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"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, such as signing the Declaration of Independence or U.S. Constitution, or leading in other ways. The term "Framers" is more common today used to refer specifically to those who participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia, which drafted the U.S. Constitution.

The Founding Fathers, ranked roughly by their importance, includethe following (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)

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.

In terms of religious belief, most of the Founding Fathers were Presbyterian. "Deism" -- a belief that God created the world but never intervenes and instead only His natural laws govern it -- was the view of [[Thomas Paine]] and some other colonists in the late 1700s. ==The Articles of Confederation==

The Articles provided for a unicameral (only one legislative body, not both a House and Senate like today) Congress to govern the states. There was no president (imagine that!), but rather a committee formed of one representative from each state who wielded executive authority. There were no federal (national) courts (imagine that also!). The Articles authorized Congress to conduct foreign policy, but did not authorize Congress to regulate commerce.

===Foreign Policy Problems Was Authorized, but Unsuccessful, under the Articles of Confederation===

"Foreign policy" is the term for how a country (in this case, the young United States) deals with other countries. The Articles of Confederation made it almost impossible for gave the former colonies government the authority to speak with one voice on conduct foreign policy, but made it difficult for those efforts to be successful without a president.

The Constitution was written through the use of the following several committees, which illustrates how to organize a large group of people in order to accomplish a good result. These committees included:<ref>http://www.usconstitution.net/constcmte.html</ref>the Rules Committee (to set rules for the Convention), the First Committee of Eleven (delegates) (to resolve the issue of equal representation in the Senate), the Committee of Detail (to draft the Constitution on terms agreed to by the Convention), and the Committee of Style and Arrangement (to revise the style and arrangement of the Constitution).

: Rules CommitteeAfter all the compromises and hard work of the committees, appointed most (but not all) of the delegates at the Convention agreed to the final version of the Constitution; 39 (out of the original 55) signed it on May 25Sept. 17, 1787(now honored annually as "Constitution Day"). The Constitution begins with its Preamble which shows that the People are in charge: "We the People of the United States, in order Order to set rules form a more perfect Union ... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the convention, including Alexander Hamilton and Charles PinkneyUnited States of America."

: First Committee of Eleven (delegates)Benjamin Franklin, appointed on July 2 in order to resolve upon leaving the issue of equal representation Convention (which had been conducted in the Senatesecrecy), including George Mason and William Paterson : Committee was asked by a member of Detail, appointed on July 24 in order to draft the Constitution on terms agreed to by the Convention, including Edmund Randolph and James Wilson : Second Committee public what kind of Elevengovernment he created. Franklin famously replied, appointed on August 25 in order to consider issues of uniform duties and fees, including George Mason and Roger Sherman : Third Committee of Eleven, appointed on August 31 in order to address "tabled" and unresolved issuesA Republic, including James Madison and Roger Sherman : Committee of Style and Arrangement, appointed on September 8 in order to revise the style and arrangement of the Constitution, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison After all the compromises and hard work of the committees, most (but not all) of the delegates at the Convention agreed to the final version of the Constitution; 39 (out of the original 55) signed if you can keep it on Sept. 17, 1787 (now honored annually as "Constitution Day"). Next Franklin was right that it was sent requires constant hard work by many citizens to the states for ratificationpreserve our wonderful system of government, which is by and then for the "fun" beganPeople. There was bitter opposition by the Anti-Federalists who did The United States is not like the idea of a powerful new central governmentdemocracy, but a constitutional republic. Powerful Founders were among the anti-Federalists: Samuel Adams, George Mason, Patrick Henry, and John Hancock.  At the time, nearly every country in the world was a monarchymost other countries were run by monarchies. The new American government was the first of its kind.

The Articles of In addition to its Preamble quoted above, the new Constitution, as developed at the Constitutional Convention, are contains Articles as follows:

The Constitution was then sent to the states to consider ratifying it. Every state except Rhode Island held a ratifying convention to consider adopting it. Many small states ratified the Constitution quickly (the first state to ratify it was Delaware), because they liked the idea of having equal representation in the Senate. But bigger states, such as [[Massachusetts]], [[Virginia]] and [[New York]], were more reluctant to give up their power to a national government.

The debate over ratification in the large states pitted the Federalists (for example, Alexander Hamilton) against the Anti-Federalists (for example, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, George Mason, and John Hancock). Federalists supported the ratification of the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists opposed it, primarily because it lacked the Bill of Rightsbut also because they disliked creating a powerful new central government.

[[George Washington]] was so popular and respected that he probably could have become king. Even if Washington did not become king, he could have ruled as president for the rest of his life. But his greatness was, like Jesus, to decline included declining this worldly power that was available to him he could have had, in order to advance a greater goodallow the young nation to develop for the benefit of the People. Washington was inaugurated as president in 1789 and voluntarily gave up power in 1797 at the age of 65 - seven years younger than the 2008 presidential candidate John McCain and nine years younger than President Donald Trump when he runs for reelection in 2020. Washington set an unwritten tradition of a maximum of two terms for presidents, which was followed by every president until the Democrat Franklin Roosevelt. After Roosevelt broke the rule by being elected four times to president in the early 1940s, the two-term tradition was enshrined in the Constitution as the 22nd Amendment in 1951.<ref>http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html</ref>

