"Founding Father" is a term in the dictionary, first coined by historians in 1886, which refers to the men who were most important in the founding of the United States. The term "Framers" is more common today to refer specifically to those who participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which drafted the U.S. Constitution.
[[File:Declaration of Independence.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Agreeing on the Declaration of Independence, as painted later by the artist John Trumbull]]
The Founding Fathers, ranked roughly by their importance, include(their colony is in parenthesis):
#George Washington(Virginia)#Benjamin Franklin(Pennsylvania)#Thomas Jefferson(Virginia)#Alexander Hamilton(New York)#James Madison(Virginia)#Samuel Adams(Massachusetts)#Thomas Paine(Pennsylvania)#Gouverneur Morris(New York, also Pennsylvania)#John Adams(Massachusetts)#Patrick Henry(Virginia)#John Jay(New York)#George Mason(Virginia)#Benjamin Rush(Pennsylvania)#John Witherspoon(New Jersey)#Roger Sherman(Connecticut)#John Hancock(Massachusetts)#James Monroe(Virginia)#James Wilson(Pennsylvania)#Robert Morris(Pennsylvania)#William Paterson(New Jersey)
Any exam on American History which includes the founding of our country will have multiple questions relating to people on the above list. Knowing what they did is essential to understanding the half-century from 1760-1810 during which the United States was formed. Perhaps 10% of a typical American History final exam relates in some way to what the above 20 did, particularly those near the top of the ranking, although the term "Founding Father" is unlikely to be used by an exam question today because it is not gender neutral.
Only six men signed both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution (four of whom are in the above list of the most important Founders): George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson. Robert Morris and Roger Sherman also signed the Articles of Confederation.
==The Articles of Confederation==