painted by Junius Brutus Stearns.
In the 1760s and 1770s, growing discontent with British rule caused its American colonists to begin to discuss their options. In 1774, leaders of the various colonies came together in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at what has since become known as the First Continental Congress. Shortly after hostilities broke out between British troops and American colonists at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, these men met once again. The Second Continental Congress declared independence from Britain and later drafted the Articles of Confederation.
Which would dictate how the newly independent states were to be governed. Many of these same men were sent to Philadelphia in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation. In early discussions, the delegates determined the Articles needed more than just revisions and set about writing a new Constitution—the Constitution that continues to rule the United States to this day. These men were responsible for forging a new nation. Collectively, they are often referred to as the Founding Fathers.
Who Were the Founding Fathers?
Historians have varied opinions about exactly who should be included on the list of Founding Fathers, or how large this list should be. Some names—George Washington, James Madison, and John Adams—are obvious, but others may be more debatable. Fifty-five delegates attended the Constitutional Convention, each of whom had an important part to play. There were also men—Thomas Jefferson, most notably—who were not at the Constitutional Convention but who nonetheless played a critical role in the foundation of the country. Jefferson not only wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, but provided counsel to the Constitutional Convention from Paris, France, where he was serving as the minister to France.
The Founding Fathers were, relatively speaking, a diverse group.
They were doctors and lawyers, merchants and farmers. Each brought his
own unique knowledge, experiences, and ideas. Most of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had experience in politics and/or government.
With the Revolutionary War behind them, they looked to the future. They agreed that they wanted liberty, but they did not all agree on the best course
of action for the country, the appropriate role of government, or the optimal governmental structure that would balance liberty with order.
“Strength grows in the moments when you think you can’t go on,
but you keep going anyway.” Bethany Sevek.
Roles and Responsibilities.
By definition, the Founding Fathers played key roles in the founding of the country, but some played particularly critical parts. As with any group, their strength was often gained from their differences. Without the fiery tempers of Bostonians John Adams and Samuel Adams, the colonies may have decided to appease Parliament and back down from demanding their rights. Instead, the persuasive voices of patriots like journalist Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry gave credence to their cause and contributed to a sense of patriotism that swept the colonies. John Hancock, best remembered for his large looping signature as the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, also served as the president of the Continental Congress.
The Founding Fathers served one another well during these challenging and unstable times. During the American Revolution, George Washington led the Continental Army to victory over a much larger and better equipped British army. As president of the Constitutional Convention!
Washington was instrumental in ensuring that all opinions were heard and in keeping discussions on track. As Washington presided, fellow Virginian James Madison took copious notes on the proceedings. Not just any Founding Father, Madison is often called the Father of Our Constitutional Republic.
At 81 years of age, Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was hampered by ill health, yet missed just a few sessions—even when he was so weak he had to be carried in the sessions. By then, Franklin had already earned a name in the history books for his role
in drafting the Declaration of Independence and negotiating the 1783 Treaty
of Paris to end the Revolutionary War.
The Founding Fathers did not just craft the new government, they also ensured its success. After the Constitutional Convention, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote a series of 85 articles and essays under the pseudonym “Publius”.
To urge states to ratify the historic document. In what were later published as the “Federalist Papers,” these three Founding Fathers painstakingly set about describing the features of the government and explaining its advantages. To address concerns that a strong national government might encroach on the rights of citizens, Madison also wrote a series of amendments outlining the rights of the people, which were added to the Constitution as the Bill of Rights in 1791.
The Grand Experiment.
The Founding Fathers often viewed their new government as an experiment, but this was an experiment they desperately wanted to succeed. Where differences arose, the Founding Fathers hammered out compromises, working together for more than four months to “form a more perfect union,” as described in the preamble to the Constitution.
Their experiment resulted in a constitutional republican form of government that has withstood both internal and external threats, including a bloody Civil War, and has led the United States to become the most powerful country in the world. In the end, the legacy of the Founding Fathers is the promise of liberty and justice, not only for Americans, but for any people willing to invest in democratic self-government.
Articles & Profiles
The Archive: 14 Little-Known Facts About America’s Founding Fathers
ThoughtCo.com: America’s Most Influential Founding Fathers
Video
Khan Academy: Founding Fathers
Websites
Biography: Founding Fathers
National Archives: Meet the Framers of the Constitution
On July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independence was signed, proclaiming the 13 American colonies as an independent country:
The United States of America. The Founding Fathers based the country on religion and God, just as many countries had done before them.
However, the Founding Fathers realized not everyone subscribes to the same religion. In 1791, The Bill of Rights was adopted, with the first
amendment granting freedom of religion to all citizens. [1]
The Argument:
Despite our Founding Fathers establishing America on the basis of God,
we still have freedom of religion. Having important documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance reference God is more out of a perfunctory fact, especially in modern times.
The Declaration of Independence says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” This statement isn’t so much focused on the Creator (God) as it is the rights one has just by being alive.
Similarly with the Pledge of Allegiance, it is not so much focused on being a nation
“under God” in the strictest terms as it is being focused on being a nation united together on one unified base. Even though not everyone in the country practices the same religion, the fact that the nation was originally founded on a unifying factor is the main point. That unifying factor at the time just happened to be religion, like it was for most countries.
What matters is the unifying factor of our country now – that we’re all Americans and we stand up for all freedom, including religious freedom.
Counter arguments.
Just because our Founding Fathers agreed to unite America under God
doesn’t mean they were right.
For one thing, they also agreed to allow slavery to continue.
The comparison between the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance is erroneous because all of the statements regarding God were in the original documents of the Declaration of Independence, while “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance 10 years after the original form was adopted.
Premises:
[P1] The Founding Fathers established America on the basis of religion and God.
[P2] The Founding Fathers referenced God in the Declaration of Independence numerous times, yet the document has never been edited to exclude the references.
[P3] There is no need to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance as it serves the same perfunctory purpose as the references to God in the Declaration of Independence.
Rejecting the premises [P2] The comparison between the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance is erroneous.
References:
Our founding fathers made all the states separate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration
https://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/should-under-god-be/2014/11/11/id/604697/
Founded on a Set of Beliefs – Creating the United States | Exhibitions – Library of Congress (loc.gov)
Some beliefs of America’s founding fathers are often misinterpreted and deserve clarification, particularly concerning the creation of the U.S. Constitution. The 28 fundamental beliefs of the Founding Fathers. In today’s turbulent political climate, ideologues lay claim to the Constitution and intentions of the founding fathers to support their own agendas. Too often, however, present-day ideas and perspectives compromise historical accuracy. The beliefs, intentions, and motivations of the founding fathers are no exception. Reducing the diversity of the founders into one collective belief system creates historical illusions. These illusions, in turn, distort reality.
They also lead to competing identities that undermine national unity.
28 Principals.pdf (roc-usa.net)
Religion and the Founding Fathers.
The founding fathers were a mixture of deists, Christians, and possibly one atheist. Assigning beliefs to the founding fathers collectively, however, is a difficult task. As a group, the founders stopped short of religious establishment because of their own diversity and experience with state sponsored religion in Europe. However, they broadly recognized a “Creator” or “Nature’s God” without ascribing to one particular religion. Their belief systems were products of ancient philosophy, the Enlightenment, and the Reformation. Their diverse beliefs, however, refute any exclusive claim to one religion or belief system.
Morality and the Founding Fathers
Although the founders’ religious beliefs differed, they formed a general consensus on morality. This consensus, however, lay with competing authorities. Most of the founders believed morality was bound to religion, but some also entertained the possibility of a secular moral framework. In a letter to Thomas Law, June 13, 1814,Thomas Jefferson asked, “whence arises the morality of the atheist? It is idle to say, as some do, that no such being exists.” On the other hand, John Adams believed morality could not exist without religion. In a speech to the military in 1798, he claimed, “our Constitution is made only for moral and religious people.” Their views, therefore, reveal how complex the founders’ positions were on the issue of morality. They did not collectively agree on the foundations of morality and defined it in both religious and secular terms.
The Faith of the Founding Fathers
Written By: Dr. Gregg Frazer,
Professor of History & Political Studies at The Master’s University.
Did America’s Founders intend to create a Christian nation?
Does it matter today and, if so, why?
In order to arrive at a proper answer to the first question, one must recognize that “the Founding Fathers” were a diverse group of individuals who held diverse views on most subjects – including religion. Generally, one cannot accurately make blanket statements beginning with “the Founding Fathers believed.”
Second, not everyone who lived during the Founding era was a “Founding Father”; so not all voices are equal as evidence.
Third, the Puritans did not find America – they founded Massachusetts.
Finally, Christianity and deism were not the only two religious options available to 18th-century Americans.
It is inaccurate and misleading to lump all of the Founders into one of those two camps. That creates a false dichotomy. If one demonstrates that someone was not a deist, that does not necessarily mean that he was a Christian – and vice versa.
In reality, a number of the key American Founders:
were neither Christians nor deists, but theistic rationalists.
Theistic rationalists believed in a powerful, rational, and benevolent creator God who was present and active in human affairs.
There were Christians among the Founders – no deists – but the key Founders who were most responsible for the founding documents:
(Declaration of Independence and Constitution) and who had the most influence were theistic rationalists. They did not intend to create a Christian nation. Not a single Founding Father made such a claim in any piece of private correspondence or any document. If they had, it would be blazoned above the entrances of countless Christian schools and we would all be inundated with emails repeating it.
This matters today because:
1) as purveyors of truth, Christians damage their witness by promoting historical inaccuracies.
2) Designating a mixture of naturalistic influences as “Christian” or “biblical” tarnishes and taints the Word of God and attaches the authority and reputation of the inerrant Word to man-made principles.
3) Identifying moral or “religious” people as Christians makes the gospel one of moral behavior and character rather than the saving work of Christ and personal commitment to Him.
4) Promotion of the “Christian America” idea causes believers to confuse their cultural/American heritage with biblical Christianity. Many conflate what is truly biblical with American tradition.
5) Belief that the system was originally Christian and biblical places undue confidence in processes and institutions rather than in the sovereign God. It directs efforts toward correcting the political system rather than redeeming lost people.
6) It sometimes leads to national idolatry and national self-righteousness and treats naturalistic political ideals on a par with Scripture.
7) The Bible becomes a tool of a political agenda. Proper use and interpretation of the Bible is viewed as less important than how many times it is quoted.
In sum, both the Christian Right and the secular Left are largely wrong
about the religious beliefs of America’s key Founders and, consequently,
their prescriptions for America based on those assumptions are also wrong. America’s Founders were not all Christians and they did not intend to create a Christian nation. On the other hand, they were not rank secularists who intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state. They were religious men who wanted religion – but not necessarily Christianity – to have significant influence in the public square.
They believed that the main factor in serving God was living a good and moral life, that promoting morality was the central value and purpose of religion, and that religion was indispensable to society because it engendered morality. They believed that virtually all religions fulfilled that purpose – not just Christianity. That is why they allowed freedom of religion. Theistic rationalists rejected most of the fundamental doctrines of biblical Christianity, including: the deity of Christ, the Trinity, original sin, the atoning work of Christ, justification by faith, eternal punishment for sin, and the inspiration of Scripture.
There is no reason to elevate their views or experience above those of other colonies; the Founders themselves did not give Massachusetts or its representatives preeminence philosophically or politically. Fourth, some of the more prominent Founders meant something different by the word “Christianity” than do 21st-century evangelical Christians. Consequently, it is not appropriate or intellectually honest to quote their uses of the word to audiences today without explaining that they meant a system of moral teachings and not orthodox biblical Christianity. Fifth, like today, denominational labels were not very accurate determinants of personal belief in 18th-century America.
Creation of the U.S. Constitution.
The Constitution reflects these diverse beliefs.
The founders did not specifically protect religious liberty in the Constitution.
Some argue it was implied in Article 6 with the statement, “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public trust under the United States.” This clause, however, only restricted religious intolerance and did not provide religious freedom. It took the Bill of Rights to address freedom of religion. Another mention of religion includes the presidential oath, which vaguely suggests some might oppose “swearing” for religious reasons.
