The 9 weirdest jobs of America's Founding Fathers

• In honor of the Fourth of July, let's reflect on the weirder aspects of the origins of the US.
• Take the Founding Fathers, for instance.
• Some of them held down some pretty odd jobs before they helped to found a new country.

This Fourth of July, we'll celebrate the anniversary of the United States of America's independence from Britain with fireworks, car deals, and grilled meats.

It's also a good time to think about American history— namely, the people who made the decision to break away from the Mother Country and found a new nation. Everyone knows the Founders were largely a socially elite and wealthy group of politicians, lawyers, and military men.

Still, some members of this group took on some pretty weird jobs, too.

Here are nine particularly unexpected gigs that the Founding Fathers held before (or, in some cases, after) they founded the US:

SEE ALSO: The amazing true story of America's coolest founding father

DON'T MISS: A look at the daily routine of Thomas Jefferson, who rose early, drank coffee, and wrote a lot

SEE ALSO: A look at the daily routine of John Adams, who woke before dawn, walked 5 miles at a time, and drank hard cider at breakfast

Alexander Hamilton was a 13-year-old shipping prodigy

If you've been lucky enough to see "Hamilton," Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash Broadway hit, you already know this story.

Alexander Hamilton had a rough childhood. His father abandoned the family and his mother died of a fever. To support himself and his brother, Hamilton started clerking at Beekman and Cruger, an import-export firm on the Caribbean island of St. Croix, according to City Journal.

He was only 13 at the time. This teenager ran the entire firm while its owner was at sea. 

Hamilton was basically a child prodigy of maritime commerce. 

Thomas Jefferson was a hemp farmer

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Thomas Jefferson wasn't a pothead.

Along with George Washington and other Virginia planters, Jefferson grew hemp on his plantation, Monticello. He even received a patent for a machine to break hemp and extract fibers, according to Robert Deitch's "Hemp: American History Revisited: The Plant with a Divided History." 

But that doesn't mean he was out celebrating 4/20. Monticello's official website notes that the quote popularly attributed to Jefferson that mentions "smoking hemp" has not been found in any of his writings.

Benjamin Franklin was a rebellious printer

Philosopher, statesman, inventor, author — Benjamin Franklin was a true Renaissance Man.

His curious and independent nature was clear early on in his career. Franklin had been apprenticed to his older brother, a printer. This meant that he was legally bound to serve in the role for a set number of years. 

The static situation wasn't ideal for him. 

According to "Bonds of Citizenship: Law and the Labors of Emancipation" by Hoang Gia Phan, Franklin wrote that he "lik'd [the printer's profession] much better than that of [his] Father, but still had a Hankering for the sea."

So he ran off. Franklin absconded to Philadelphia, where he worked as a rogue printer, before traveling to London to work as a typesetter.