Short answers, pulled from the story.
Historian Richard B. Morris named seven key Founding Fathers of the United States in 1973, using what he called the triple tests of leadership, longevity, and statesmanship. The seven were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
Senator Warren G. Harding introduced the phrase in his keynote address at the 1916 Republican National Convention. He became the first sitting president to use the term at his own inauguration on the 4th of March 1921.
Historians recognize women such as Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren as Founding Mothers of the United States for their roles in the revolutionary cause. Abigail Adams urged her husband John Adams to "Remember the Ladies" while he served in the Continental Congress.
Forty-one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves, including George Washington, who freed his own slaves only through his will. Thomas Jefferson alone held some 600 people in slavery at a time.
The Founding Fathers of the United States are generally identified by their roles in writing and signing the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution. The National Archives calls the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights the nation's Charters of Freedom.
Edmund Randolph, George Mason, and Elbridge Gerry were the only three delegates present at the Constitution's adoption who refused to sign it. All three were Anti-Federalists concerned that the document failed to safeguard individual liberties.