The idea for a volume on America’s leading Founders intended for a general readership originated with Dr. Matthew Spalding and in 2004 resulted in The Founders’ Almanac: A Practical Guide to the Notable Events, Greatest Leaders & Most Eloquent Words of the American Founding, published by The Heritage Foundation. This widely read and influential book inspired David Caldwell to request that the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation put in motion a new and substantially expanded online volume devoted specifically to the American Founders. The essays on Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, as well as Dr. Spalding’s “A Note on Slavery and the American Founding,” are based on original versions that appeared in the Almanac. We hope this work will be of interest and value to citizens and students of American history, government, and civics.

In the following pages, some of the nation’s leading scholars discuss the lives, characters, careers, and accomplishments of key figures of the Founding generation. Together, they tell the story of men and women who envisioned a new order of the ages on American soil and who worked to found a Republic worthy of their beliefs, their sacrifices, and their aspirations.

Colleen A. Sheehan