Founding Fathers

1894 $2 Madison, unwatermarked
March 16, 1751

Happy Birthday, James Madison

James Madison was born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia. One of America’s Founding Fathers and the fourth US president, Madison is considered the “Father of the US Constitution” and led America through the War of 1812.

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1870-71 30¢ Hamilton
July 11, 1804

Burr–Hamilton Duel 

On July 11, 1804, former US Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton was mortally wounded in a duel with sitting Vice President Aaron Burr.

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1965 25¢ Paul Revere
April 18, 1775

Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride 

On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere took his historic ride to warn the people of Lexington and Concord that the British were coming.  It’s one of the most famous tales from the Revolutionary War, popularized and romanticized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

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 US #704 was based on a miniature painting by Charles Willson Peale in 1777.
January 1, 1932

Washington Bicentennial 

On January 1, 1932, the US Post Office Department issued a set of 12 stamps honoring the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth.

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 US #1046 was issued on Jay’s 213th birthday.
December 12, 1745

Birth of John Jay

Founding Father John Jay was born on December 12, 1745, in New York City, Province of New York.

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 US #1858 – from the Great Americans Series
December 11, 1725

Birth of George Mason 

Founding Father George Mason IV was born on December 11, 1725, in Fairfax County, Virginia.

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 US #1850 – from the Great Americans Series
November 22, 1754

Happy Birthday Abraham Baldwin

Founding Father Abraham Baldwin was born on November 22, 1754, in Guilford, Connecticut Colony.

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 US #806 – from the popular Presidential Series
October 30, 1735

Happy Birthday, John Adams! 

John Adams was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, on October 30, 1735.

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 US #263 is the key stamp of the 1894 Bureau issue – only about 6,251 stamps were issued!
September 24, 1755

Happy Birthday, John Marshall

America’s longest-serving chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall, was born on September 24, 1755, in Germantown, Virginia. 

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