SAR Foundation Information

The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is a patriotic organization formed in 1889 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1906. SAR has more than 28,000 members living in all of the 50 states and 23 foreign countries. Throughout its 120-year history, SAR has admitted more than 170,000 members. Among them are 16 Presidents of the United States, including both Bushes, Carter, Ford, Johnson, Eisenhower, Truman and both Roosevelts. SAR also has among its members Sir Winston Churchill and King Juan Carlos I of Spain, both of whom trace their ancestry to Revolutionary War patriots. Founding The SAR and many other lineage organizations derive from that period of time after the Civil War and before 1900 when the USA, already a powerful nation, shed its hemispheric isolation and burst upon the international scene. It was the time of Centennial celebrations, and Americans, as well as others peoples, began to recognize the success of the American experiment. It was the time of the liberation of Cuba and the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule in order to establish democratic governments. It was the time of the “great white fleet,” the Panama Canal and, of course, Compatriot President Theodore Roosevelt. As a nation, America was oozing confidence that our democratic system was working. Americans were proud of what our ancestors had accomplished, and we were determined to memorialize their accomplishments as examples for newcomers to emulate.