The Constitution also refers to the year of its creation as “the Year of our Lord,” which was simply the standard way of referring to time. In fact, the founders purposefully omitted references to specific religions or beliefs. In 1815, Thomas Jefferson wrote to P.H. Wendover, “religion, as well as reason, confirms the soundness of those principles on which our government has been founded and its rights asserted.” The Constitution, therefore, reflects a balance between a universal nature’s God and Enlightenment principles.
What are the founding fathers beliefs about the country,
The Founders Didn’t Want DC To Be A State, And Neither Does This DC Resident
The Founders wrote in Washington DC’s special status to protect the other states, and American citizens, from federal overreach. We still need that protection.
By Inez Feltscher Stepman
The movement pushing to grant the District of Columbia full statehood is growing. It was bolstered by a vote for statehood from District residents and the introduction of H.R. 1291, a bill proposing DC’s admission to the union as a state, by local non voting congressional representative Eleanor Holmes Norton.
The District currently operates under a special status carved out by the Constitution and Congress, whereby residents cast votes for president and municipal political leaders (who have substantial power over the District’s day-to-day affairs under the Home Rule Act), as well as an observational representative in Congress. While that status might seem anti-democratic to modern sensibilities, in reality, the Founders wrote in the District’s special status to protect the other states, and American citizens, from federal overreach.
Don’t Forget Why Our Founders Created the District
The Constitution specifically grants Congress the power to “exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may… become the seat of the government of the United States.”
The Founders intended for the capital of the newly created United States to be a neutral ground for co-equal sovereign states to come together to transact the nation’s business. At the time, state governments were much more powerful than they are today, so a worry about placing the capital within a state was that the state might exercise unfair influence or pressure on the federal government. Today, with the expanded powers of the federal government vis-à-vis the states, the inappropriate influence has the potential to go both ways. Granting DC statehood would put the other 50 states (perhaps minus Virginia and Maryland) at a distinct disadvantage when looking to influence federal policy, grants, and regulation.
In an era of instant communication, it’s easy to forget how important geographic placement of a capital can be, but capital placement histories,
both state and federal, belie that assumption. It’s hard to find a state capital museum that doesn’t have a tale of influence-peddling or outright bribery that resulted in the capital’s placement. It beggars the imagination that a DC resident with immediate personal access to the corridors of Congress doesn’t already have more opportunity to influence the decisions made within than someone pulling the lever to vote in Wyoming.
The Founders were aware of the dangers of capital placement, which is why James Madison warned in “The Federalist” No. 43 of bringing “imputation of awe or influence” onto the new national government by placing it within a state. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson considered the location of the future capital of the United States so important that he infamously traded away his opposition to Hamilton’s proposal that the federal government assume state debts in order to assure the capital moved from New York to Jefferson’s native Virginia.
Congress Doesn’t Even Have the Power to Make DC a State.
Furthermore, it’s not clear at all that DC can legally follow the same process to join the union as have former territories like the Western states. Because the District’s current status is spelled out in the Constitution itself, it should take a constitutional amendment to change it.
Even legal scholars who consider the current situation in DC to be a “glaring denial of basic rights” admit it would take a constitutional amendment to change the special status of the District, noting that for Congress to have this “conversion to statehood” power would undermine the nature of the compromises that resulted in our current bicameral system of representation.
What would stop Congress from using the District Clause to carve out another area as the new federal district, and therefore create any number of new voting states in succession? Construing Congress’ powers this broadly would give the federal government an enormous advantage over the states unintended by the Framers, a fact previous proponents of DC statehood recognized.
DC Already Has Unfair Access to Federal Power.
In an election year where “Drain the Swamp” was a popular rallying cry, and average Americans are increasingly aware of the large gap between themselves and policymakers in Washington, it beggars belief that DC residents feel they don’t already have outsized power over federal policies. It’s no accident that the four richest counties in the country are all in the DC metro area; and much of the real business of the nation’s capital is transacted in District bars and restaurants.
While many DC residents are disconnected from the industry surrounding the federal government, they still benefit from their proximity to Capitol Hill.
D.C. public schools top the nation in per-pupil spending, totaling almost $30,000 per student, and a 2005 tabulation found that DC receives more than twice as much federal money overall per-capita as the next-highest state.
