# Who is the greatest Founding Father of the United States?

> Generals, lawyers, printers and pamphleteers, and still no agreement about which of them mattered most.

*By YPB Team · Published August 11, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-greatest-founding-father-of-the-united-states*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Benjamin Franklin**
   Printer, scientist and diplomat, and the only Founder who signed the Declaration, the French alliance, the Treaty of Paris and the Constitution.
2. **George Washington**
   Commander of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States.
3. **Thomas Jefferson**
   Principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President.
4. **John Adams**
   Advocate for independence in the Continental Congress and the second President.
5. **Alexander Hamilton**
   First Treasury Secretary and the architect of the American financial system.
6. **James Madison**
   Chief drafter of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, later the fourth President.
7. **John Jay**
   Co-author of the Federalist Papers and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
8. **Thomas Paine**
   Pamphleteer whose Common Sense turned colonial argument into a case for independence.
9. **Samuel Adams**
   Boston agitator who organised resistance to British taxes and helped spark the Revolution.
10. **Patrick Henry**
   Virginia orator remembered for the 'give me liberty or give me death' speech.
11. **John Hancock**
   President of the Continental Congress and the first and largest signature on the Declaration.
12. **James Monroe**
   Revolutionary officer, diplomat and the fifth President, author of the Monroe Doctrine.
13. **Gouverneur Morris**
   Delegate who wrote the final polished text of the Constitution, including its preamble.
14. **Roger Sherman**
   Connecticut delegate whose Great Compromise created the two-chamber Congress.

Tags: usa, politics, founding fathers