1

There is no official ‘Founding Fathers’ list

Image: The New York Public Library

Who can be called a Founding Father? The term was coined by Senator Warren G. Harding in 1916 and is used to refer to the leaders of the Revolutionary movement, but there’s no set list . While it is mainly used for key figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, the term applies broadly to those who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution .

2

4th of July deaths

Image: Stephanie McCabe

The legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from the British Crown was voted by the Continental Congress on July 2nd, 1776, but was formally adopted on July 4th , immortalizing the date for the rest of American history. But did you know that it is also the death anniversary of three Founding Fathers?

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, while James Monroe died five years later, on July 4th, 1831. Interestingly, John Adams disliked the date chosen for celebrations, as he believed the day of the vote to be more significant.

3

Refusal to sign the Constitution

Image: Howard Chandler Christy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Constitutional Convention took place in 1787, from May to September. The Constitution of the United States was presented on September 28, 1787 , but nearly two years had to pass for it to be ratified by all the states, superseding the nation’s first constitution, the Articles of Confederation.

Not all signing constituents agreed on the final seven articles, among them Benjamin Franklin, but three of them in particular —George Mason, Edmund Randolph, and Elbridge Gerry— flat out refused to sign the document . Mason suggested the addition of a bill of rights, but was denied, a suggestion that would ultimately inspire the drafting of the Bill of Rights by James Madison.

4

A lawyer for the enemy

Image: National Archives at College Park, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Boston Massacre of 1770 was part of the incidents that prompted the start of the Revolutionary movement in the colonies. British soldiers stationed in Massachusetts to support the implementation of the Townshend Acts were confronted by an angry crowd. Overwhelmed, the soldiers opened fire without authorization, resulting in five deaths and six wounded.

During the subsequent trial, Founding Father John Adams worked as a defense lawyer for the British soldiers charged , a decision that prompted public criticism. However, he was a firm believer in the right to a fair trial for everyone, and argued that most soldiers had acted in self-defense. In the end, only two soldiers were convicted of manslaughter, a verdict Adams agreed with.

5

The origins

Image: Alex Boyd

None of the Founding Fathers was born an American (for obvious reasons), but most of them were born in the American colonies and had British origins . Out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 47 were born in what is now U.S. territory.

The other nine? Eighth of them came from the British Isles : Two were English-born (Button Gwinnett, Robert Morris), three were Irish (George Taylor, Matthew Thornton, and James Smith), two were Scottish (James Wilson, John Witherspoon), and one was Welsh (Francis Lewis). The last one, Alexander Hamilton, was born in the British West Indies , now St. Kitts and Nevis.

6

The first signature

Image: David Nitschke

Have you ever wondered why people ask for a ‘John Hancock’ when they need a signature? It is all because of Founding Father John Hancock. One of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies, Hancock was a merchant (and smuggler) by trade, served as president of the Continental Congress, and as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts after the Revolution.

Why is he associated with a signature? John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence, and his signature stands out because it is visibly larger than the rest. According to legend, he claimed to have made it big so King George would be able to read it.

7

The anti-slavery clause that wasn’t

Image: Hussain Badshah

It is no secret that many Founding Fathers were slaveholders, but there was no unified opinion on the subject. Some, such as George Washington, freed their slaves in their wills, while others, such as Franklin, Paine, Hamilton, and Adams, were passionate abolitionists. Thomas Jefferson was a curious case: while he owned numerous slaves all his life, he was against the international slave trade and believed that America had to abolish slavery gradually to avoid civil unrest.

In his first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson included his conflicted views on slavery in a paragraph condemning King George III for his role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the affronts to liberty caused by this. Ultimately, this clause had to be removed due to the objections of many delegates who supported slavery.

8

The vice president

Image: Ian Hutchinson

When the Constitutional Convention considered the best way to choose a chief executive (a.k.a., the president), they weren’t even considering the figure of the vice president , and had decided that the Senate would elect its own president. After creating the Electoral College, they realized that, being a new country, state loyalty would most likely outweigh loyalty to the union. The solution? Each elector had to choose two candidates, one of which should be from a different state. The two most-voted candidates would be president and vice president, respectively.

The first elected vice president, John Adams, was not happy with the position . He had received a huge amount of votes, but George Washington had still won in a landslide. Although he regarded the position as the "most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived", he took on his role as President of the Senate with the utmost dedication.

