Stories, history, and reflections from a nation 250 years in the making
The statesmen, patriots, and visionaries who declared independence, won a revolution, and framed a nation built to last.
There's no single official list — "Founding Fathers" is a term of recognition, not a fixed roster. The most commonly cited core group (per historian Richard B. Morris) is the seven principal figures.
Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, Roger Sherman, Gouverneur Morris, George Mason, Robert Morris, and Richard Henry Lee.
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr., Arthur Middleton
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton