Portraits of Some American Founders: Back-to-School Basics, Part 3
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Who were the American Founders? Learn more about some of the people who laid the groundwork for the country we live in today!
Portraits of Some American Founders: Back-to-School Basics, Part 3
Welcome to 60-Second Civics, the daily podcast of the Center for Civic Education. I'm Mark Gage.
Who were the American Founders?
The Founders were the political leaders of the thirteen original colonies during the era of the American Revolution and its aftermath.
They were also key figures in the establishment of the United States of America and in framing and ratifying the U.S. Constitution.
George Washington was the commander in chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and our first president.
George Mason was another Virginian and an influential Founder.
Mason was the primary author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, which had a great influence on Thomas Jefferson, who adopted many of Mason's ideas for the Declaration of Independence.
John Adams was a leader of the American Revolution. He served on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence.
He was also a man of principles, serving six years earlier as the lawyer for the defense of the British soldiers who stood trial for the Boston Massacre.
He would later become our country’s second president.
Abigail Adams was her husband's closest confidant, advocating in particular for women's rights, writing to John that he should "Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors."
She continued, "Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."
That’s all for today’s podcast.
60-Second Civics, where civic education only takes a minute.
