The Founding Fathers of the United States, referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders by Americans, were a group of late-eighteenth-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirt
The Committee of Five (Adams, Livingston, Sherman, Jefferson, and Franklin) present their draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on June 28, 1776, as depicted in John Trumbull's 1818 portrait.
George Washington, a key Founding Father, was commanding general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and a Revolutionary hero, presided over the Constitutional Convention and became the nation's first president in April 1789.
Thomas Jefferson, a key Founding Father, was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, which Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis says contains "the most potent and consequential words in U.S. history".
Benjamin FranklinEarly advocate of colonial unity, was a foundational figure in defining the US ethos and exemplifying the emerging nation's ideals.
The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, i
The 1823 facsimile of Timothy Matlack's engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence
The Assembly Room in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence
Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776, a 1900 portrait by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris depicting Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration