12 Amazing Things You Don’t Know About the Founding Fathers

1. When George Washington died in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte gave a eulogy and ordered a requiem that would last ten days.

2. George Washington found a lost dog during the battle of Germantown and gallantly returned it to its owner, his opponent from the battle, General Howe.

3. Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776 – John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Everyone else signed it on August 2, 1776.

4. John Hancock’s signature takes up six square inches on the Declaration of Independence. In contrast, Sam Adams, for example, occupies just 0.6 square inches.

5. Benjamin Franklin was not allowed to write the final draft of the Declaration of Independence because everyone thought that he would try to slip a joke into the document. However, he did write the first draft, which contained the abolition of slavery. That was removed, however, since he didn’t think the delegates from Virginia and the Carolinas would approve it.

6. Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay encouraging scholars to find a method for “improving the odor of human flatulence.” He also wrote an essay called Fart Proudly.

7. John Adams had two dogs, named Juno and Satan.

8. John Adams was the firstUS president to not hold any slaves.

9. While in England, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams visited William Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-Upon-Avon. They vandalized a chair because Jefferson thought they overpaid for tickets.

10. Jefferson was a prolific writer. The third president wrote 19,000 letters of correspondence in his lifetime, keeping a copy of each for himself. However, he never wrote to his wife.

11. Alexander Hamilton founded the New York Post.

12. John Adams formed the United States Marine Band in 1798, the oldest active professional music group in the country.