signers of the declaration?

Question

56men have long been honored as our "country's founders" do you think they deserve this title? why or why not?


*George Washington did not sign the declaration.

Answer 1

There were actually 55 individuals who signed the Declaration of Independence, but they are not referred to as the Founders. Those referred to as the Founders are those who debated, conceived, and signed the Constitution of which there were 48, 49 if you count the secretary.

While the Declaration of Independence is a significant document which used the foundation of English Common Law to declare the legitimate foundation for the separation from England, it is not the founding document of the County. Nor was the Articles of Confederation the founding document. Only the Constitution of the United States is the document founding the United States. As supportive documents the Constitutions of each of the Founding States could also be considered as part of that Founding.

Those who sign the Constitution are clearly Founders of a new country but then so are those who participated in the ratification debates. Keep in mind that there were 13 existing free, independent, and sovereign States (refer to Article One of the 1783 Treaty of Peace) which existed prior to the Constitution of the United States (each with their own Constitution) and in ratifying they delegated a limited amount of their powers and sovereignty to the federal government that was created by the Constitution. This was new, something that had never happened before in a peaceful way. Yes, they deserve the title of Founder.

Answer 2

George was too busy fighting the Revolutionary war.

I think those that signed it were brave and honorable. They knew if any of them had been caught by the British, they would be hung.