I love this kind of insight. I relish the whole sorting out defining of things; who are the Framers, the Founders, the Fathers, and how much did they overlap? The sixteen years from April 18, 1775 (the shot heard round the world) to December 15, 1791 (the ratification of the Bill of Rights) was still orchestrated by an astonishingly small team of Founding Fathers.
I am constantly haunted by the question: how might have our constitution been different had John Adams not been sent to France as an Ambassador. If Tommy J was the heart of the Signers, Adams was the brain. Surely it was a huge loss to have him in Paris during the time little Jimmy was making a herculean effort in Philly. Might have our constitution been less a suicide pact with his sagacious contributions?
p.s. Benjamin Franklin—the only man with rightful claim to the honorific ‘Founding Grandfather’—was seventy years-old when he signed the fateful document. He would live fourteen more years—long enough to witness the Constitution’s ratification and to learn of revolution breaking out in his beloved Paris. Much of those fourteen years were spent fighting against slavery, many don’t realize today, sadly.