These two Founding Fathers were also states’ founding fathers: William Penn of Pennsylvania and William Blount of North Carolina and Tennessee.
Penn, a devout Quaker and friend of denomination founder George Fox, founded Pennsylvania as a safe-haven for Christian minorities and fostered a positive rapport with Indian tribes. Blount was a Revolutionary War veteran who governed territory which he helped to shape into the State of Tennessee. Despite their invaluable contributions to American liberty, both men’s careers ended bleakly: Penn died penniless after years of poor health and his family’s fortune lost, and Blount was the first person expelled from the U.S. Senate on trumped up charges of treason and conspiracy — but their states will never forget them and neither should America.
William Penn
• Founder of colonial Pennsylvania
• Founder of Philadelphia
• Brokered the 1682 "Great Treaty" with Indians
• Proposed the idea of a European union of states
William Blount
• Continental Army veteran
• State politician
• Delegate to Continental Congress
• Delegate to the Constitutional Convention
• Governor of the Southwest Territory
• Chairman of Tennessee’s constitutional convention
• U.S. senator
FORGOTTEN FOUNDING FATHERS TOURNAMENT BRACKET
Washington Bracket
1. George Mason 68%
- Caesar Rodney 32%
*
4. John Witherspoon 64%
- Casimir Pulaski 36%
*
- Daniel Morgan 38%
6. Frederick Muhlenberg 62%
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- William Penn
- William Blount
Jefferson Bracket
- Nathanael Greene
- Robert R. Livingston
*
- William Paterson
- Edmund Randolph
*
- John Carroll
- Henry Muhlenberg
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- Richard Henry Lee
- John Trumbull
Madison Bracket
- Roger Williams
- David Rittenhouse
*
- Isaac Shelby
- Joseph Warren
*
- Henry Knox
- George Wythe
*
- Roger Sherman
- George Clinton
Franklin Bracket
- John Jay
- Pierre Charles L’Enfant
*
- James Otis
- John Dickinson
*
- John Paul Jones
- Abraham Baldwin
*
- Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben
- Samuel Nicholas
FFFs and match-ups are determined by my interpretation of who I believe were the 32 greatest FFFs. Personal politics, favoritism and reader response was NOT a factor in selection or seeding. As for the tournament itself: each match-up will be conducted every 24 hours with a synopsis written by yours truly and readers can determine using the poll function who the winner should be for that match-up; there is no #1 overall seed; FFFs retain their seeds throughout; the winner of the Washington bracket will face the winner of the Jefferson bracket, and the winner of the Madison bracket will face the winner of the Franklin bracket. I am not voting nor will I pick sides in discussion. I wish I could somehow do a more rigid time duration period for each round but there’s no guarantee I’ll be on a computer or awake at that time so I’m gonna say polling lasts until I post the next match-up, or roughly 24 hours later. Readers may choose whichever FFF contestant they wish, but the point of the tournament is to select the greatest Forgotten Founding Father — the most influential, most important, most impactful, who contributed the most to the Revolution and/or seeds of American liberty. Have fun!