9

Confidence in the Constitution

Image: Adam Nir

It is difficult to believe that any Founding Father thought the Constitution to be perfect. After all, not only did some refuse to sign it, but they also included the possibility of amending it to better protect the stability and liberties of the country.

Some Founding Fathers, however, lacked confidence in the Constitution as a document. Benjamin Franklin expressed his disapproval of certain clauses . Still, he was not sure they could write one better, so he decided to sign it, faults and all, preferring to doubt himself than halt the constitutional process. On the other hand, Washington believed the Constitution to be much better than the Articles of the Confederation, but he expressed his doubts about the document lasting for more than twenty years.

10

A varied group of men

Image: Nathaniel Currier, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The centuries passed, and the wigs on the portraits have created the illusion of the Founding Fathers being a group of old men , but this is not exactly right. Although Benjamin Franklin was around 70 years old during the Revolutionary War, most Founding Fathers were young enough to fight and were between 30 and 45 years old.

The differences of age, background, and ideology between the Founding Fathers were the cause of many discussions, enmities, and rivalries, but these differences contributed to the foundation of the United States of America.

1

What are bills made of?

Unlike other currencies, dollar bills are not made of paper or plastic. U.S. dollar bills are made from a special fabric blend composed of 75% cotton and 25% linen. This mix makes the bills extremely durable and resistant, and they can be folded about 4000 times before tearing.

2

What bills are valid?

Any U.S. dollar bill that was legally printed is valid, no matter how old, as American currency does not have an expiration date. While some bills might not be accepted by businesses of foreign exchange services due to their condition or if they are a discontinued version of the bill, the bills themselves are still valid, and American banks will accept them, though they might take them out of circulation.

3

American leaders

Five bills have a depiction of an American president. The exceptions are the $10 bill, with Alexander Hamilton on the front, and the $100 bill, with Benjamin Franklin. The $1 bill, depicting George Washington, is extremely symbolic: several elements are repeated 13 times as a nod to the thirteen colonies, and it showcases the Bald Eagle and the Eye of Providence as a sign of God watching over America.

4

A change in size

Did you know that dollar bills used to be so big that they were nicknamed "horse blankets"? Original dollar bills were 7.4 × 3.1 inches. In 1929, the Treasury Department reduced the size of bills to 6.14 × 2.61 inches to reduce production costs and materials. Old bills, though still valid, are worth much more as collector items.

5

Uniformity

Besides their value and design, all dollar bills have the same size (6.14 × 2.61 inches), color, and weight (1 gram) , which sets American currency apart from other countries where bills of different values are differentiated by size, color, or both. Why doesn’t the U.S. implement differences among bills? The cost of adapting vending machines, bank drawers, and ATMs to new bill sizes would cost billions of dollars.

6

Hard to copy

Originally, dollars were not green, but black. As time passed, green ink was favored, as it was cheap and did not fade as much as black. The new color also prevented people from using black-and-white cameras to create counterfeit money. Currently, dollar bills are predominantly green, but newer versions also include extra colors, such as pink, orange, or purple.

7

A $100,000 bill?

Have you ever seen a $500 or 1,000 dollar bill? What about a $100,000? Up until 1945, the U.S. Treasury printed $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $100,000 notes , in addition to the values currently in use. These higher-value notes were mainly intended for bank and government use, but were sought by criminals as they made it easier to hide large amounts of money. Even though they were officially discontinued in 1969, these notes are still valid, though rare, and they have a high worth as collector's items.

8

No numbers

Unlike bills, American coins have different sizes and colors related to their value. Originally, gold, silver, and copper were used for coins, but modern coins are made of copper, zinc, or nickel. Besides their size and design, the value of each coin is printed in letters, not in numbers , alongside depictions of American presidents.

9

Liberty for all (the coins)

By law, all American coins must include six specific details : the word ‘Liberty’, the name of our country, the national motto "In God We Trust", the oldest American motto "E Pluribus Unum", the value of the coin, and the year. Each coin also includes a mint mark that shows where it was made: "P" for Philadelphia, "D" for Denver, "S" for San Francisco, and "W" for West Point.

10

A global currency

The American dollar is one of the most powerful currencies in the world, acting as a backbone for international trade and finances. It is estimated that two-thirds of the physical dollars in circulation are outside American territory. Besides the U.S. and its territories, eight sovereign nations have the U.S. dollar as their official currency, with several more accepting it as legal tender.

1

There's an unexplained billion-year gap

Look closely at the canyon walls, and you'll notice something strange: a clean, sharp line where ancient rock simply stops, and a much younger layer begins directly above it.

