Origin

The Founding Fathers were founded on July 4, 1776, by George Washington at the Second Continental Congress. He created a cult of his fellow Revolutionaries to share the dangerous magics he had appropriated from Native Americans, making several prominent members of the Revolution into immortals, including John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, and himself. After their victory against the British, Washington would retire to Mount Vernon and attempt to dismantle the cult he started. Instead, he was elected the first President of the United States of America, and the cult was re-galvanized.

Creation

Although their existence had been mentioned across the titles related to The Unnamed, the first assembled group of Founding Fathers was in Redcoat #1 by Geoff Johns and Bryan Hitch.

Major Story Arc

The Origin of Simon Pure

Simon Pure was a British redcoat during the American Revolution. He was part of the garrison that, including Hessian mercenaries, waited for the Continental Army on the Trenton side of the Delaware River. He got a lucky shot off, killing George Washington for just a second. The immortal Washington stood up, revealing his true nature to Revolutionaries outside the cult. Scared, Simon absconded his post and found himself often chased and needing to hide from the colonial Minute Men. While hiding in a church, he wakes to The Founding Fathers preparing a magical ritual. They sought to enchant American politician, Ben Franklin, however, Simon lost his footing while trying to witness it and fell in front of Ben Franklin, absorbing the enchantment instead. He was now immortal.

The Great Fire

After the apparent death of George Washington in 1869, infamous traitor and former Founding Father, Benedict Arnold took the title of Grand Architect and leadership of the cult. For nearly 30 years, he prepared for a ritual that would summon The Great Fire. The ritual would open a doorway to hell and release enough fire to burn the United States to ash, thus granting Arnold a fresh country to rebuild.

To do so, he required an immortal and the Axe of Lies. The axe was the same axe that Washington used to cut down the cherry tree, now enchanted with dangerous magics into the only weapon that can kill an immortal. It would need to be used in three different ritual bloodlettings before sunrise, which would open the door. Arnold would target the only other immortal still alive, Simon Pure. He pretended to be Simon's ally, helping him avoid agents of the Founding Father but setting him up to be cut over and over.

With the prophecy near complete, Arnold revealed himself and tied Simon to an altar on a boat. Unfortunately, the sunlight reflected off the moon cracked open the door to hell briefly enough to burn all the surrounding members of the Founding Fathers. Arnold was the only one to survive, although, he sank with the boat and became trapped on the ocean floor. Meanwhile, the curse was lifted from Simon when his genuine ally, a teenage Albert Einstein, cut himself with the axe before sunrise, ruining the ritual.