I voted for James Madison who was clearly the intellectual giant behind the formation of the Constitution.  But this poll is unfair as they all contributed in such varying and important ways.  There is no right or wrong answer here. 🙂

I would probably have not included Thomas Paine in the list.  His reputation was sullied later in life, and he was a pamphleteer rather than a political leader….but his activism is credited for galvanizing the Revolutionary spirit.  Just my opinion though. 🙂

Noah Webster,His ideas on a Christian govenment and education are great!

The poll is gone.

It must have gotten eaten up after restoring the database after the site was hacked or after an upgrade.

Polls are stored separately from posts.  Not surprised that some were lost.

So many turning points in history are primarily the result of a single man.  The American Revolution is one of the best examples of a committee that work.  That makes answering this question difficult?and interesting.I?ll try making a case that Benjamin Franklin was ?the greatest founding father.?He is the only Founding Father who signed all four of the major documents related to the founding of the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, the Treaty of Alliance with France, and the United States Constitution.Washington played in greater role in Revolucionary War, but without Franklin the US would not have secured the French financical aid and troops that were necessary to win the war.  Madison had a greater impact on the contents of the Constitution, yet without Franklin I doubt there would have been a Constitutional Convention.  Franklin?s accomplishments went well beyond his role in the founding of a new nation.  His studies of electricity brought him world fame.  (In addition to ?discovering? electricity he is creditied with identifiy positive and negative charges.  The cgs unit of electric charge?the franklin?was named after him.)  Franklin gained lasting literary fame as the author of Poor Richards Almanac and other works.  As an inventory he produced such things as the lightning rod, the glass harmonica, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses, and the flexible urinary catheter.  His concept of ?paying forward? revolucioned mail delivery.  As a social inovetor he gave us institutions still in use today such as public lending libraries and public fire departments.When one looks at the totality of the lives of the founding fathers I think it safe to say Benjamin Franklin was the greatest of them all.

It's really unfair and unwise to debate who the greatest was for no single one carried more of the burden than they could bear, and none of them could have succeeded without the efforts of the others. 

So very true.I've often marveled that this era produced so many talented men.  And wondered how this era was able to produce so many men of such stature.