{"id":551188,"date":"2021-06-03T15:36:09","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T19:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=551188"},"modified":"2021-06-03T15:36:15","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T19:36:15","slug":"5-underrated-founding-fathers-that-every-american-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-underrated-founding-fathers-that-every-american-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Underrated Founding Fathers That Every American Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F5-underrated-founding-fathers-that-every-american-should-know%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=551188&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-484802577.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>In contemporary America, the Founding Fathers are often thrust into the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/founding-fathers\"><span>news cycle<\/span><\/a><span> due to their participation in the cultural sins of their era. From <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/walsh-school-board-votes-to-take-thomas-jeffersons-name-off-of-school-gives-truly-insane-reasons-to-justify-it\"><span>George Mason<\/span><\/a><span> to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/duckworth-rips-mount-rushmore-wants-national-dialogue-about-removing-washington-statues-heres-what-she-said-running-for-senate-five-years-ago\"><span>George Washington<\/span><\/a><span>, the men who sacrificed their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the American experiment are unilaterally smeared by leftist politicians and professors over the darkest aspects of their legacies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Despite the admonitions of leftists, it is more important than ever for Americans to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/collections\/the-liberty-collection\"><span>engage<\/span><\/a><span> with the founding of the most benevolent global superpower in world history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Of the lawyers, philosophers, generals, economists, theologians, and physicians who enabled the American Revolution, several \u2014 such as Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Franklin \u2014 reside in the public consciousness. However, the Founders whose names are no more than vague familiarities to the modern American ear often boast rich histories that may inform twenty-first-century American citizenship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Here are five underrated Founding Fathers who every American should know.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>John Jay<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/John-Jay\"><span>John Jay<\/span><\/a><span> (1745-1829) was the first Chief Justice of the United States, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation, and the Governor of New York.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Using his training as a lawyer, Jay was an influential force in campaigning against the Intolerable Acts. He is also the author of the \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digital.lib.niu.edu\/islandora\/object\/niu-amarch%3A97565\"><span>Address to the People of Great Britain<\/span><\/a><span>,\u201d which explained the motives for the American Revolution to other English citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIn almost every age\u2026 have the inhabitants of your Island, your great and glorious ancestors, maintained their independence, and transmitted the rights of Men, and the blessings of Liberty, to you, their posterity,\u201d the document reads. \u201cBe not surprised therefore, that we, who are descended from the same common ancestors; that we, whose forefathers participated in all the rights, the liberties, and the Constitution you so justly boast of\u2026 should refuse to surrender them to men who found their claims on no principles of reason, and who prosecute them with a design, that by having our lives and property in their power, they may with the greater facility enslave you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Beyond his statesmanship, Jay \u2014 who <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/civil-society\/report\/why-religious-values-support-american-values\"><span>affirmed<\/span><\/a><span> that \u201cno human society has ever been able to maintain both order and freedom, both cohesiveness and liberty apart from the moral precepts of the Christian religion\u201d \u2014 was deeply devoted to the cause of the gospel. From 1816 to 1827, Jay served in top leadership positions within the American Bible Society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Accordingly, Jay \u2014 who was a slaveowner \u2014 passed \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.columbia.edu\/cu\/libraries\/inside\/dev\/jay\/JaySlavery.html\"><span>An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d while serving as Governor of New York. The legislation mandated that all children born to slaves in New York beginning on July 4 of that year would be born as free people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Roger Sherman<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Roger-Sherman\"><span>Roger Sherman<\/span><\/a><span> (1721-1793) represented Rhode Island in the House of Representatives and the Senate. He was also the only Founding Father to sign all four revolutionary documents: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Alongside John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson, Sherman served as one of the five <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/declaration-history#:~:text=case%20for%20independence.-,The%20Committee%20of%20Five,southerner%2C%20Thomas%20Jefferson%20of%20Virginia.\"><span>drafters<\/span><\/a><span> of the Declaration of Independence. Sherman likewise <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/history.army.mil\/books\/RevWar\/ss\/sherman.htm\"><span>attended<\/span><\/a><span> nearly every session of the Constitutional Convention and favored a federal government with a strong legislature. He aided in the Connecticut Compromise, which led to the Great Compromise that created a bicameral federal legislature representing both the states and the people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the Madison Papers describe, Sherman <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalhistory.uh.edu\/disp_textbook_print.cfm?smtid=3&#038;psid=264\"><span>disapproved<\/span><\/a><span> of the slave trade. However, he believed that \u201cthe abolition of slavery seemed to be going on in the United States, and that the good sense of the several states would probably by degrees complete it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>John Witherspoon<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/John-Witherspoon\"><span>John Witherspoon<\/span><\/a><span> (1723-1794) \u2014 the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence \u2014 served as the President of what is today Princeton University.