founding father

Meanings

1. A man who founded something.

1. Any of the men who were responsible for the founding of the United States of America. Chiefly used to refer to political leaders who drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and to military leaders who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

Etymology

First used by then-U.S. senator Warren G. Harding in his keynote speech at the 1916 Republican National Convention.