Just Move a Few Blocks
To the modern ear, it sounds outrageous to suggest that voting rights are not the be-all, end-all of modern self-government. Obviously it doesn’t to lots of Americans, given that half or fewer of those eligible to vote actually do so in any given national election. Voting is arguably one of the least-effective ways for a single individual to communicate political preferences.
Furthermore, the District is unique in that it’s ultimately only a few miles away from two states where residents can seek full voting rights, if having the ability to vote for congress critters is important enough to them. While it may be a burden for some to move five miles away across the Potomac, it usually doesn’t necessitate changing jobs or leaving family behind. (And hey, conservatives have been voting with their feet over gun rights for ages by moving across the river)
Although its special, nonvoting status seems discordant with the modern state of politics, there are good reasons why the Constitution lays out special rules for the federal district. We would do well to remember the cautionary words of the Founders, and accept the unique constitutional deal they wisely laid out for the District of Columbia.
The Reason Washington, D. C. Is Not a State | Reader’s Digest (rd.com)
Implications:
Various groups interpret the founders’ beliefs differently.
They often allow their own beliefs, however, to distort the past.
Therefore, dominant world-views in the United States are often founded
on historical illusions. When groups base their identities on illusions, they compromise national unity.
America’s story is not solely tied to religion or secularism. The founding fathers, however, anticipated that the majority of Americans would be religious. Therefore, they excluded religion from the Constitution to protect against religious tyranny. After much debate, they later included a bill of rights to protect religious freedom.
Does anyone still Trust the Supreme Court?
Haven’t trusted the courts here for over 40 years – when you look at sentencing it tells you all you need to know. SCOTUS is bought & paid for just like everything else in the world. I haven’t been able to trust the Supreme Court because of Chief Justice Roberts. I don’t trust him after the Obama Care stunt. Sometimes I sit & wonder if his choices are made for him and I wish he could be removed, but I know he can’t. I think they all get paid off once in office …who checks on them anywho… NOBODY!!!
The SCOTUS is as corrupt as EVERY LYING DEMOCRAT that’s ever been in any official office concerning Politics! US Politics is the single most dishonest band of thieves and the rest of the world knows! Nope! I don’t trust anybody at all! Over 60,000 muslims a day Flocking into our once free country The Marxist Muslim Obama is at the helm leading this muslim terrorists takeover. ‘OUR’ Country while complacent, Lazy and useless AMERICAN’s just sit and watch! They deserve what’s coming their way!
The Obama Administration is still alive and kicking. That clan of spies, thieves and liars are what’s running the USA now. Biden is nothing more than a BRAINDEAD fool and the STUPID AMERICAN’s believe him. What we’re witnessing is The Takeover of America! Big Tech is ALL in it! WITHOUT A REVOLUTION RIGHT NOW, AMERICA WILL BE LOST! THE ENTIRE FRAUDULENT DIMOCRATIC SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT MUST BE REMOVED, ILLEGALS ROUNDED UP AND DEPORTED! EVERY MUSLIM OBAMA BROUGHT IN SINCE THEY’STOLE THE ELECTIION MUST BE THROWN BACK OUT TO ANYWHERE OTHERWISE, WE’RE DOOMED!
TOO FUNNY LMFAO! Better pucker up and get ready to say goodbye to The LGBTA because the Muslim’s assassinate GAYs FIRST!
Biden lured them out of the closet for the world to see now Muslims will assassinate them. However, they don’t see that. It is becoming harder and harder to trust the Supreme Court even with the allegedly conservative majority on the court— for now.
I believe they have been compromised. So much blackmail & threats in place.
EVIL people doing EVIL things!
https://youtu.be/M01VdOpZ7zY
AGAIN TOO FUNNY LMFAO!
Without a FREE U.S.A in the World there will be NO WORLD!!!
It makes me sad to see how people will give up their freedoms so easily. Just to avoid a confrontation. I’m not saying you should go looking for one. BUT That’s not right.
Tracy Chapman – Stand by Me (Live on Letterman 2015)
But stand up for yourself and your beliefs.