document_title: Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016 film)

question_text: who plays queen of hearts in new alice in wonderland

text: Plot[edit]

text: Alice Kingsleigh has spent the past three years following in her father's footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London from China, Alice discovers that her ex-fiancé, Hamish Ascot, has married her look-alike and taken over her father's company and plans to have her sell him her father's ship, "the Wonder", in exchange for her family home. Unable to make a choice, Alice runs away, and comes across her butterfly friend Absolem, who disappears through a mysterious mirror in one of the upstairs rooms, returning to Wonderland.

text: There, Alice is greeted by Mirana of Marmoreal the White Queen, Nivens McTwisp the White Rabbit, the Tweedles, Mallymkun the Dormouse, Thackery Earwicket the March Hare, Bayard, and the Cheshire Cat. They inform her that Tarrant Hightopp the Mad Hatter is in poor health because his family is missing following the Attack of the Jabberwocky. The attack occurred shortly after his father, Zanik, a hat retailer, seemed to reject Tarrant's gift of a hat creation.

text: The White Queen persuades Alice to convince Time himself to save the Mad Hatter's family in the past, believing her to be the only one who can save the Hatter. However, she cautions Alice about Time, and that if her past self sees her future self, everything will be history. As Alice sets out, she ends up in a dreary castle, where Time himself, a demigod that is part-human, part-clock, resides. As Alice tries to consult Time, she finds the Chronosphere, an object that powers all time in Wonderland and will allow her to travel to any time in the past.

text: Alice ignores Time's warning that the past is unchangeable, and steals the Chronosphere, shortly after finding Iracebeth of Crims, the exiled Red Queen, in the care of Time. Alice accidentally flies to the day of Iracebeth's coronation, where a younger Mad Hatter mocks the Red Queen when the royal crown doesn't fit on her abnormally large head. This causes Iracebeth to melt down, and her father deems her emotionally unqualified to rule and passes the title of queen to her younger sister, the White Queen.

text: Alice learns of an event in Iracebeth's and Mirana's past that caused friction between the two and travels back in time again, hoping it will change Iracebeth's ways and stop the Jabberwocky from killing the Hatter's family. She learns that the hat that the Mad Hatter thought his father threw away was actually treasured by him. Meanwhile, at the White Queen and Red Queen's castle, at the time they are children, Mirana steals a tart from her mother and eats it. When confronted by their mother, Mirana lies about eating the tart, and Iracebeth is accused, causing her to run out of the castle. Alice sees that Iracebeth is about to run into a clock, thinking that's the event that deforms her head and personality. Alice prevents that collision but fails to change the past, as Iracebeth trips and slams her head into a stone wall instead.

text: A weakened Time then confronts Alice after relentless searching, and scolds her for putting all of time in danger. Out of panic, Alice runs into a nearby mirror back in the real world, where she wakes up in a mental hospital, diagnosed with female hysteria. As Dr. Addison Bennett, a psychiatric doctor, tries to inject her with a sedative, with her mother Helen's encouragement and help, she escapes and returns to Wonderland via the mirror, where she travels to Horevendush Day, when the Hightopp family was killed. Alice discovers that the Mad Hatter's family was captured by the Red Queen instead and never died. Returning to the present, however, Alice discovers that the Mad Hatter is on the brink of death.

text: Alice, close to tears, says that she believes him, and Tarrant transforms back to his normal self. The Wonderlandians go to the Red Queen's new organic plant castle, where the Mad Hatter finds his family shrunk and trapped in an ant farm. However, the Red Queen apprehends them and steals the Chronosphere from Alice. Ignoring Time's warning, she takes her sister back to the day she lied about the tart. By the time the Mad Hatter and Alice get there, the Red Queen and her younger self have seen each other. Time becomes a paradox, and Wonderland begins to freeze in rust. As a powerless Time's pleas, Alice and the Mad Hatter, with the White Queen and now-frozen Red Queen, use the Chronosphere to race back to the present as the rust proceeds to spread all over the ocean of Time and the castle, where Alice places the Chronosphere in its original place in time.

text: With the Chronosphere stabilized, Wonderland, including those frozen, are reverted to normal. The Mad Hatter reunites with his family, and the White Queen and Red Queen make amends, while Time forgives Alice for the trouble she caused, but forbids her to return. Alice bids farewell to her friends and returns to the real world through another mirror. Alice finds her mother, Helen, about to sign over the Wonder to Hamish and reassures her that it's only a ship. Helen decides to support her daughter regardless. Hamish seizes the Kingsleigh family home but not the ship. Alice and her mother set out to travel the world together with their own shipping company.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Johnny Depp as Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter[3]

Louis Ashbourne Serkis as a young Tarrant Hightopp[4]

Anne Hathaway as Mirana of Marmoreal, the White Queen[3]

Amelia Crouch as a young Mirana[5]

Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsleigh[3]
Helena Bonham Carter as Iracebeth of Crims, the Red Queen.[3]

Leilah de Meza as a young Iracebeth[6]

Sacha Baron Cohen as Time, a powerful Father Time-godlike human clockwork hybrid who speaks in a German accent and rules over of time in Underland using the Chronosphere in his castle[3]
Rhys Ifans as Zanik Hightopp, the Hatter's father[3]
Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee[3]
Lindsay Duncan as Helen Kingsleigh, Alice's mother
Leo Bill as Hamish Ascot, now "Lord Ascot" following his father's death
Geraldine James as Lady Ascot, Hamish's mother
Andrew Scott as Dr. Addison Bennett,[7] a cruel psychiatric doctor
Ed Speleers as James Harcourt,[3] an employee of the Ascots
Richard Armitage as King Oleron, Iracebeth and Mirana's father
Hattie Morahan as Queen Elsemere, Iracebeth and Mirana's mother
Joanna Bobin as Lady Alexandra Ascot, Hamish's wife
Simone Kirby as Tyva Hightopp, the Hatter's mother
Joe Hurst as Bim Hightopp

