* Member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence (recalled by his state before he could sign it), US Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and US Minister to France
63	William Livingston	New Jersey		X
64	Thomas Lynch, Jr.	South Carolina	X
65	James Madison, Jr.	Virginia		X
66	John Marshall*	Virginia	* Fourth US Supreme Court Justice (1801-1835)
67	Alexander Martin	North Carolina		X
68	Luther Martin	Maryland		X
69	George Mason	Virginia		X
70	James McClurg	Virginia		X
71	James McHenry	Maryland		X
72	Thomas McKean	Delaware	X
73	John F. Mercer	Maryland		X
74	Arthur Middleton	South Carolina	X
75	Thomas Mifflin	Pennsylvania		X
76	James Monroe*	Virginia	* Fifth US President (1817-1825)
77	John Morton	Pennsylvania	X
78	Gouverneur Morris	Pennsylvania		X
79	Lewis Morris	New York	X
80	Robert Morris	Pennsylvania	X	X
81	Thomas Nelson, Jr.	Virginia	X
82	William Paca	Maryland	X
83	Robert Treat Paine	Massachusetts	X
84	Thomas Paine*	Virginia	* American Revolutionary author
85	William Paterson (Patterson)	New Jersey		X
86	John Penn	North Carolina	X
87	William L. Pierce	Georgia		X
88	Charles Cotesworth Pinckney	South Carolina		X
89	Charles Pinckney	South Carolina		X
90	Edmund J. Randolph	Virginia		X
91	Peyton Randolph*	Virginia	* First President of the Continental Congress (1774-1775)
92	George Read	Delaware	X	X
93	Ceasar Rodney	Delaware	X
94	George Ross	Pennsylvania	X
95	Benjamin Rush	Pennsylvania	X
96	Edward Rutledge	South Carolina	X
97	John Rutledge	South Carolina		X	X
98	Roger Sherman	Connecticut	X	X
99	James Smith	Pennsylvania	X
100	Richard Stockton	New Jersey	X
101	Richard Dobbs Spaight	North Carolina		X
102	Thomas Stone	Maryland	X
103	Caleb Strong	Massachusetts		X
104	George Taylor	Pennsylvania	X
105	Matthew Thornton	New Hampshire	X
106	George Walton	Georgia	X
107	George Washington	Virginia		X
108	William Williams	Connecticut	X
109	Hugh Williamson	North Carolina		X
110	James Wilson	Pennsylvania	X	X	X
111	William Whipple	New Hampshire	X
112	John Witherspoon	New Jersey	X
113	Oliver Wolcott	Connecticut	X
114	George Wythe	Virginia	X	X
115	Robert Yates	New York		X

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