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Founders and Framers

Text Box: What is the difference between a “Founder” and a “Framer”?

The Founders are the men who attended the 1st and 2nd Continental Congresses, the Sons of Liberty, and those who worked and fought for our freedom.  They are the ones who signed the Declaration of Independence.  The Founders gave us the Articles of Confederation, a very weak central or federal government with most of the power based in the states.

The Framers are the men who wrote and attended the Constitutional Convention.  They are the ones who signed the Constitution.  The Framers gave us the Constitution, which replaced the ill-performing Articles and gave us a strong central/federal government and weaker states.  There is an 11 year gap between the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Convention.

There are only 6 men who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  George Washington is considered both a Founder and a Framer because he was a delegate to both Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention.  He didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence since after being made the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army he resigned his post as delegate and left the Congress to run the army.

The Founders

The Framers

The Contributors

 

 

 

 

O  George Washington

O  Abraham Baldwin

Alexander Hamilton

O  George Washington

O  Abraham Clark

O  Arthur Middleton

 

O  Benjamin Franklin

O Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

O  Charles Pinckney

O  Benjamin Franklin

O  Benjamin Harrison

O  Benjamin Rush

 

Daniel Carroll

O Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer

O  David Brearley

O  Button Gwinnett

O  Caesar Rodney

O  Carter Braxton

 

O  George Clymer

O  George Read

O  Gouverneur Morris

O  Charles Carroll

O  Edward Rutledge

O  Elbridge Gerry

 

O  Gunning Bedford JR

O  Hugh Williamson

O  Jacob Broom

O  Francis Hopkinson

O  Francis Lightfoor Lee

O  Francis Lewis

 

O  James Madison JR

O  James McHenry

O James Wilson

O  George Clymer

O  George Read

O  George Ross

 

O  Jared Ingersoll

O  John Blair

O  John Dickinson

O  George Taylor

O  George Walton

O  George Wythe

 

O  John Langdon

O  John Rutledge

O  Jonathan Dayton

O  James Smith

O  James Wilson

O  John Adams

 

O  Nathaniel Gorham

O  Nicholas Gilman

O  Pierce Butler

O  John Hancock

O  John Hart

O John Morton

 

O  Richard Bassett

O Richard Dobbs Spaight

O  Robert Morris

O  John Penn

O  John Witherspoon

O  Joseph Hewes

 

O  Roger Sherman

O  Rufus King

O  Thomas Fitzsimons

O  Josiah Bartlett

O  Lewis Morris

O  Lyman Hall

 

O  Thomas Mifflin

O  William Blount

O  William Few

O  Matthew Thornton

O  Oliver Wolcott

O  Philip Livingston

 

O  William Livingston

O  William Paterson

O William Samuel Johnson

O  Richard Henry Lee

O  Richard Stockton

O  Robert Morris

 

 

 

 

O  Robert Treat Paine

O  Roger Sherman

O  Samuel Adams

 

O  Charles Thomson

O  Egbert Benson

O  Ethan Allen

O  Samuel Chase

O  Samuel Huntington

O  Stephen Hopkins

 

O Friedrich von Steuben

O  George Clinton

O  Gilbert du Motier

O  Thomas Heyward JR

O  Thomas Jefferson

O  Thomas Lynch JR

 

O  Henry Knox

O  Henry Lee III

O James Monroe

O  Thomas McKean

O  Thomas Nelson JR

O  Thomas Stone

 

O  James Otis JR

O  John Jay

O  John Marshall

O  William Ellery

O  William Floyd

O  William Hooper

 

O  Michael Hillegas

O  Patrick Henry

O  Peyton Randolph

O  William Paca

O  William Whipple

O  William Williams

 

O  Philip Mazzei

O  Richard Bland

O  Robert R Livingston

 

 

O The Preamble

 

O  Thomas Paine

O  Thomas Sim Lee

O  Dr. William Rickman