The Founding Fathers included George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Together they played a major role in the creation of the American state in its modern form, through the drafting of the constitution and the creation of several important political documents. These were some of the most influential people in American history.

Michael D. Hattem is the Associate Director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute and he has previously served as Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Knox College and as a postdoctoral fellow at the New York Historical Society. His research focuses on the history of the American Revolution, and he is the author of Past and Prologue: Politics and Memory in the American Revolution.