This geological puzzle is called the "Great Unconformity," and it represents over a billion years of rock layers that are simply absent , as though that stretch of time never happened. In some spots, rock dated 1.8 billion years old sits directly beneath rock that is only 520 million years old. Where did the missing billion years go?

The leading theory involves the violent breakup of an ancient supercontinent, but scientists are still piecing it together.

2

During the Cold War, it hid a nuclear fallout shelter

During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the U.S. government converted part of the Grand Canyon Caverns into a fallout shelter. This dry cave system, more than 200 feet underground, was stocked with enough food and water to sustain 2,000 people. Naturally, it was never occupied, and the supplies were never used.

The caverns have since been transformed into a tourist attraction, with organized tours winding through the same underground chambers that were once intended as a refuge from nuclear war. You can even book a night's stay there.

3

The Federal Aviation Administration was founded after a crash over the canyon

In 1956, two commercial passenger planes collided in midair over the eastern Grand Canyon, killing all 128 people on board both crafts. Rescue teams struggled to reach the wreckage deep inside the canyon, and the extreme heat of the crash had caused the planes' aluminum to fuse with the bedrock. There were no survivors.

The disaster exposed a terrifying truth: the U.S. air traffic control system was dangerously outdated, relying on pilots' visual estimates and rough guesswork from controllers , with no way to separate fast-moving aircraft from slow ones, or instrument-flying planes from those navigating by sight. Congress responded by passing legislation that created both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board.

4

A hoax suggested that an Egyptian civilization had lived there

In 1909, the Arizona Gazette reported that an explorer named G. E. Kinkaid had discovered a vast underground citadel inside the canyon, filled with artifacts linked to ancient Egyptian civilization. He even claimed the expedition had been funded by the Smithsonian.

This story described hieroglyphics on the walls, mummies in the chambers, and relics pointing to a direct connection with the Egypt of the pharaohs. It was incredibly detailed, and it was, of course, a hoax. No evidence for any of Kinkaid's claims ever surfaced.

5

Fewer than 100 people have ever hiked its full length

Among the few people who have completed the through-hike of the Grand Canyon is Jen Hogan, the first woman to accomplish it, finishing her journey in 2021–2022.

It’s a full 800-mile length below the rim. The route involves extreme heat, flash floods, near-impassable areas, and stretches with no water or trail whatsoever. Around 60 or 70 people have reportedly accomplished it. This makes it one of the most exclusive feats on Earth.

6

The Grand Canyon's rocks predate dinosaurs entirely

Visitors scanning the canyon walls for fossils are often surprised to learn they won't find any dinosaur bones here. The rock layers of the Grand Canyon are simply older than dinosaurs. This fact alone can be shocking: staring at its walls means staring at marine fossils from as far back as 1.2 billion years ago. Some of its caves hold the remains of ancient mammals. The canyon is a window into a world that existed long before the dinosaurs, when the land that is now Arizona lay beneath a shallow sea.

7

The park is bigger than Rhode Island

Numbers alone rarely capture the Grand Canyon's scale, so here's a different approach. Rhode Island covers about 1,214 square miles, and the Grand Canyon National Park spans 1,904 square miles.

The canyon's depth exceeds four Empire State Buildings (which is 1,454 feet) stacked on top of one another. That’s 6,093 feet at its deepest point.

8

But it's not the deepest canyon on Earth

For all its grandeur, the Grand Canyon does not hold the depth record. Pictured above, the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet, China, plunges to 17,567 feet, which is nearly three times deeper. Carved by the Yarlung Tsangpo River as it cuts through the eastern Himalayas, that canyon is so remote and extreme that it remained largely uncharted until the late 20th century.

9

It is home to a pink rattlesnake found nowhere else on Earth

The Grand Canyon Pink Rattlesnake has a pinkish-red coloring that matches the canyon's own distinctive rock walls so closely that it's nearly invisible. It is found nowhere else in the world. Officially classified as Crotalus oreganus abyssus , it has darker diamond-shaped markings along its back that deepen the camouflage further.

10

There's a village at the bottom: Supai Village

For over 1,000 years, the remote village of Supai has been home to the Havasupai Tribe, the People of the Blue-Green Waters. It is located an eight-mile hike from the rim, but sits roughly 3,000 feet deep inside the Grand Canyon.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has called it the most remote community in the contiguous United States, and it has no automobiles and no road access. The only ways in are on foot, by mule, or by helicopter. It is also the only place in the United States where the postal service still delivers mail by mule train.