More legislation followed. The Patent Act of 1790 established a procedure under the Patent Clause of the Constitution (Art. I, Section 8, clause 8) by which people could obtain exclusive ownership of their inventions by obtain patents on them. This which created a unique incentive for Americans to invent useful new devices. This motivated Eli Whitney to develop invent in 1793 and patent in 1794 patent the cotton gin , which enabled the automated picking of bits of cotton by pulling them through a screen, which filtered out the thorns and seeds stuck to the cotton.<ref>https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/famous-inventors/famous-eli-whitney-inventions.htm</ref> A brush then removed the cotton from the blade on each rotation. This was such a productive invention that it picked enabling picking as much cotton in one hour as the work of several many men toiling picking cotton all day, and enabled allowed the South to vastly increase its production of cottonto sell to the entire world. The South then imported even more slaves to vastly expand its cotton production. By the time of the [[Civil War]], some thought the South was invincible due to its tremendous ability to produce cotton ("King Cotton"), upon which the world depended as a basic ingredient for clothing, other fabrics, bedding, packaging materials, and insulation.

== Other Events of the 1790s The Supreme Court ==

Two other events of the 1790s were significant, though unrelated to President Washington or Congress. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which is a mechanical way to separate cotton from its thorny branch and seeds. The cotton gin enabled a machine to do the work of 50 men, and greatly increased cotton production by the South. It turned the South into a powerful economic force and made it the primary source of cotton production in the entire world. By the time of the [[Civil War]], the South thought it was invincible due to its ability to produce cotton ("King Cotton"), and how the entire world depended on the South for this basic ingredient of so many things at the time. Also in 1793, the new U.S. Supreme Court did not have its own building or the immense power it has today. In 1793 it issued a decision named ''Chisholm v. Georgia''. It which allowed, for the first time, a lawsuit to be filed against a state in the new federal courts by a citizen of ''a different'' state. This outraged the states and was considered an "activist" decision by the Supreme Court, because it subjected a state to the judicial power of the new national government. Within Proving how little respect there was for the new Supreme Court, within two years Congress passed and more than 3/4 4th of the states ratified the [[Eleventh Amendment]] to the Constitution specifically to overturn this decision. This illustrated a type of "check and balance" on Supreme Court power: the power of the People to amend the Constitution to overturn a bad Supreme Court decision. Including the Bill of Rights, there have been a total of 27 amendments to the Constitution, a few of which were motivated by a desire to overturn a bad Supreme Court decision. Notice that Congress cannot overrule the Supreme Court if the Court bases its decision in the Constitution itself; an amendment to the Constitution is then the only way to overrule a Supreme Court decision that is based in the Constitution.

The "two-party" system developed as part of the political struggle between rivals to take power after George Washington. On one side was were farmers, people in debt (debtors), and rural America, which was who were led by future Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. On the other side were the bankers, manufacturers and cities (urban interests), which were led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. Jefferson sided with farmers, while Hamilton sided with manufacturers, and they opposed each other often during the Washington Administration.

The split between those loyal to England and those loyal to France also fed into the new two-party system. Jefferson favored France, while Adams favored England. They had previously been ambassadors diplomats to those countries.

Around 1792, two political parties arose in opposition to each other. Jefferson and Madison founded the Democratic-Republican Party, while Hamilton and Adams founded the Federalist Party. Thereafter political candidates for office, including the presidency, aligned themselves with one or the other of the two main political partyparties. Later other political parties arose to replace one or the initial ones. George Washington disfavored political parties, and in a sense was "above" them. But today many consider political parties to be essential to give voters a real choice in elections rather than having candidates adopting the same positions as each other, which would deprive voters a real choice on Election Day.

Adams was a brilliant man with a hard-charging personality. He was considered rude and arrogant, and did not take criticism well. Adams was not creative. His personality was the opposite of Thomas Jefferson, whom Adams narrowly defeated in 1796 for president but then lost to Jefferson in 1800. But Adams' wife Abigail was very charming and is credited with keeping Adams more polite than he would have been. Also, Adams is credited for his view of the Constitution: “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Adams served only one term (four years) and his presidency was a failure due primarily to foreign policy humiliations. The problem was that no one in Europe respected this new country called the United States, and Adams was unable to deal with that lack of respect. For example, in 1798 there was the "XYZ Affair," in which American diplomats went to France to demand an end to French attacks on American ships. Instead of being received welcoming the Americans in a dignified manner, three French agents (referred to anonymously as "XYZ") demanded that a bribe be given to them or else the American request would not even be considered. News of this demand for a bribe reached the United States and it was humiliating to the young country.

One final act by President Adams angered his political opponents further. There was a five-month delay between the presidential election and the swearing in of a new President (the gap is only about two months now). After Thomas Jefferson crushed Adams in the election of 1800, Adams appointed a bunch of "midnight judges" just before Adams was replaced by Jefferson. Jefferson was so angry by this "lame duck" action (something done by a politician after he is defeated but just before he is replaced in office by the winner) that Jefferson blocked the payment of salaries to these new judges for their work. This led to the famous case of ''Marbury v. Madison'' (1803), where the Supreme Court held in Jefferson's favor by declaring a federal law to be unconstitutional. This was the first time the new Supreme Court declared an Act of Congress to be unconstitutional and thereby void. The Court grabbed power for itself to invalidate an Act of Congress, but did it in a way that President Jefferson would not complain by making him the victor in that particular case. Think about the this clever way that the Supreme Court expanded its own power without sparking any resistance by Jefferson, who opposed a powerful judiciary.