<P> The term Founding Fathers is sometimes used to refer to the Signers of the embossed version of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 . It is not to be confused with the term Framers; the Framers are defined by the National Archives as those 55 individuals who were appointed to be delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and took part in drafting the proposed Constitution of the United States . Of the 55 Framers, only 39 were signers of the Constitution . Two further groupings of Founding Fathers include: 1) those who signed the Continental Association, a trade ban and one of the colonists' first collective volleys protesting British control and the Intolerable Acts in 1774 or 2) those who signed the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitutional document . </P> <P> The phrase "Founding Fathers" is a twentieth - century appellation, coined by Warren G. Harding in 1916 . Prior to, and during the 19th century, they were referred to as simply the "Fathers". The term has been used to describe the founders and first settlers of the original royal colonies . </P> <P> The First Continental Congress met briefly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1774, consisting of fifty - six delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies (excluding Georgia) that became the United States of America . Among them was George Washington, who would soon be drawn out of military retirement to command the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . Also in attendance was Patrick Henry, and John Adams, who like all delegates were elected by their respective colonial assemblies . Other delegates included Samuel Adams from Massachusetts, John Dickinson from Pennsylvania and New York's John Jay . This congress in addition to formulating appeals to the British crown, established the Continental Association to administer boycott actions against Britain . </P> <P> When the Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, it essentially reconstituted the First Congress . Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting participated in the second . New arrivals included Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, John Hancock of Massachusetts, and John Witherspoon of New Jersey . Hancock was elected Congress President two weeks into the session when Peyton Randolph was recalled to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses . Thomas Jefferson replaced Randolph in the Virginia congressional delegation . The second Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence . Witherspoon was the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration . He also signed the Articles of Confederation and attended the New Jersey (1787) convention that ratified the Federal Constitution . </P>

Who is considered the father of american history