Key Terms Foundation of Government Timeline

  • Alexander Hamilton

    Alexander Hamilton
    A Founding Father of the United States, chief staff aide to General George Washington, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the U.S. Constitution, the founder of the nation's financial system, the founder of the Federalist Party, the world's first voter-based political party, the founder of the United States Coast Guard, and the founder of The New York Post newspaper.
  • John Trumbull Sr

    John Trumbull Sr
    Served as governor in both a pre-Revolutionary colony and a post-Revolutionary state
  • E Pluribus Unum

    E Pluribus Unum
    out of many, one (the motto of the US).
  • John Witherspoon

    John Witherspoon
    founding father of United States and New Jersey delegate He was the only active clergyman and the only college president to sign the Declaration
  • Declaration of Independence

    Declaration of Independence
    document that declared independence over the British
  • Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin
    one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.
  • U.S. Constitution

    U.S. Constitution
    A document that embodies the fundamental laws and principles by which the United States is governed. It was drafted by the Constitutional Convention and later supplemented by the Bill of Rights and other amendments.