"Congrefs of the United States"? Were the founding fathers illiterate?

Answer 1

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No but Webster was.

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non-sequitor

Answer 2

Penmanship was different in the 18th century.

Answer 3

George washington was and so was john adams.

Answer 4

The founding Fathers were highly intelligent. Some of the elite intellects of the world then and maybe even now. Jefferson, Franklin, Adams,Thomas Payne were geniuses.

George Washington was very literate. John Adams was a Harvard educated lawyer so the answer posted above by republicans suck...sucks.

Answer 5

Contrary to "Republicans suck"'s assertion that "George washington was ["illiterate"] and so was john adams", both were very literate.

http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/articles/wa…

“Unlike many gentlemen of his generation, [George] Washington never learned any language but English. His early acquaintance with literature, philosophy, and natural science was limited, and his later life was so active that he had no time to fill in the gaps in his education. And yet at Mount Vernon Washington collected a library that was unusually large for his day, consisting of about 1,000 books. The library in which this collection was kept is perhaps the room most intimately associated with Washington's life at Mount Vernon. There he kept his accounts, reviewed farm reports, and maintained the vast correspondence that now makes up The Papers of George Washington. There too, he retired to read the newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and books that he acquired.”

http://www.boston.com/news/local/article…

… opening today [September 22, 2006] at the Boston Public Library is the first public exhibition of the second president's vast personal library, a priceless collection of 3,802 works whose breadth helps show why [John Adams] is gaining recognition as one of the true American giants.

Not only will the public be able to see the entire collection for the first time, but dozens of Adams's books have been laid open in glass cases to display the notes, musings, and commentaries he wrote in the margins of nearly everything he read. The free exhibit will continue until April, but the library already has embarked on a years-long project to digitize the books for public study on the Internet.

‘God bless the man,’ said Beth Prindle, curator of the John Adams collection. ‘it seems that a thought never trickled through his mind that he didn't write down.’

Scholarly and scathing, catty and conversational, Adams's writings show strong opinions on many of the great events, leaders, and debates of his day.’

Answer 6

No. Old English is no longer used today as it was in the late 1700s. Try a language history course.

I cringe when I guess your thoughts on Homer and Shakespeare.

Answer 7

No, the style of writing was different then. Those letters that look like f's are elongated s's. That is why the word congress looks like congreff