The most famous portrait of the Founding Fathers of the United States is that committed to canvas by the 19th-century artist John Trumbull, depicting five Fathers presenting the Declaration of Independence to bewigged members of Congress in 1776 (pictured above). It’s a tableau that has scorched itself onto the American psyche ever since: these wise, learned men, architects of a new nation, delivering the first stage of their blueprint for this just-born country.
Five names are commonly held as titans among the Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton (l-r). Four of them would serve as presidents of the young United States
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