The Founding Fathers were patriots. The root word of ‘founding’ is ‘found’, which means to “take the first steps in building”. The first builders of the nation. The use of the word ‘father’ in this sense means originator. They began the whole thing.
In this context, a father is one who has become one of the leading men as of a country. Just like a man is a father to a boy. The originator, the starter, the one who sees it through.
The way we use these words together today refers to the men who were there at the beginning of our new nation. The ones who originated or started the process of building a new nation. Nation means a politically organized community.
On one occasion I was speaking to about 300 people at a convention in Provo, Utah. My topic was “The Pursuit of Happiness—Thomas Jefferson.” I had 55 minutes to tell about Thomas Jefferson’s life and accomplishments. Needless to say, I only got to the highlights.
Yesterday I described on this blog Franklin’s Project for Moral Perfection. He had at first only 12 character traits he wanted to perfect. Then what happened is pretty comical as he describes it:
In his autobiography Benjamin Franklin discusses his own “Project for Moral Perfection.” He decided he wanted to be as close to perfect as he could become in his life. He organized his project and listed 13 character traits he wanted to improve in relation to. These are all described in his book, as well as his definition of each and his chart that he worked on all his life.
“Oh, he’s a politician, you can’t believe anything he says!”
He proved that lightning was made up of electricity. He designed the medical device called a urinary catheter, to save his brother. He invented the Franklin Stove and the lightning rod. He got tired of changing his glasses, so he invented the first bifocal lenses. He designed the odometer to figure out how far his carriage had traveled. He loved music and invented the Armonica. And on and on. He was the first great American scientist and inventor. (And you can add to that diplomat, statesman, and Founding Father.)