Category: Founding Fathers

Early Life and Education Gouverneur Morris was born on January 31, 1752, in New York City to a wealthy family. His father had extensive economic and political engagements throughout the neighboring colonies, emphasizing the significant role family lineage played in shaping his perspectives. Morris advanced into King's College (now Columbia University) at the age of…

Early Life and Revolutionary War Service James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father, Spence Monroe, joined the Northern Neck Farmers protest against the Stamp Act in 1766.1 Monroe enrolled in Westmoreland County's school at the age of 11, where he met John Marshall, a future Chief Justice of…

Early Life and Emigration to America Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1737, in Thetford, Norfolk, England. His early life was marked by hardship and minimal formal education, attending school only until the age of 13. His father, a Quaker and corset maker, insisted he learn the family trade, yet Paine had broader ambitions.…

Early Life and Education Thomas Jefferson, born on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia, grew up on a plantation owned by his father, Peter Jefferson, a successful planter and surveyor. At the age of nine, Jefferson began his formal schooling, studying Latin, Greek, and French. In 1760, he entered the College of William and Mary…

Early Life and Family Background Elbridge Gerry was born on July 17, 1744, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a thriving seaport town. His father, Thomas Gerry, was a merchant who had migrated from England in the early 1730s, and his mother, Elizabeth Greenleaf, was from a well-to-do colonial family. Gerry's parents provided him and his eleven siblings…

Family Background and Early Life Robert R. Livingston was born on November 27, 1746, into a prominent New York family. His father, Judge Robert Livingston, and his mother, Margaret Beekman Livingston, resided at their family seat, Clermont, along the Hudson River. As the first of nine children, Robert experienced the privileges and responsibilities of an…

Early Life and Education Patrick Henry was born on May 29, 1736, at Studley, his family's farm in Hanover County, Virginia. His father, John Henry, was a planter, surveyor, and justice of the Hanover County Court. His mother, Sarah Winston Syme Henry, came from a prominent Virginia family. As the second of nine children, Patrick…

Early Life and Career Beginnings Roger Sherman was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1721, into a modest family where his father William was a farmer and shoemaker. His early life was shaped by practical skills as he learned surveying and shoemaking. At the age of 19, after his father's death, Sherman moved the…

Early Life and Immigration Born on January 11, in either 1755 or 1757 on the small Caribbean island of Nevis, Alexander Hamilton's early life was marked by hardship. His parents, Rachel Faucette and James Hamilton, were not married, and his father abandoned the family in 1766, leaving them in precarious financial situations. Hamilton's mother passed…

Early Life and Influences Samuel Adams was born into a family well-acquainted with the dynamics of political unrest. His father, Deacon Adams, was an active participant in local politics, including the contentious Land Bank initiative of the 1730s. The Land Bank sought to provide paper money to financially strapped farmers but was fiercely opposed by…