The people known as the "Founding Fathers" were the people who built our country. Many of them had fought in wars such as the French and Indian War and had supported the British government. Now they were fighting against the country they had thought to be their closest ally.
George Washington, 1732-1799
George Washington is one of the better known Founding Fathers. He served as commander in chief for the Continental army during the American Revolution (1775 - 1783). He also served two terms as America's first president from 1789 - 1797. Washington was raised in colonial Virginia, and as a young man he worked as a surveyor and then fought in the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763). In the American Revolution he led American forces to victory over the British and became a national hero. In 1778 he was elected president for the convention that wrote the Constitution, and two years later became America's first president. George Washington left a legacy for future presidents to follow. Three years after he left office, he died at age 67 on his Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon.
John Adams, 1735 - 1826
John Adams was the second president of the United States, and a major leader in the American Revolution. He was born in Massachusetts on October 30, 1735. He would eventually graduate at Harvard and become a lawyer. Adams became a major critic of Britain's authority over colonial America, and viewed the empire's taxes and tariffs as tools of oppression. He was a delegate in the First Continental Congress in the 1770s, and in the 1780s, he served as a diplomat in Europe to negotiate the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolution. He was America's first vice president from 1789 - 1797, and served one term as America's second president from 1797 to 1801. He was defeated for a second term by Thomas Jefferson in 1801.
Thomas Jefferson, 1742 - 1826
Thomas Jefferson was America's third president from 1801 to 1809 and the author of the Declaration of Independence. During the Revolutionary War, he served in the Virginia Legislature, the Continental Congress, and he was governor of Virginia. Later, he was the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.S. minister to France, and vice president to John Adams.
Paul Revere, 1735 - 1818
Paul Revere was born on January 1st, 1735 in Boston, Massachusetts. After the Boston Massacre, he carved a painting called "The Bloody Massacre" to spread word of the event to other colonists. On April 18th, 1775, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott, rode through the countryside around Boston, warning the local militia of the British preparing to attack Lexington. A poem was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere."
Benjamin Franklin, 1706 - 1790
Benjamin Franklin was one of the leading figures in early American history. He was a diplomat, inventor, scientist, printer, author, and statesman. Franklin was born into a Boston family of modest means, so he received very little formal education. Franklin started a formal printing business in Philadelphia, and became very wealthy. He was deeply involved in the affairs of his home city. He helped launch a library, a hospital, and a college. He also gained acclaim for his experiments with electricity. He served in the Second Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence, and he helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War. Finally, he was a delegate in the convention that helped create the Constitution. Franklin is the only Founding Father to sign all four key documents establishing the United States, The Declaration of Independence (1776), The Treaty with France (1778), The Treaty of Paris (1783), and the U.S. Constitution (1787).
John Hancock, 1737 - 1793
John Hancock was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a governor of Massachusetts. He was raised by his uncle, a wealthy shipping merchant. When his uncle died, John inherited his business. When Britain began to assume greater authority over the Colonies, John used his wealth to assist the fight for American independence. He was president of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1777, when the Declaration was adopted. When he signed the Declaration, he said, "I will sign it large so that King George might read it without his spectacles." From 1780 to 1785, he was the governor of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, he was reelected in 1887, and died in office in 1993.
John Paul Jones, 1747 - 1792
The famous naval officer John Paul Jones was born in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland in 1742. His career at sea began when he was 13, and at age 21 he was captain of his own ship. Jones joined the Continental Navy during the Revolution. He helped train the American's navy in naval warfare. As the commander of the heavily armed vessel, Bonhomme Richard, Jones famously announced, "I have not yet begun to fight", and proceeded to defeat the British. After the war, Jones served in the Russian navy, and died in Paris in 1792. For his contributions to the early American Navy, he is sometimes refereed to as the father of the American Navy.
Marquis de Lafayette, 1757 - 1834
Marquis de Lafayette, full name Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, was born in France in 1757. He was a French aristocrat and military officer who was a close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson. He sailed to America because he believed the American Revolution was a noble cause. In the middle of the war, he sailed back to France to gain French support. He sailed to America and was given a senior position in the Continental War. In Virginia, forces under his command blocked Cornwallis's forces until more American troops could arrive during the Siege of Yorktown. Lafayette would then return to France and serve a major part in the French Revolution, and the aftermath. Lafayette continued to make major contributions to his country until he died in 1834. He is buried in Picpus Cemetery under soil from Bunker Hill. For his accomplishments in the Unites States and France he is sometimes known as "The Hero of Two Worlds."
Thomas Paine, 1757 - 1809
Thomas Paine was an English born philosopher who shared many ideas that helped shape the age of the Revolution. In 1776 he published his highly popular "Common Sense" which was the first pamphlet to advocate American independence. Common Sense sold around 150,000 copies in 1776, which shows how popular it was with the Colonists. During the Revolution, he wrote the "Crisis" papers, which began with the famous phrase, "These are times that try men's souls", to boost the morale of Washington's Army.
Crispus Attucks, 1723 - 1770
Historians disagree on whether Crispus Attucks was free or if he was a slave. Crispus Attucks worked as a dockhand in Boston. He was the first casualty in the Boston massacre, and sometimes considered the first casualty in the American Revolution.
Patrick Henry, 1736 - 1799
Patrick Henry was an outspoken opponent of the Stamp and Townshend acts. In 1775 he gave his famous "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" speech to the Virginia assembly. He took the lead in raising troops to overthrow the British governor of Virginia. Henry also backed ideas like boycotting British goods and raising a Continental Army. He was actually opposed to the Constitution as he thought it was a threat to the liberties of the people. His criticisms later helped form the Bill of Rights. After the war, he was elected governor of Virginia five times.
Samuel Adams, 1722 - 1803
Samuel Adams was a cousin of the second president John Adams. Adams was a patriot who failed as a brewer and a newspaper publisher before he became one of the independence movement's most celebrated leaders. He was an organizer of the Sons of Liberty, he created the Committees of Correspondence, and coordinated the Boston Tea Party. He represented Massachusetts in both Continental Congresses, and was elected to the Massachusetts Convention to ratify the Constitution. He served as a lieutenant for John Hancock when he was governor of Massachusetts, and was elected the governor of Massachusetts afterwards.