Our Founding Fathers

By | June 6, 2019

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Founding Fathers. Source: (commons.wikimedia.org)

Father’s Day can represent not only fathers of families but also the fathers of our country. Our founding fathers of America consisted of seven men of valor: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin.  

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George Washington. Source: (thefamouspeople.com)

Our first presidents:

George Washington was the first commander in chief, the first president of the United States (1789 – 1797). He was also the commander of the Continental Army as well as president of the Constitutional Convention.

Washington had very little formal education mainly because his father died when he was only 11 years old leaving limited funds for education. Despite this, he was determined to better himself so he ultimately learned how to become a surveyor. During the French and Indian War, the Governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie sent him to deliver a message to the French to leave the area. He was only 21 years old and a major at the time, but he proved he had endurance when he had to hike through woods covered in snow for days, fell off a raft in an icy river where he almost drowned and had to spend the night freezing on an island with no available shelter.

At the age of 22, he was a lieutenant colonel and managed to advance on the French with 150 men, killing 10 of their men including the commander, but later, upon his retreat to Fort Necessity, was forced to surrender when the French surrounded the fort. After being humiliated, he resigned his commission but came back later as a volunteer aide to General Braddock. During another battle near the Monongahela River, he had two horses shot out from under him and four bullet holes shot through his coat but he himself was never hit. There were others that were severely injured and he ended up leading the survivors back to safety.