How many of America's founding fathers were slave owners?

1. Richard Bassett (DE)
2. Jacob Broom (DE)
3. John Dickinson (DE)
4. George Read (DE)
5. William Houstoun (GA)
6. William Few (GA)
7. William Samuel Johnson (CT)
8. Daniel Carroll (MD)
9. Luther Martin (MD)
10. John Francis Mercer (MD)
11. Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer (MD)
12. William Livingston (NJ)
13. William Blount (NC)
14. William Richardson Davie (NC)
15. Alexander Martin (NC)
16. Richard Dobbs Spaight (NC)
17. Pierce Butler (SC)
18. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (SC)
19. Charles Pinckney (SC)
20. John Rutledge (SC)
21. John Blair (VA)
22. James Madison (VA)
23. George Mason (VA)
24. Edmund Randolph (VA)
25. George Washington (VA)
26. George Wythe (VA)
27. Robert Morris (PA)

Most or all of the ones who came from the South. Slavery was the dominant labor system in those states, and the basis of their (primarily agricultural) economy. Washingon, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Mason, Henry, and the rest of the Virginia crew were all slaveowners, most of them inheriting slaves from their families. The same applies in the Carolinas, Maryland, and Georgia.

Fewer New Yorkers held slaves—it was in the North primarily a condition of domestic servants rather than agricultural workers, and was on its way out by the late 18th Century.

Historians have accepted the following seven men as the key founding fathers: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, John Jay, James Madison,
 Benjamin Franklin became and abolitionist and freed his slaves. Alexander Hamilton was an abolitionist as well. He grew up around other wealthy whites, but his family suffered financial problems and then his father abandoned the family, so he didn't have the money to afford to be a slave owner. However, if he felt slavery would benefit what was best for the country, he would support it over his stance as an abolitionist.
 Thomas Jefferson was the worst of all. Go to this site and you will read some interesting facts about him: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/is.... Yeah, this is the guy who wrote "all men are created equal". He inherited slaves, he multiplied his slaves and not until him and the other founding fathers died did their slaves achieve freedom.

These answers answer your question, but I add that it is critical to contextualize thse men in the era in which they lived rather than against a modern standard of justice. It’s easy to do the latter and write many historical actors off as hypocritical charlatans. This process makes analysis of the past a mere exercise in judgment rather than an attempt to understand the ideologies that drive national history.

It looks like your question has been answered. I just wanted to add that the slave owners included Patrick Henry. That’s right, the guy who bravely declared “Give me liberty or give me death!”

It depends on how you define “founding father.” If the definition includes all of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence, then the percentage of slave owners is much higher. About 70% of the signatories owned slaves.

As an aside, ownership of slaves in all states was rare. Only a select few could afford a slave, and if a family did own a slave, it was usually one or two house servants. Still rarer were families who owned plantations where large numbers of slaves were utilized.

George Washington owned a slave.