Oliver Hawkes as a young Bim Hightopp

Siobhan Redmond as Bumalic Hightopp
Frederick Warder as Poomally Hightopp
Eve Hedderwick Turner as Baloo Hightopp
Tom Godwin as Pimlick Hightopp

text: Voice cast[edit]

text:
Alan Rickman as Absolem, the Butterfly[3]
Stephen Fry as Cheshire, the Cheshire Cat[3]
Michael Sheen as Nivens McTwisp, the White Rabbit[3]
Timothy Spall as Bayard, the Bloodhound[3]

Kyle Hebert as a young Bayard[8]

Barbara Windsor as Mallymkun, the Dormouse[3]
Matt Vogel as Wilkins, Time's long-suffering manservant. Toby Jones was originally announced in the role[9]
Paul Whitehouse as Thackery Earwicket, the March Hare[3]
Wally Wingert as Humpty Dumpty. John Sessions was originally slated to voice the character[10]
Meera Syal as Nobody
Edward Petherbridge as Gentleman Fish
Owain Rhys Davies as Delivery Frog
Paul Hunter as the White Chess King, a chess piece

text: Production[edit]

text: The film was announced via Variety in December 2012.[11] Bobin was first approached about the project while doing post-production work on Muppets Most Wanted,[12] Of being asked, Bobin has said that "I just couldn't pass it up", as he has a passion for the works of Lewis Carroll as well as history in general.[13] In July 2013, it was announced that Johnny Depp would return as the Hatter,[14] with Mia Wasikowska's return confirmed the following November.[15] In January 2014 Sacha Baron Cohen joined the cast to play Time.[16] In May 2014, Rhys Ifans joined the cast to play Zanik Hightopp, the Mad Hatter's father.[17] In developing the character of "Time", Bobin sought to avoid creating a "straight-up bad guy", noting that it would be "a bit dull", and also that the role in that universe already existed in the form of The Red Queen.[12] Instead, Bobin sought to make Time a "Twit", further explaining that "There's no one better at playing the confident idiot trope than Sacha Baron Cohen", and adding that "it was very much with Sacha in mind".[12]

text: Principal photography began on August 4, 2014, at Shepperton Studios.[18] In August 2014, filming took place in Gloucester Docks, which included the use of at least four historic ships: Kathleen and May, Irene, Excelsior, and the Earl of Pembroke, the last of which was renamed The Wonder for filming.[19][20][21][22][23] Principal photography ended on October 31, 2014.[24]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Alice Through the Looking Glass: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Film score by Danny Elfman

Released
May 27, 2016

Recorded
2016

Studio
Abbey Road Studios

Genre
Orchestral, pop rock

Length
76:53

Label
Walt Disney

Producer
Danny Elfman

Danny Elfman film scores chronology

Goosebumps
(2015)Goosebumps2015
Alice Through the Looking Glass
(2016)
Before I Wake
(2016)Before I Wake2016

Singles from Alice Through the Looking Glass: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

"Just Like Fire"
Released: April 15, 2016
"Alice"
Released: May 27, 2016
"Saving the Ship"
Released: May 27, 2016
"Looking Glass"
Released: June 1, 2016
"Truth"
Released: July 28, 2016
"Story of Time"
Released: August 7, 2016
"The Red Queen"
Released: October 18, 2016
"The Chronosphere"
Released: October 20, 2016

text: The film’s score was composed by Danny Elfman. The soundtrack was released on May 27, 2016, by Walt Disney Records. Pink recorded the song "Just Like Fire" for the film, and also covered Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit", only used in the film's promotional material.

text: Track listing[edit]

text: All music composed by Danny Elfman.

text:
No.
Title
Length

1.
"Alice"
6:35

2.
"Saving the Ship"
3:40

3.
"Watching Time"
5:10

4.
"Looking Glass"
3:30

5.
"To the Rescue"
0:56

6.
"Hatter House"
3:47

7.
"The Red Queen"
2:29

8.
"The Chronosphere"
4:15

9.
"Warning Hightopps"
2:23

10.
"Tea Time Forever"
1:45

11.
"Oceans of Time"
1:15

12.
"Hat Heartbreak"
2:27

13.
"Asylum Escape"
4:06

14.
"Hatter's Deathbed"
3:22

15.
"Finding the Family"
2:04

16.
"Time Is Up"
4:24

17.
"World's End"
1:50

18.
"Truth"
4:09

19.
"Goodbye Alice"
2:13

20.
"Kingsleigh & Kingsleigh"
1:19

21.
"Seconds Song"
0:11

22.
"Friends United"
1:06

23.
"Time's Castle"
1:49

24.
"The Seconds"
1:55

25.
"Clock Shop"
0:50

26.
"They're Alive"
2:23

27.
"Story of Time"
3:03

28.
"Just Like Fire" (performed by Pink)
3:35

Total length:
76:53

text: Release[edit]

text: Alice Through the Looking Glass premiered in London on May 10, 2016, and was theatrically released on May 27, 2016, in the United States by Walt Disney Pictures.

text: Home media[edit]

text: Alice Through the Looking Glass was released on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download on October 18, 2016, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.[25][26] It debuted at No. 2 in the Blu-ray Disc sales charts.[27]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Alice Through the Looking Glass grossed $77 million in the United States and Canada and $222.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $299.5 million, against a budget of $170 million.[1]

text: North America[edit]

text: Alice Through the Looking Glass opened in the United States and Canada on May 27, 2016, alongside X-Men: Apocalypse, and was initially projected to gross $55–60 million from 3,763 theaters over its four-day Memorial Day opening weekend, but projections were continuously revised downwards due to poor word of mouth.[28] It had the added benefit of playing in over 3,100 3D theaters, 380 IMAX screens, 77 premium large formats and 79 D-box locations.[29][30] It made $1.5 million from Thursday previews (to the first film's $3.9 million)[31] and just $9.7 million on its first day, compared to the $41 million opening Friday of its predecessor.[32] Through its opening weekend, it earned $27 million, which when compared to its predecessor's $116 million opening is down 70%.[28] While 3D represented 71% ($82 million) of the original film's opening gross, 3D constituted only 41% ($11 million) for this sequel, with 29% coming from traditional 3D shows, 11% from IMAX, and 1% from premium large formats.[33] It became the studio's third Memorial Day opening flop following Tomorrowland in 2015 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in 2010.[33] During its first week, the film grossed $40.1 million.[34] In its second weekend, the film grossed $11.3 million (a 55.1% drop), finishing 4th at the box office.[35]

text: Other countries[edit]

text: The film was released across 43 countries (72% of its total market place) the same weekend as the US, and was estimated to gross $80–100 million in its opening weekend. It faced competition from Warcraft and X-Men: Apocalypse.[36] It ended up grossing $62.7 million, which is well below the projections of which $4.1 million came from IMAX shows.[37] It had an opening weekend gross in Mexico ($4.5 million), Brazil ($4.1 million), and Russia ($3.9 million).[37] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it had an unsuccessful opening by grossing just £2.23 million ($3.1 million) during its opening weekend, a mere 21% of the first film's £10.56 million ($15.2 million) opening from 603 theaters. It debuted in second place behind X-Men: Apocalypse which was on its second weekend of play.[38] In China, it had an opening day of an estimated $7.3 million[39] and went on to score the second biggest Disney live-action (non-Marvel or Lucasfilm) opening ever with $26.6 million, behind only The Jungle Book.[37] However, this was down from its $35–45 million projections.[40] It debuted at the No. 1 spot among newly released film in Japan with $5.2 million and $4.1 million on Saturday and Sunday. By comparison, the first film opened with $14 million on its way to a $133.6 million a total.[41][42]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 29% based on 234 reviews, and an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Alice Through the Looking Glass is just as visually impressive as its predecessor, but that isn't enough to cover for an underwhelming story that fails to live up to its classic characters."[43] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on 42 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[44] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade earned by its predecessor.[45]

text: Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote in his review, "What does all this have to do with Lewis Carroll? Hardly anything" and that overall, "It's just an excuse on which to hang two trite overbearing fables and one amusing one".[46] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe gave the movie 1.5 out of 4 stars and called the film, "gaudy, loud, complacent, and vulgar."[47] Stephen Whitty of New York Daily News called the film "hugely expensive and extravagantly stupid" and that, overall, the movie "is just one more silly Hollywood mashup, an innocent fantasy morphed into a noisy would-be blockbuster".[48]

text: Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com was deeply critical of Through the Looking Glass, describing it as "the most offensive kind of film...one that spends an enormous amount of money yet seems to have nothing on its mind but money. You give it, they take it. And you get nothing in return but assurances that you're seeing magic and wonder. The movie keeps repeating it in your ear, and flashing it onscreen in big block letters: MAGIC AND WONDER. MAGIC AND WONDER. But there is no magic, no wonder, just junk rehashed from a movie that was itself a rehash of Lewis Carroll, tricked out with physically unpersuasive characters and landscapes and 'action scenes', with blockbuster 'journey movie' tropes affixed to every set-piece as blatantly as Post-It Notes."[49]

text: Kyle Smith of New York Post gave the film a positive review: "The screenplay (by Linda Woolverton) isn't exactly heaving with brilliant ideas, but it works well enough as a blank canvas against which the special-effects team goes bonkers".[50] Matthew Lickona of San Diego Reader said that while he found the visual effects to be "stupidly expensive" and the story familiar, he called it, "a solid kids’ movie in the old style".[51]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
List of awards and nominations

Award
Category
Recipient(s)
Result
Ref(s)

Golden Raspberry Awards
Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Nominated
[52]

Worst Supporting Actor
Johnny Depp

Worst Screen Combo
Johnny Depp and His Vomitously Vibrant Costume

Golden Trailer Awards
Best Animation Family
"Poem"
[53]

The Don LaFontaine Award for Best Voice Over
"Poem"

Best Fantasy Adventure TV Spot
"Grammys"

Best Original Score TV Spot
"Grammys"

Grammy Awards
Best Song Written For Visual Media
"Just Like Fire" – Oscar Holter, Max Martin, Pink and Shellback
[54]

Hollywood Music in Media Awards
Best Song – Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film
"Just Like Fire" – Oscar Holter, Max Martin, Pink and Shellback
Won
[55][56]

People's Choice Awards
Favorite Family Movie
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Nominated
[57]

Satellite Awards
Best Art Direction and Production Design
Dan Hennah
[58]

Best Costume Design
Colleen Atwood

Saturn Awards
Best Costume Design
Colleen Atwood
[59]

Teen Choice Awards
Choice Music: Song from a Movie or TV Show
"Just Like Fire" by Pink
[60]

Visual Effects Society Awards
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
Jacob Clark, Joseph Pepper, Klaus Seitschek and Cosku Turhan
[61]


document_title: Founding Fathers of the United States

question_text: where did our founding fathers write the constitution

root

text: Founding Fathers of the United States

text: Background[edit]

text: The First Continental Congress met briefly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1774, consisting of fifty-six delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies (excluding Georgia) that became the United States of America. Among them was George Washington, who would soon be drawn out of military retirement to command the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Also in attendance was Patrick Henry, and John Adams, who like all delegates were elected by their respective colonial assemblies. Other delegates included Samuel Adams from Massachusetts, John Dickinson from Pennsylvania and New York's John Jay. This congress in addition to formulating appeals to the British crown, established the Continental Association to administer boycott actions against Britain.

tag: p

text: When the Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, it essentially reconstituted the First Congress. Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting participated in the second.[13] New arrivals included Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, John Hancock of Massachusetts, and John Witherspoon of New Jersey. Hancock was elected Congress President two weeks into the session when Peyton Randolph was recalled to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses. Thomas Jefferson replaced Randolph in the Virginia congressional delegation.[14] The second Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Witherspoon was the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration. He also signed the Articles of Confederation and attended the New Jersey (1787) convention that ratified the Federal Constitution.[15]

text: The newly founded country of the United States had to create a new government to replace the British Parliament. The U.S. adopted the Articles of Confederation, a declaration that established a national government with a one-house legislature. Its ratification by all thirteen colonies gave the second Congress a new name: the Congress of the Confederation, which met from 1781 to 1789.[16] The Constitutional Convention took place during the summer of 1787, in Philadelphia.[17] Although the Convention was called to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset for some including James Madison and Alexander Hamilton was to create a new frame of government rather than amending the existing one. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention. The result of the Convention was the United States Constitution and the replacement of the Continental Congress with the United States Congress.

text: Interesting facts and commonalities[edit]

text: The Founding Fathers represented a cross-section of 18th-century U.S. leadership. Almost all of them were well-educated men of means who were leaders in their communities. Many were also prominent in national affairs. Virtually every one had taken part in the American Revolution; at least 29 had served in the Continental Army, most of them in positions of command. Scholars have examined the collective biography of them as well as the signers of the Declaration and the Constitution.[18]

text: Education[edit]

text: Many of the Founding Fathers attended or held degrees from the colonial colleges, most notably Columbia known at the time as "King's College", Princeton originally known as "The College of New Jersey", Harvard College, the College of William and Mary, Yale College and University of Pennsylvania. Some had previously been home schooled or obtained early instruction from private tutors or academies.[19] Others had studied abroad. Ironically, Benjamin Franklin who had little formal education himself would ultimately establish the College of Philadelphia based on European models (1740); "Penn" would have the first medical school (1765) in the thirteen colonies where another Founder, Benjamin Rush would eventually teach.

text: With a limited number of professional schools established in the U.S., Founders also sought advanced degrees from traditional institutions in England and Scotland such as the University of Edinburgh, the University of St. Andrews, and the University of Glasgow.

text: Colonial Colleges attended[edit]

text:
College of William and Mary: Thomas Jefferson[20]
Harvard College: John Adams, John Hancock and William Williams
King's College (now Columbia): John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Robert R. Livingston and Egbert Benson.[21]
College of New Jersey (now Princeton): James Madison, Gunning Bedford Jr., Aaron Burr, Benjamin Rush and William Paterson
College of Philadelphia later merged into the University of Pennsylvania: Hugh Williamson
Yale College: Oliver Wolcott
James Wilson attended the University of St. Andrews, the University of Glasgow,[22] and the University of Edinburgh though he never received a degree.

tag: ul

text: Advanced degrees and apprenticeships[edit]

text: Doctors of Medicine[edit]

text:
University of Edinburgh: Rush [23]
University of Utrecht, Netherlands: Williamson

text: Theology[edit]

text:
University of Edinburgh: Witherspoon (attended, no degree)
University of St. Andrews: Witherspoon (honorary doctorate)

text: Legal apprenticeships[edit]

text: Several like John Jay, James Wilson, John Williams and George Wythe[24] were trained as lawyers through apprenticeships in the colonies while a few trained at the Inns of Court in London.

text: Self-taught or little formal education[edit]

text: Franklin, Washington, John Williams and Henry Wisner had little formal education and were largely self-taught or learned through apprenticeship.

text: Demographics[edit]

text: Some of the Founding Fathers were natives of the Thirteen Colonies.

text:
Massachusetts: Adams, Franklin
New York: Jay
Pennsylvania: Morris
Virginia: Washington, Jefferson, Madison

text: At least nine were born outside of the Thirteen Colonies

text:
England: Robert Morris
Ireland: Butler, Fitzsimons, McHenry, and Paterson
West Indies: Hamilton
Scotland: Wilson and Witherspoon

text: Many of them had moved from one state to another. Eighteen had already lived, studied or worked in more than one state or colony: Baldwin, Bassett, Bedford, Davie, Dickinson, Few, Franklin, Ingersoll, Hamilton, Livingston, Alexander Martin, Luther Martin, Mercer, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, Read, Sherman, and Williamson.

text: Several others had studied or traveled abroad.

text: Occupations[edit]

text: The Founding Fathers practiced a wide range of high and middle-status occupations, and many pursued more than one career simultaneously. They did not differ dramatically from the Loyalists, except they were generally younger and less senior in their professions.[25]

text:
As many as thirty-five including Adams, Hamilton and Jay were trained as lawyers though not all of them practiced law. Some had also been local judges.[26]
Washington trained as a land surveyor before he became commander of a small militia
At the time of the convention, 13 men were merchants: Blount, Broom, Clymer, Dayton, Fitzsimons, Shields, Gilman, Gorham, Langdon, Robert Morris, Pierce, Sherman, and Wilson.
Broom and Few were small farmers.
Three had retired from active economic endeavors: Franklin, McHenry, and Mifflin.
Franklin and Williamson were scientists, in addition to their other activities.
McClurg, McHenry, Rush, and Williamson were physicians
Johnson and Witherspoon were college presidents.

text: Finances[edit]

text: Historian Caroline Robbins in 1977 examined the status of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence and concluded:

text:
Seven were major land speculators: Blount, Dayton, Fitzsimmons, Gorham, Robert Morris, Washington, and Wilson.
Eleven speculated in securities on a large scale: Bedford, Blair, Clymer, Dayton, Fitzsimons, Franklin, King, Langdon, Robert Morris, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Sherman.
Many derived income from plantations or large farms which they owned or managed, which relied upon the labor of enslaved men and women particularly in the southern colonies: Bassett, Blair, Blount, Davie,[29] Johnson, Butler, Carroll, Jefferson, Jenifer, Madison, Mason, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Rutledge, Spaight, and Washington.
Eight of the men received a substantial part of their income from public office: Baldwin, Blair, Brearly, Gilman, Livingston, Madison, and Rutledge.

text: Prior Political Experience[edit]

text: Several of the Founding Fathers had extensive national, state, local and foreign political experience prior to the adoption of the Constitution in 1787. Some had been diplomats. Several had been members of the Continental Congress or elected President of that body.

text:
Benjamin Franklin began his political career as a city councilman and then Justice of the Peace in Philadelphia. He was next elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly and was sent by them to London as a colonial agent which helped hone his diplomatic skills.
Jefferson, Adams, Jay and Franklin all acquired significant political experience as ministers to countries in Europe.
John Adams and John Jay drafted the Constitutions of their respective states, Massachusetts and New York, and successfully navigated them through to adoption.
Jay, Thomas Mifflin and Nathaniel Gorham had served as President of the Continental Congress.
Gouverneur Morris had been a member of the New York Provincial Congress.
John Dickinson, Franklin, Langdon, and Rutledge had been governors or presidents of their states.
Robert Morris had been a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly and President of Pennsylvania's Committee of Safety (American Revolution). He was also a member of the Committee of Secret Correspondence.
Roger Sherman had served in the Connecticut House of Representatives.
Elbridge Gerry was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.
Carroll served in the Maryland Senate.
Wythe's first exposure to politics was as a member of Virginia's House of Burgesses.
Read's entry into the political arena was as a commissioner of the town of Charlestown, Maryland.
Clymer was a member of the Philadelphia Committee of Safety and the Continental Congress.
Wilson's time as a member of the Continental Congress in 1776 was his introduction to colonial politics.

text: Nearly all of the 55 Constitutional Convention delegates had some experience in colonial and state government, and the majority had held county and local offices.[30] Those who lacked national congressional experience were Bassett, Blair, Brearly, Broom, Davie, Dayton, Alexander Martin, Luther Martin, Mason, McClurg, Paterson, Charles Pinckney, Strong, and Yates.

text: Religion[edit]

text: Franklin T. Lambert (2003) has examined the religious affiliations and beliefs of some of the Founders. Of the 55 delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, 28 were Anglicans (in the Church of England; or Episcopalian, after the American Revolutionary War was won), 21 were Protestants, and two were Roman Catholics (D. Carroll, and Fitzsimons).[31]  Among the Protestant delegates to the Constitutional Convention, eight were Presbyterians, seven were Congregationalists, two were Lutherans, two were Dutch Reformed, and two were Methodists.[31]

text: A few prominent Founding Fathers were anti-clerical Christians such as Thomas Jefferson,[32][33][34] who constructed the Jefferson Bible, and Benjamin Franklin.[35]

text: Historian Gregg L. Frazer argues that the leading Founders (Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Wilson, Morris, Madison, Hamilton, and Washington) were neither Christians nor Deists, but rather supporters of a hybrid "theistic rationalism".[36]

text: The Faiths of the Founding Fathers is a book that discusses the religion held by the founding fathers, written in 2006 by historian of U.S. religion David L. Holmes.

text: Ownership of slaves and position on slavery[edit]

text: One of the greatest contradictions of the Founding Fathers was their disunity with regard to slavery at a time that they were seeking liberty for themselves. This hypocrisy was as evident in the North as it was in the South for many wealthy Northerners owned domestic slaves. In her study of Thomas Jefferson, historian Annette Gordon-Reed emphasizes this irony, "Others of the founders held slaves, but no other founder drafted the charter for freedom, "[37] In addition to Jefferson, George Washington, John Jay and many other of the Founding Fathers practiced slavery but were also conflicted by the institution which many saw as immoral and politically divisive.[38]

text: Franklin though he was a key founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society[39] originally owned slaves whom he later manumitted. John Jay would try unsuccessfully to abolish slavery as early as 1777 in the State of New York but was overruled.[40] He nonetheless founded the New York Manumission Society in 1785, for which Hamilton became an officer. They and other members of the Society founded the African Free School in New York City, to educate the children of free blacks and slaves. It was not until Jay was governor of New York in 1798, that he signed into law a gradual abolition law; fully ending slavery as of 1827. He freed his own slaves in 1798. Alexander Hamilton opposed slavery, as his experiences in life left him very familiar with slavery and its effect on slaves and on slaveholders,[41] although he did negotiate slave transactions for his wife's family, the Schuylers.[42] John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Paine never owned slaves.[43]

text: Slaves and slavery are mentioned only indirectly in the 1787 Constitution.  For example, Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 prescribes that "three fifths of all other Persons" are to be counted for the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives and direct taxes.  Additionally, in Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3, slaves are referred to as "persons held in service or labor".[39][44] The Founding Fathers, however, did make important efforts to contain slavery. Many Northern states had adopted legislation to end or significantly reduce slavery during and after the American Revolution.[44] In 1782 Virginia passed a manumission law that allowed slave owners to free their slaves by will or deed.[45] As a result, thousands of slaves were manumitted in Virginia.[45] Thomas Jefferson, in 1784, proposed to ban slavery in all the Western Territories, which failed to pass Congress by one vote.[44] Partially following Jefferson's plan, Congress did ban slavery in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, for lands north of the Ohio River.[44]

text: The international slave trade was banned in all states except South Carolina, by 1800. Finally in 1807, President Jefferson called for and signed into law a Federally-enforced ban on the international slave trade throughout the U.S. and its territories. It became a federal crime to import or export a slave.[46] However, the domestic slave trade was allowed, for expansion, or for diffusion of slavery into the Louisiana Territory.[47]

text: Attendance at conventions[edit]

text: In the winter and spring of 1786–1787, twelve of the thirteen states chose a total of 74 delegates to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Nineteen delegates chose not to accept election or attend the debates; for example, Patrick Henry of Virginia thought that state politics were far more interesting and important than national politics, though during the ratification controversy of 1787–1788 he claimed, "I smelled a rat." Rhode Island did not send delegates because of its politicians' suspicions of the Convention delegates' motivations. As the colony was founded by Roger Williams as a sanctuary for Baptists, Rhode Island's absence at the Convention in part explains the absence of Baptist affiliation among those who did attend. Of the 55 who did attend at some point, no more than 38 delegates showed up at one time.[48]

text: Spouses and children[edit]

text: Most of the Founding Fathers married and had children. Many of their spouses, like Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Sarah Livingston Jay, Dolley Madison, Mary White Morris and Catherine Alexander Duer were strong women and made significant contributions of their own to the fight for liberty.[49]

text: Sherman fathered the largest family: 15 children by two wives. At least nine (Bassett, Brearly, Johnson, Mason, Paterson, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Sherman, Wilson, and Wythe) married more than once. Four (Baldwin, Gilman, Jenifer, and Alexander Martin) were lifelong bachelors.  Many of the delegates also had children conceived illegitimately.[50] George Washington, "The Father of our Country,"[51] had no biological descendants.

text: Charters of freedom and historical documents of the United States[edit]

text:
The National Archives and Records Administration also known as NARA, defines U.S. Founding Documents, or Charters of Freedom, as the Declaration of Independence (1776), The Constitution (1787) and the Bill of Rights (1791). These original instruments which represent the philosophy of the United States are housed in Washington, D.C. in the NARA Rotunda.[52]
The Library of Congress further identifies the Articles of Confederation, also preserved at NARA, as a primary U.S. document.[53] The Articles of Confederation served as the first constitution of the United States until its replacement by the present Constitution on March 4, 1789.

text: Signatories of the Continental Association (CA), Declaration of Independence (DI), Articles of Confederation (AC), and the United States Constitution (USC)):

text:
Name

Province/state

CA (1774)

DI (1776)

AC (1777)

USC (1787)

