Founding Fathers

American  

plural noun

1. the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.

2. (often lowercase) any group of founders.

   the town's founding fathers.

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Founding Fathers Cultural  

1. A general name for male American patriots during the Revolutionary War, especially the signers of the Declaration of Independence and those who drafted the Constitution. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington were all Founding Fathers.

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Example Sentences

Founding Fathers including Washington and Hamilton encouraged “manufactures External link,” though businesses in the early Republic were necessarily small and locally oriented.

From Barron's • May 2, 2026

A second limited-edition passport showed a historic painting of the US Founding Fathers.

From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026

Jeanne Abrams is professor emerita at the University of Denver and author of “Revolutionary Medicine: The Founding Fathers and Mothers in Sickness and in Health.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

Granado-Gomez said voting is an important way to make a change — but refusing to pay taxes is a longtime tactic that goes back to the Founding Fathers, he added.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026

Dr. Johnson’s simple question gets to the heart of a basic and uncomfortable fact: some of the rowdiest cries for America’s freedom came from the Founding Fathers, heroes in the American quest for liberty.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis