Jonah Patel
The United States Constitution, drafted in 1787, is a document that still governs the United States to this day. The Framers of the Constitution, often referred to as the Founding Fathers, were a group of 55 delegates with extensive political experience and a wide range of occupations. While there were many influential figures involved in the process, James Madison is often regarded as the Father of the Constitution for his pivotal role in its drafting and promotion of the Bill of Rights.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Chief architect of the Constitution | James Madison |
| Pivotal role in drafting the document | James Madison |
| Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army | George Washington |
| President of the Constitutional Convention | George Washington |
| First Secretary of the Treasury | Alexander Hamilton |
| First Chief Justice | John Jay |
| First Secretary of the Treasury under President George Washington | Alexander Hamilton |
| First Secretary of War under the U.S. Constitution | Henry Knox |
| First Secretary of State | Thomas Jefferson |
| America's most senior diplomat from the start of the Revolutionary War | Benjamin Franklin |
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What You'll Learn
James Madison, the 'Father of the Constitution'
James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, is popularly known as the "Father of the Constitution". Madison played a pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. He was born into a prominent slave-owning planter family in Virginia and joined the Patriots in 1774, strongly opposed to British taxation. Madison was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and the Continental Congress during and after the American Revolutionary War. He was dissatisfied with the weak national government established by the Articles of Confederation, so he helped organise the Constitutional Convention, which produced a new constitution designed to strengthen republican government against democratic assembly.
Madison was present at the birth of the Constitution as the mastermind behind the so-called Virginia Plan, which put forward the basic framework and guiding principles of the Constitution. He worked tirelessly for its ratification, including authoring 29 Federalist Papers, and continued to be a concerned guardian of the Constitution as it matured. He believed keenly in the value of a strong government in which power was well controlled because it was well balanced among the branches. Madison took day-by-day notes of debates at the Constitutional Convention, which furnish the only comprehensive history of the proceedings. To promote ratification, he collaborated with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in the newspaper publication of the Federalist Papers, which became the standard commentary on the Constitution.
Madison's influence produced ratification by Virginia, and he went on to sponsor the first 10 amendments to the Constitution—the Bill of Rights—placing emphasis in the debate on freedom of religion, speech, and the press. He also proposed that apportionment in the House of Representatives be according to each state's free and enslaved population, eventually leading to the adoption of the Three-fifths Compromise. Madison supported the extension of slavery into the West during the Missouri crisis of 1819–1821, asserting that the spread of slavery would not lead to more slaves but rather improve their conditions.
Madison's theories advanced the rights and happiness of man, and his most active efforts served devotedly the cause of civil and political liberty. He saw himself as a law student but not as a lawyer. Madison did not apprentice himself to a lawyer and never joined the bar. Following the Revolutionary War, he studied ancient democracies in preparation for the Constitutional Convention. He suffered from episodes of mental exhaustion and illness with associated nervousness, which often caused short-term incapacity after periods of stress.
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George Washington, the 'Father' of the United States
George Washington, born in the Colony of Virginia in 1732, was a Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He is commonly known as the Father of the Nation for his role in bringing about American independence.
Washington was commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and led the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War against the British Empire. He was also a planter of tobacco and wheat at Mount Vernon and owned many slaves. He began opposing slavery towards the end of his life and provided for the eventual manumission of his slaves in his will.
Washington's image is an icon of American culture, and he has been extensively memorialized. His namesakes include the national capital, Washington, D.C., and the State of Washington. He appears on contemporary United States currency, including the one-dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin (the Washington quarter). Washington was also the first person to be pictured on the nation's postage stamps in 1847 and has since appeared on more United States postage stamps than anyone else.
In 1879, Congress proclaimed Washington's Birthday to be a federal holiday. In 1976, he was posthumously appointed General of the Armies of the United States during the American Bicentennial. Washington is consistently considered one of the greatest presidents in American history.
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Benjamin Franklin, the oldest delegate
Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention, aged 81. He was so infirm that he had to be carried to sessions in a sedan chair. Despite his age and frailty, Franklin was a key figure in the founding of the United States. He was one of the Founding Fathers, a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the War of Independence from Great Britain, and established the United States of America.
Franklin was a member of the Committee of Five, which was charged by the Second Continental Congress with drafting the Declaration of Independence. He was also America's most senior diplomat from the start of the Revolutionary War through to its conclusion with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In addition, Franklin negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which established American independence and brought an end to the American Revolutionary War.
