People · 1765–1826
The Founders
A printer, a planter-general, a lawyer, a scholar and a handful of young firebrands turned a colonial tax quarrel into a new nation. Meet the men who declared independence, won it, and wrote the rules the United States still lives by.
Quick facts
The Founders at a glance
| Era | From the Stamp Act protests of 1765 to the deaths of Adams and Jefferson on July 4, 1826 | |
| Founding papers | Declaration of Independence (1776), Articles of Confederation (1781), Constitution (1787), Bill of Rights (1791) | |
| Signers | 56 men signed the Declaration; 39 delegates signed the Constitution | |
| Oldest | Benjamin Franklin: 70 when he signed the Declaration, 81 at the Constitutional Convention | |
| Youngest here | Alexander Hamilton, about 20 when the war began and Washington's aide by 22 | |
| Presidents | Five of the eight men on this page: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe | |
| A strange coincidence | Three founder-presidents died on July 4: Adams and Jefferson in 1826, Monroe in 1831 |
The big picture in 30 seconds
Why they matter
- They created the first large republic of modern times, with no king and no nobility.
- Their compromises built the Constitution, the oldest written national constitution still in use.
- Their quarrels created America's first political parties, Federalists and Republicans.
- They left the great unfinished business of slavery, which their successors faced in the Civil War.
56
signers of the Declaration of Independence
39
signers of the Constitution in 1787
85
Federalist essays by Hamilton, Madison and Jay
5
Founders on this page who became president
Meet them
Eight Founders who shaped a nation
Historian Richard B. Morris named seven “key Founders”: Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jay, Madison and Hamilton. We add James Monroe, the last of the Revolutionary generation to serve as president.
Who signed what
Their names on the founding documents
No two Founders had the same career. Franklin is the only one who signed the Declaration, the peace treaty with Britain and the Constitution. Jefferson and Adams missed the Constitutional Convention because they were serving as diplomats in Europe.
| Declaration 1776 | Treaty of Paris 1783 | Constitution 1787 | Federalist essays | President | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Franklin | — | — | |||
| George Washington | — | — | — | ||
| John Adams | — | — | |||
| Thomas Jefferson | — | — | — | ||
| John Jay | — | — | — | ||
| James Madison | — | — | |||
| Alexander Hamilton | — | — | — | ||
| James Monroe | — | — | — | — |
Behind the legend
Brothers, rivals and friends
We remember the Founders as a team, but they argued constantly. Adams and Jefferson worked side by side in 1776, ran against each other in 1796 and 1800, stopped speaking, and then wrote each other more than 150 letters in old age.
Federalists and Republicans
Hamilton wanted a strong national government, a national bank and close ties to Britain. Jefferson and Madison feared that would create a new aristocracy and favored farmers, states’ rights and friendship with France. Their split produced the first American political parties, even though Washington warned against them.
The question they left open
Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe all enslaved people. Franklin, Adams, Jay and Hamilton came to oppose slavery, and Franklin’s last public act was an antislavery petition to Congress in 1790. The Constitution’s compromises kept the union together but postponed the reckoning until the Civil War.
Timeline
From protest to republic
Key moments in the Founders’ story.
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
James Madison
The Federalist No. 51, 1788
See the era
The Revolution and the Founding
Put the Founders in context with our era page: the road to revolution, the war, and the making of the Constitution.
Go deeper
Books and sources
- Founding Brothers, by Joseph J. Ellis (2000)
- Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny, by Richard B. Morris (1973)
- Revolutionary Characters, by Gordon S. Wood (2006)
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, by Walter Isaacson (2003)
- Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow (2004)
- More recommended books