So, I give you the elitist signers of the Declaration of Independence
("Statesmen" below means basically "career politician", incumbent, elitist, etc. They're people for whom I couldn't find any career other than being in politics. The 1700s being what they were, those people probably owned land, slaves, etc. Also, anybody listed as a "Plantation Owner" would have had bundles and bundles of slaves.)
President of Congress
1. John Hancock (Massachusetts) - Wealthy shipping magnate
Hancock inherited a very successful shipping company, and further increased it in scope and wealth
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New Hampshire
2. Josiah Bartlett - Doctor
3. William Whipple - Merchant, Judge
4. Matthew Thornton - Doctor
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Massachusetts
5. Samuel Adams - Statesman and Harvard grad
6. John Adams - Lawyer and Harvard grad
7. Robert Treat Paine - Lawyer and Harvard grad
8. Elbridge Gerry - Doctor, merchant, and Harvard grad
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Rhode Island
9. Stephen Hopkins - Merchant and ship owner
10. William Ellery - Merchant, Lawyer, Judge
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Connecticut
11. Roger Sherman - Lawyer and Judge
12. Samuel Huntington - Lawyer
13. William Williams - Merchant and pastor
14. Oliver Wolcott - Career soldier and statesman
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New York
15. William Floyd - Farmer and statesman
16. Philip Livingston - Merchant, statesman, Yale grad
17. Francis Lewis - Mercantile agent
18. Lewis Morris - Real estate owner/developer
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New Jersey
19. Richard Stockton - Lawyer
20. John Witherspoon - Preacher
21. Francis Hopkinson - Customs Collector and Judge
22. John Hart - Statesman
23. Abraham Clark - Lawyer
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Pennsylvania
24. Robert Morris - Merchant and slave trader
25. Benjamin Rush - Doctor
26. Benjamin Franklin - Author, printer, scientist, statesman, all-around polymath. Also quite the ladies man.
27. John Morton - Farmer and Judge
28. George Clymer - Statesman
29. James Smith - Lawyer
30. George Taylor - Ironmaster at a foundry
(Real rags to riches story, George came to the US as an indentured servant. He was one of the very few non-elites who signed the Declaration.)
31. James Wilson - Lawyer
32. George Ross - Lawyer
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Delaware
33. George Read - Lawyer
34. Caesar Rodney - Lawyer
35. Thomas McKean - Lawyer
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Maryland
36. Samuel Chase - Lawyer and Judge
37. William Paca - Lawyer and Judge
38. Thomas Stone - Plantation owner
39. Charles Carroll of Carrollton - Financier and oppressed Catholic
(It's suspected that the 1st Amendment's freedom of religion was in appreciation to all the work that Charles Carroll did for the Revolution, when previously Catholics had been unable to practice law or vote)
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Virginia
40. George Wythe - Lawyer and Judge
41. Richard Henry Lee - Statesman, descendant of the FFV
42. Thomas Jefferson - Highly educated polymath
43. Benjamin Harrison - Plantation owner
44. Thomas Nelson, Jr. - Plantation owner and statesman
45. Francis Lightfoot Lee - Statesman, descendant of the FFV
46. Carter Braxton - Merchant-planter and slave trader
The "First Families of Virginia" or FFV, descendents of the Jamestown settlers, were the old money in Virginia, they were the most powerful and influential families in Virginia's social, financial, and political elite. One of these families was the Lee family, from which famous Civil War General Robert E. Lee was descended.
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North Carolina
47. William Hooper - Lawyer and Hardvard Grad
48. Joseph Hewes - Merchant and Princeton grad
49. John Penn - Lawyer
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South Carolina
50. Edward Rutledge - Lawyer, owned over 50 slaves
51. Thomas Heyward, Jr. - Lawyer, Judge
52. Thomas Lynch, Jr. - Lawyer
53. Arthur Middleton - Lawyer
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Georgia
54. Button Gwinnett - Merchant and plantation owner
55. Lyman Hall - Doctor and Yale grad
56. George Walton - Carpenter, Freemason, statesmanWere the founding fathers elite?
Those are the same people who think the US is a democracy, which it is not. Fifty of the framers of the constitution were Freemasons. If they were egalitarians, you would think they would have created a democracy, not a constitutional republic. There is no mention of democracy anywhere in the constitution, yet we are taught in school that the US is a 'democratic' republic, which is false. Then thet further the lie by just referring to it as a democracy. To make things even worse, we are told to be proud of who we are, even though pride is considered to be one of the seven deadly sins. Of course, the pride in citizenship is just to get the sleeping sheeple to shout down anyone who points this out as un-American, even though these same bufoons claim to be in favor of freedom of expression.
Yes the founders were definitely elites. The problem with today's elites is they got a PHD in lefty.Were the founding fathers elite?
they didnt have computers back then so how could they be elite?
See how many businessmen(merchants), farmers and doctors were founding fathers? These were all men who understood how business worked and valued the individual's freedoms and rights. Today, 90% of our elected officials HAVE NEVER had a job outside of politics or elected office. The elite of 230 years ago were successful because they new how to work and could actually relate to their constituents. Today's political "elite" act like nobility in feudal times, and feel their constituents are too stupid to live without government interference.
Many of these people were indeed elitists, but you paint with a stroke too broad. Franklin, for instance, was truly a self-made success. He became rich, but not by elitist methods, and he eschewed privilege for the most part (OK, he had some weaknesses in this regard, but he recognized them as such).
Hamilton similarly came from a humble background. In his case, he wanted to be part of the elite, and succeeded to some measure, but never became particularly rich.
Jefferson and Washington were squarely in the elite category.
All in all, it was not so much a matter of elite or not, but belief in common principals that brought these people together to found a great nation.
Elitism in the sense of privilege is, in my opinion, something we should always guard against. Elitism in the sense of success in obtaining wealth or education is not, in my view, a useful meaning of the word, as it obscures the former meaning. We are a country of opportunity after all.
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