Handwriting of our Forefathers

A close look at the handwriting, even of Monroe’s, is closer to italic than what many consider traditional. Notice the r‘s; they are the italic form. Also remember the amount of letter writing from that time, the need to write rapidly, and WOW, they wrote with a quill!

http://www.monticello.org/site/blog-and-community/posts/good-bad-and-ugly-look-penmanship

In Handwriting in America, Tamara Plakins Thornton notes that there was a hierarchy in handwriting amongst early Americans, and these men were at the top!