Franklin was known for his wisdom and diplomacy, and he played a significant role in drafting the Constitution. He was one of 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, which took place in 1787 and was also known as the Philadelphia Convention after its host city. The Constitutional Convention was organised to draft a new Constitution for the United States, as the previous governing document, the Articles of Confederation, was flawed and placed too little power in the hands of the national government.
Franklin was one of the 39 delegates who signed the Constitution. The document produced by the Constitutional Convention still governs the United States today.
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Alexander Hamilton, author of the Federalist Papers
The Founding Fathers of the United States were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who oversaw the War of Independence from Great Britain, established the United States of America, and crafted a framework of government for the new nation. The Founding Fathers include those who wrote and signed the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States. The single person most identified as the "Father" of the United States is George Washington, who was the commanding general in the American Revolution and the nation's first president.
Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, was the first secretary of the treasury. He was also the author of the Federalist Papers, a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The Federalist Papers were written and published to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. The Federalist Papers are often used today to help interpret the intentions of those drafting the Constitution.
The Federalist Papers were published primarily in two New York state newspapers: The New York Packet and The Independent Journal. The first seventy-seven of these essays were published serially in these newspapers between October 1787 and April 1788. The last eight papers (Nos. 78–85) were republished in the New York newspapers between June 14 and August 16, 1788.
At the time of publication, the authors of The Federalist Papers attempted to hide their identities due to Hamilton and Madison having attended the convention. However, astute observers correctly discerned the identities of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. Establishing authorial authenticity of the essays that constitute The Federalist Papers has not always been clear. After Hamilton's death in 1804, a list emerged, claiming that he alone had written two-thirds of The Federalist essays. Some believe that several of these essays were written by Madison (Nos. 49–58 and 62–63). The scholarly detective work of Douglass Adair in 1944 postulated that Alexander Hamilton wrote 51 articles: Nos. 1, 6–9, 11–13, 15–17, 21–36, 59–61, and 65–85.
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Roger Sherman, the proposer of the Great Compromise
Roger Sherman is known for proposing the Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, during the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. The Great Compromise was a solution to the dispute between small and large states over the apportionment of representation in the new federal government.
The Connecticut Compromise proposed a bicameral federal legislature with a dual system of representation. In this system, each state would have equal representation in the upper house, while the lower house would have proportional representation based on a state's population. This compromise addressed the concerns of small states, which favoured equal representation in Congress, and large states, which favoured representation based on population or wealth.
Sherman's proposal included the provision that "the proportion of suffrage in the 1st. Branch [house] should be according to the respective numbers of free inhabitants; and that in the second branch or Senate, each State should have one vote and no more." This meant that the lower house, or House of Representatives, would have representation based on population, with each state having one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, including three-fifths of each state's enslaved population. The upper house, or Senate, would have equal representation from each state, with each state having two members.
The Great Compromise was approved on July 16, 1787, and it set an important precedent for the legislative structure and representation of states in the United States Congress. It also contributed to the Three-Fifths Compromise, which further complicated the issue of popular representation in the House of Representatives. The Connecticut Compromise is depicted in the painting "The Connecticut Compromise, oil on canvas" by Bradley Stevens, which shows Roger Sherman and his fellow Connecticut delegate, Oliver Ellsworth.
Roger Sherman was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. The Founding Fathers were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who oversaw the War of Independence from Great Britain and established the United States of America. They also crafted a framework of government for the new nation, including the Constitution of the United States.
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Frequently asked questions
James Madison is often called the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in the document's drafting and promoting the Bill of Rights.
The Founding Fathers of the United States, or the Framers of the Constitution, were a group of delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Some of the most notable Framers include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Roger Sherman, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and George Mason.
The Constitutional Convention, also known as the Philadelphia Convention, was a meeting of delegates in 1787 to draft a new Constitution for the United States. The previous governing document, the Articles of Confederation, was flawed and placed too little power in the national government.
The original states, except Rhode Island, collectively appointed 70 individuals to the Constitutional Convention. 55 delegates attended the sessions, but only 39 signed the Constitution. The delegates included military leaders, politicians, and individuals with extensive political experience and a wide range of occupations.
The US Constitution established a framework of government for the new nation, uniting the Thirteen Colonies and overseeing the War of Independence from Great Britain. It is a governing document that still shapes the United States today.