Andrew Adams
Connecticut

Yes

John Adams
Massachusetts
Yes
Yes

Samuel Adams
Massachusetts
Yes
Yes
Yes

Thomas Adams
Virginia

Yes

John Alsop
New York
Yes

Abraham Baldwin
Georgia

Yes

John Banister
Virginia

Yes

Josiah Bartlett
New Hampshire

Yes
Yes

Richard Bassett
Delaware

Yes

Gunning Bedford Jr.
Delaware

Yes

Edward Biddle
Pennsylvania
Yes

John Blair
Virginia

Yes

Richard Bland
Virginia
Yes

William Blount
North Carolina

Yes

Simon Boerum
New York
Yes

Carter Braxton
Virginia

Yes

David Brearley
New Jersey

Yes

Jacob Broom
Delaware

Yes

Pierce Butler
South Carolina

Yes

Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Maryland

Yes

Daniel Carroll
Maryland

Yes
Yes

Richard Caswell
North Carolina
Yes

Samuel Chase
Maryland
Yes
Yes

Abraham Clark
New Jersey

Yes

William Clingan
Pennsylvania

Yes

George Clymer
Pennsylvania

Yes

Yes

John Collins
Rhode Island

Yes

Stephen Crane
New Jersey
Yes

Thomas Cushing
Massachusetts
Yes

Francis Dana
Massachusetts

Yes

Jonathan Dayton
New Jersey

Yes

Silas Deane
Connecticut
Yes

John De Hart
New Jersey
Yes

John Dickinson
Delaware

Yes
Yes

Pennsylvania
Yes

William Henry Drayton
South Carolina

Yes

James Duane
New York
Yes

Yes

William Duer
New York

Yes

Eliphalet Dyer
Connecticut
Yes

William Ellery
Rhode Island

Yes
Yes

William Few
Georgia

Yes

Thomas Fitzsimons
Pennsylvania

Yes

William Floyd
New York
Yes
Yes

Nathaniel Folsom
New Hampshire
Yes

Benjamin Franklin
Pennsylvania

Yes

Yes

Christopher Gadsden
South Carolina
Yes

Joseph Galloway
Pennsylvania
Yes

Elbridge Gerry
Massachusetts

Yes
Yes

Nicholas Gilman
New Hampshire

Yes

Nathaniel Gorham
Massachusetts

Yes

Button Gwinnett
Georgia

Yes

Lyman Hall
Georgia

Yes

Alexander Hamilton
New York

Yes

John Hancock
Massachusetts

Yes
Yes

John Hanson
Maryland

Yes

Cornelius Harnett
North Carolina

Yes

Benjamin Harrison
Virginia
Yes
Yes

John Hart
New Jersey

Yes

John Harvie
Virginia

Yes

Patrick Henry
Virginia
Yes

Joseph Hewes
North Carolina
Yes
Yes

Thomas Heyward Jr.
South Carolina

Yes
Yes

Samuel Holten
Massachusetts

Yes

William Hooper
North Carolina
Yes
Yes

Stephen Hopkins
Rhode Island
Yes
Yes

Francis Hopkinson
New Jersey

Yes

Titus Hosmer
Connecticut

Yes

Charles Humphreys
Pennsylvania
Yes

Samuel Huntington
Connecticut

Yes
Yes

Richard Hutson
South Carolina

Yes

Jared Ingersoll
Pennsylvania

Yes

William Jackson
South Carolina

Yes

John Jay
New York
Yes

Thomas Jefferson
Virginia

Yes

Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer
Maryland

Yes

Thomas Johnson
Maryland
Yes

William Samuel Johnson
Connecticut

Yes

Rufus King
Massachusetts

Yes

James Kinsey
New Jersey
Yes

John Langdon
New Hampshire

Yes

Edward Langworthy
Georgia

Yes

Henry Laurens
South Carolina

Yes

Francis Lightfoot Lee
Virginia

Yes
Yes

Richard Henry Lee
Virginia
Yes
Yes
Yes

Francis Lewis
New York

Yes
Yes

Philip Livingston
New York
Yes
Yes

William Livingston
New Jersey
Yes

Yes

James Lovell
Massachusetts

Yes

Isaac Low
New York
Yes

Thomas Lynch
South Carolina
Yes

Thomas Lynch Jr.
South Carolina

Yes

James Madison
Virginia

Yes

Henry Marchant
Rhode Island

Yes

John Mathews
South Carolina

Yes

James McHenry
Maryland

Yes

Thomas McKean
Delaware
Yes
Yes
Yes

Arthur Middleton
South Carolina

Yes

Henry Middleton
South Carolina
Yes

Thomas Mifflin
Pennsylvania
Yes

Yes

Gouverneur Morris
New York

Yes

Pennsylvania

Yes

Lewis Morris
New York

Yes

Robert Morris
Pennsylvania

Yes
Yes
Yes

John Morton
Pennsylvania
Yes
Yes

Thomas Nelson Jr.
Virginia

Yes

William Paca
Maryland
Yes
Yes

Robert Treat Paine
Massachusetts
Yes
Yes

William Paterson
New Jersey

Yes

Edmund Pendleton
Virginia
Yes

John Penn
North Carolina

Yes
Yes

Charles Pinckney
South Carolina

Yes

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
South Carolina

Yes

Peyton Randolph
Virginia
Yes

George Read
Delaware
Yes
Yes

Yes

Joseph Reed
Pennsylvania

Yes

Daniel Roberdeau
Pennsylvania

Yes

Caesar Rodney
Delaware
Yes
Yes

George Ross
Pennsylvania
Yes
Yes

Benjamin Rush
Pennsylvania

Yes

Edward Rutledge
South Carolina
Yes
Yes

John Rutledge
South Carolina
Yes

Yes

Nathaniel Scudder
New Jersey

Yes

Roger Sherman
Connecticut
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

James Smith
Pennsylvania

Yes

Jonathan Bayard Smith
Pennsylvania

Yes

Richard Smith
New Jersey
Yes

Richard Dobbs Spaight
North Carolina

Yes

Richard Stockton
New Jersey

Yes

Thomas Stone
Maryland

Yes

John Sullivan
New Hampshire
Yes

George Taylor
Pennsylvania

Yes

Edward Telfair
Georgia

Yes

Matthew Thornton
New Hampshire

Yes

Matthew Tilghman
Maryland
Yes

Nicholas Van Dyke
Delaware

Yes

George Walton
Georgia

Yes

John Walton
Georgia

Yes

Samuel Ward
Rhode Island
Yes

George Washington
Virginia
Yes

Yes

John Wentworth Jr.
New Hampshire

Yes

William Whipple
New Hampshire

Yes

John Williams
North Carolina

Yes

William Williams
Connecticut

Yes

Hugh Williamson
North Carolina

Yes

James Wilson
Pennsylvania

Yes

Yes

Henry Wisner
New York
Yes

John Witherspoon
New Jersey

Yes
Yes

Oliver Wolcott
Connecticut

Yes
Yes

George Wythe
Virginia

Yes

tag: table

text: Post-constitution life[edit]

text: Subsequent events in the lives of the Founding Fathers after the adoption of the Constitution were characterized by success or failure, reflecting the abilities of these men as well as the vagaries of fate.[54] Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison served in highest U.S. office of President. Jay would be appointed as Chief Justice of the United States and later elected to two terms as Governor of New York.

text:
Seven (Fitzsimons, Gorham, Luther Martin, Mifflin, Robert Morris, Pierce, and Wilson) suffered serious financial reversals that left them in or near bankruptcy. Robert Morris spent three of the last years of his life imprisoned following bad land deals.[49]
Two, Blount and Dayton, were involved in possibly treasonous activities. Yet, as they had done before the convention, most of the group continued to render public service, particularly to the new government they had helped to create.

text: Youth and longevity[edit]

text: Many of the Founding Fathers were under 40 years old at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776: James Armistead Lafayette was 15, Marquis de Lafayette was 18, Alexander Hamilton was 19, Aaron Burr was 20, Gouverneur Morris and Betsy Ross were 24. The oldest were Benjamin Franklin, 70, and Samuel Whittemore, 81.[55]

text: Secretary Charles Thomson lived to the age of 94. Johnson died at 92. John Adams lived to the age of 90. A few – Franklin, Jay, Jefferson, Madison, Hugh Williamson, and George Wythe – lived into their eighties. Approximately 16 died in their seventies, 21 in their sixties, 8 in their fifties, and 5 in their forties. Three (Alexander Hamilton, Richard Dobbs Spaight and Button Gwinnett) were killed in duels.

text: Friends and political adversaries John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day – July 4, 1826.[56]

text: The last remaining founders, also called the "Last of the Romans", lived well into the nineteenth century.[57]

text: Founders who were not signatories or delegates[edit]

text: The following men and women are also recognized by many as having been founders of the United States based upon their significant contributions to the formation of American nation and democracy.

text:
Abigail Adams, advisor, First Lady and mother of a president[58]
Ethan Allen, military and political leader in Vermont[59]
Richard Allen, African-American bishop[60]
John Bartram, botanist, horticulturist and explorer[61]
Egbert Benson, politician from New York[62]
Elias Boudinot, New Jersey delegate to Continental Congress[63]
Aaron Burr, Vice President under Jefferson[64]
George Rogers Clark, army general[65]
George Clinton, New York governor and Vice President of the U.S[66]
Tench Coxe, economist in the Continental Congress[67]
William Richardson Davie, delegate to the Constitutional Convention (leaving before he could sign it), and Governor of North Carolina.
Albert Gallatin, politician and Treasury Secretary[68]
Horatio Gates, army general[65]
Nathanael Greene, army general[65]
Nathan Hale, captured U.S. soldier executed in 1776[58]
Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton[69][70]
James Iredell, advocate for Constitution, judge[66]
John Paul Jones, navy captain[65]
Henry Knox, army general, Secretary of War[66]
Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish army general[68]
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French army general[68]
Henry Lee III, army officer and Virginia governor[65]
Robert R. Livingston, diplomat and jurist[58]
William Maclay, Pennsylvania politician and U.S. Senator[66]
Dolley Madison, spouse of President James Madison[58]
John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the United States[58]
George Mason, revolutionary writer, co-father of the Bill of Rights[71]
Philip Mazzei, Italian physician, merchant and author[72]
James Monroe, fifth President of the United States[73]
Daniel Morgan, military hero and Virginia Congressman[65]
James Otis Jr., Massachusetts lawyer and politician[74]
Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense[75][76]
Andrew Pickens, army general and South Carolina congressman[65]
Timothy Pickering, U.S. Secretary of State from Massachusetts[77]
Israel Putnam, army general[78]
Edmund Randolph, first United States Attorney General, second Secretary of State[79]
Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French army general[68]
Haym Solomon, financier and spy for Continental Army[80]
Thomas Sumter, SC military hero and congressman[65]
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian officer[68]
Joseph Warren, doctor, revolutionary leader[78]
Mercy Otis Warren, political writer[66]
Anthony Wayne, army general and politician[65]
Noah Webster, writer, lexicographer, educator[81]
Thomas Willing, banker[82]
Paine Wingate, oldest survivor, Continental Congress[83][84]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: Institutions formed by Founders[edit]

text: Several Founding Fathers were instrumental in establishing schools and societal institutions that still exist today:

text:
Benjamin Franklin founded the University of Pennsylvania, while Jefferson founded the University of Virginia.
Benjamin Rush founded Dickinson College and Franklin College, (today Franklin and Marshall) as well as the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest medical society in America.
Alexander Hamilton founded the New York Post, as well as the United States Coast Guard.
Henry Knox [85] helped found the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783; the society was predicated on service as an officer in the Revolutionary War and heredity. Members included Washington, Hamilton and Burr. Other Founders like Sam Adams, John Adams, Franklin and Jay criticized the formation of what they considered to be an elitist body and threat to the Constitution. Franklin would later accept an honorary membership though Jay declined.[86]

text: Scholarship on the Founders[edit]

text: Articles and books by twenty-first century historians combined with the digitization of primary sources like handwritten letters continue to contribute to an encyclopedic body of knowledge about the Founding Fathers.

text: Living historians whose focus is the Founding Fathers[edit]

text: Ron Chernow won the Pulitzer Prize for his biography of George Washington. His bestselling book about Alexander Hamilton inspired the blockbuster musical of the same name.

text: Joseph J. Ellis - According to Ellis, the concept of the Founding Fathers of the U.S. emerged in the 1820s as the last survivors died out. Ellis says "the founders", or "the fathers", comprised an aggregate of semi-sacred figures whose particular accomplishments and singular achievements were decidedly less important than their sheer presence as a powerful but faceless symbol of past greatness. For the generation of national leaders coming of age in the 1820s and 1830s – men like Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun – "the founders" represented a heroic but anonymous abstraction whose long shadow fell across all followers and whose legendary accomplishments defied comparison.

text: We can win no laurels in a war for independence," Webster acknowledged in 1825. "Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are there places for us ... [as] the founders of states. Our fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation.[87]

text: Joanne B. Freeman  Freeman's area of expertise is the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton as well as political culture of the revolutionary and early national eras.[88][89][90] Freeman has documented the often opposing visions of the Founding Fathers as they tried to build a new framework for governance, "Regional distrust, personal animosity, accusation, suspicion, implication, and denouncement—this was the tenor of national politics from the outset." [91]

text: Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian and Harvard Law School professor. She is noted for changing scholarship on Thomas Jefferson regarding his relationship with Sally Hemings and her children. She has studied the challenges facing the Founding Fathers particularly as it relates to their position and actions on slavery. She points out "the central dilemma at the heart of American democracy: the desire to create a society based on liberty and equality" that yet does not extend those privileges to all." [37]

text: Jack N. Rakove - Thomas Jefferson

text: Peter S. Onuf - Thomas Jefferson

text: Noted collections of the Founding Fathers[edit]

text:
Adams Papers Editorial Project
Founders Online

text: Founders Online is a searchable database of over 178,000 documents authored by or addressed to George Washington, John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.

text:
The Papers of Alexander Hamilton
The Selected Papers of John Jay at Columbia University
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University
The Papers of James Madison at University of Virginia
The Washington Papers at University of Virginia
The Franklin Papers at Yale University

text: In stage and film[edit]

text: The Founding Fathers were portrayed in the Tony Award winning musical 1776, a stage production about the debates over, and eventual adoption of, the Declaration of Independence; the popular performance was later turned into the 1972 film

text: More recently, several of the Founding Fathers - Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Laurens and Burr - were reimagined in Hamilton, an acclaimed production about the life of  Alexander Hamilton, with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda.The show was inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by historian Ron Chernow. The rap musical won 11 Tony Awards.[92]

text: Children's books[edit]

text: In their 2015 children's book, The Founding Fathers author Jonah Winter and illustrator Barry Blitt categorized 14 leading patriots into two teams based on their contributions to the formation of America - the Varsity Squad (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, John Adams, Madison, Jay, and Hamilton) and the Junior Varsity Squad (Sam Adams, Hancock, Henry, Morris, Marshall, Rush, and Paine).[93]