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A descendant of Scottish reformer John Knox \u2014 who is also remembered for his writings on civil government, such as his \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swrb.com\/newslett\/actualNLs\/appellat.htm\"><span>Appellation<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d to the Scottish nobility \u2014 Witherspoon led the Presbyterian College of New Jersey. He embarked upon a campaign to improve the school\u2019s finances, purchased scientific equipment, and donated hundreds of his own books to the library.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the archives of Witherspoon\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paisley.org.uk\/famous-people\/john-witherspoon\/\"><span>hometown<\/span><\/a><span> in Scotland describe, the minister \u201ctransformed a college designed predominantly to train clergymen into a school that would equip the leaders of a new Protestant national generation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Witherspoon believed that a state devoted to securing the rights of its people was necessary to the preservation of religious liberty. In a sermon entitled \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/e\/evans\/N12065.0001.001\/1:3?rgn=div1;view=fulltext\"><span>The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men<\/span><\/a><span>,\u201d Witherspoon declared that \u201c<\/span><span>the knowledge of God and his truths have from the beginning of the world been chiefly, if not entirely confined to these parts of the earth, where some degree of liberty and political justice were to be seen, and great were the difficulties with which they had to struggle from the imperfection of human society, and the unjust decisions of usurped authority.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Nathanael Greene<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Nathanael-Greene\"><span>Nathanael Greene<\/span><\/a><span> (1742-1786) served as a leading general during the Revolutionary War.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Mount Vernon\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mountvernon.org\/library\/digitalhistory\/digital-encyclopedia\/article\/nathanael-greene\/\"><span>digital history<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cWashington had so much confidence in Greene\u2019s abilities that it was rumored Greene would take command of the Continental Army, should anything happen to Washington.\u201d Greene served alongside Washington at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Informing the Continental Congress that Greene was a \u201cGentleman in whom I place the most intire confidence,\u201d George Washington appointed Greene to lead American forces in the South. As commander of all American troops from Delaware to Georgia, Greene reversed former leaders\u2019 record of defeat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the American Battlefield Trust <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.battlefields.org\/learn\/biographies\/nathanael-greene\"><span>describes<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cGreene\u2019s martial skills shone brightest as commander of the southern theater. Soon after he took command, the tide of war began to turn in favor of the Patriots.\u201d While British general Charles Cornwallis moved toward Wilmington, Greene captured South Carolina\u2019s backcountry \u2014 a maneuver that \u201chelped to isolate the British on the coast and, eventually, to force them out of the South completely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Samuel Adams<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Samuel-Adams\"><span>Samuel Adams<\/span><\/a><span> (1722-1803) served as Governor of Massachusetts and was an early adopter of revolutionary ideals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Soon after British Parliament began passing the Intolerable Acts, Adams \u2014 the second cousin of President John Adams \u2014 led popular resistance against the Stamp Act and other legislation that established taxation without representation. As a member of the Loyal Nine \u2014 which later became the Sons of Liberty \u2014 Adams drafted the \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/18th_century\/mass_circ_let_1768.asp\"><span>Massachusetts Circular Letter to the Colonial Legislatures<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d to draw attention to Boston\u2019s plight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt is an essential, unalterable right in nature, engrafted into the British constitution, as a fundamental law, and ever held sacred and irrevocable by the subjects within the realm, that what a man has honestly acquired is absolutely his own, which he may freely give, but cannot be taken from him without his consent,\u201d reads the letter, which asserts that the Intolerable Acts infringed upon \u201cnatural and constitutional rights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After representing Massachusetts in the Second Continental Congress and signing the Declaration of Independence, Adams <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/guides\/john-adams-the-massachusetts-constitution\"><span>served<\/span><\/a><span> on the drafting committee of the Massachusetts Constitution \u2014 a document that influenced the creation of the United States Constitution seven years later.<\/span><span><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In contemporary America, the Founding Fathers are often thrust into the news cycle due to their participation in the cultural sins of their era. From George Mason to George Washington, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2279107,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-484802577.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"5 Underrated Founding Fathers That Every American Should Know","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-551188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-484802577.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"5 Underrated Founding Fathers That Every American Should Know","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2279107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}