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  "path": "/article/211765/influential-founding-fathers",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-24T10:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Magazine",
    "USA 250",
    "Politics",
    "feature",
    "founding fathers",
    "Alexander Hamilton",
    "George Washington",
    "July-August 2026",
    "History",
    "Constitution",
    "Declaration of Independence",
    "architect",
    "said",
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  "textContent": "**1. James Madison\n**The Father of the Constitution. Shows the payoff for taking copious notes. The ugly side: He owned more than 100 enslaved people.\n\n**2. Thomas Jefferson**\nAnd at number two, the author of the American theory of law-based, anti-divine rule. A second hit: the Virginia statute on religious freedom. Slave ownership: more than 600.\n\n“I am not much of a fan of the Founding Fathers terminology (I use Founding Generation), as in a democratic republic it seems to me that the government depended on more than the men inside the various legislative chambers.”—Mary Sarah Bilder, Boston College Law School\n\n**T-3. Alexander Hamilton**\nThe anti-Jefferson, the leader of the high-born Federalists, co-author of the vital _Federalist Papers,_ and architect of our financial system. Good life’s work.\n\n**T-3. George Washington\n** His decision in 1783 to stop off in Annapolis and resign his military commission stands as maybe the most important act in early American history. It made the United States a republic. Slave ownership: more than 300.\n\n**5. Benjamin Franklin**\nStunning polymath, skilled (and randy) diplomat, committed abolitionist in his later years after benefiting from the slave trade earlier in his life; also the only person to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Treaty of Paris.\n\n**6. John Adams**\nHe first rose to prominence opposing the hated Stamp Act. In convincing Jefferson to be the lead author of the declaration, he said: “I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise.”\n\n**7. Thomas Paine**\nThe English-born Founder whose early pamphlets like “Common Sense” made the popular case for revolution. Also a vigorous foe of slavery and advocate for an early version of the welfare state.\n\n**8. James Wilson**\nWho? This Pennsylvanian was a vital and active delegate to the Constitutional Convention and an important proponent of ratification. He was also one of Washington’s original six appointees to the Supreme Court.",
  "title": "The Most Influential Founding Fathers"
}