Fade Resistance Performance
The MASSACHUSETTS Fathers of the United States, also known as the Fathers of Our Country, the Forefathers, Framers or the Founders, are the political leaders who signed the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution, or otherwise participated in the American Revolution as leaders of the Patriots.
They had strong educational backgrounds. Some, like Franklin, were largely self-taught or learned through apprenticeship. Others had obtained instruction from private tutors or at academies. About half of the men had attended or graduated from college in the colonies or in Britain. Some men held medical degrees or advanced training in theology. For the most part, the delegates were a well-educated group.
The 55 delegates who attended the United States Constitutional Convention represented a cross section of 18th-century American leadership. Most of them were men of means who were dominant in their communities and states, and many were also prominent in national affairs. Virtually every one had taken part in the Revolution; at least 29 had served in the Continental forces, most of them in positions of command.
The signers of the Constitution had extensive political experience. Practically all of them had expertise in colonial and state government, and the majority had held county and local offices. By 1787, 41 individuals were and or had been members of the Continental Congress.
A few of the 1787 delegates were wealthy and a few were of simple means, but most were practiced in a wide range of occupations, and many pursued more than one career simultaneously. Five were self-made men who started from humble beginnings. Thirty-five were lawyers or had benefited from some kind of legal training, though not all of them relied on the profession for a livelihood. Some had also become judges.
The occupations held by the delegates of the convention also presents us with an equitable socio-economic picture of life in this country at the time: thirteen were merchants, twelve were commercial farmers, eleven were investors, nine were politicians, six were land developers, four had studied theology, three were doctors, three were retired, two were private farmers, two were scientists, one was a college president, and one was a minister.
Notwithstanding the spectrum of beliefs held by the Founding Fathers, most viewed religion in a favorable light. Some of the 1787 delegates had no affiliation. The others were Protestant except for three Roman Catholics. Among the Protestants, twenty-eight were Episcopalian, eight were Presbyterians, seven were Congregationalists, two were Lutherans, two were Dutch Reformed, and two were Methodists. Several of the more prominent Founding Fathers considered themselves to be deists or held beliefs very similar to that of traditional Deists, including Jefferson, Paine and Ethan Allen.
Some of the Founding Fathers often related their anti-organized church leanings in their speeches and correspondence, including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Ethan Allen, and Thomas Paine. However, a few of the more notable founders, such as Patrick Henry, were strong proponents of traditional religion.
Although not a religion, a significant number were Freemasons including John Blair, Benjamin Franklin, James Mchenry, George Washington, Abraham Baldwin, Gunning Bedford, William Blount, David Brearly, Daniel Carroll, Jonathan Dayton, Rufus King, John Langdon, George Read, Roger Sherman, James Madison, Robert Morris, William Paterson, and Charles Pinckney.
Many 1787 delegates went on to hold important federal positions such as the presidency and others, as well as state positions, including gubernatorial and legislative. And most of the delegates contributed in many ways to the cultural life of their cities, communities, and states. Not surprisingly, many of their sons and other descendants were to occupy high positions in American political and intellectual life.
There are many individuals from the era of the American Revolution who fought and died for the Freedom of this country, some cannot be remembered by name, but those listed below carried the torch to the finish line for them. For without the many that lost their lives for the noble cause of Liberty, the task may never have been completed and this list would not exist.
The Short List...
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton, John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman, Ethan Allen
Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King, Caleb Strong, Daniel Shays, Paul Revere
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott, William Samuel Johnson, Oliver Ellsworth, Joseph Plumb Martin
New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Alexander Hamilton, John Lansing Jr., Robert Yates, George Clinton, John Jay, Robert Livingston, Thomas Paine
New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark, William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton, William Houston
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross, Thomas Mifflin, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, Gouverneur Morris, William Jackson
Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom
Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, Luther Martin, John Francis Mercer
Virginia: George Washington, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton, John Blair, James Madison Jr., George Mason, James McClurg, Edmund Randolph, Richard Bland, Patrick Henry, Henry Lee III, John Marshall, James Monroe, Peyton Randolph, John Paul Jones
North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn, William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson, William Richardson Davie, Alexander Martin
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton, John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton, William Few, Abraham Baldwin, William Houstoun, William Pierce
Go to "The Constitution of the United States of America"...