The Founding Fathers were not so great

Sarah Palin and the Teabaggers talk about how great the Founding Fathers were and that they were all Christian. It's time to give them a history lesson.

Thomas Jefferson



Thomas Jefferson fathered six children with slave Sally Hemings.

Jefferson rejected Evangelical Christianity and was a Deist. He wrote the Jefferson bible and advocated separation of church and state. He was also anti-Catholic. So he would not get an endorsement from Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.

Jefferson also read and studied the Koran.

Benjamin Franklin



Franklin fathered a child out wedlock named William. William like his dad also fathered a child out of wedlock, William Temple Franklin. And William Temple kept up the family tradition by fathering a son and daughter without the benefit of marriage with two separate women. Franklin grew up in a Liberal Puritan church. He claimed to be a Deist and a Christian.

An interesting quote from Franklin:

"Even if the Mufti [chief jurist] of Constantinople [from the Muslim Ottoman Empire] were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service."

George Washington



Washington was a slave owner, recognized 22 religious groups including Islam. He also hosted iftars.

Alexander Hamilton



Hamilton was a constitutional lawyer just like President Obama. He was also born outside the United States (where's the birth certificate?) He was born and raised in Nevis, an island in the Caribbean. Hamilton had a close friendship with John Laurens and Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, so close some historians wondered if he was gay.