John Adams, Massachusetts

John Adams, who was “in his forty-first year in the summer of 1776” (Dumas Malone, The Story of the Declaration of Independence (New York: Oxford Press, 1954), 113), was one of the more prominent individuals involved in signing the Declaration of Independence. Prior to being sent as a representative of Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, Adams had been “elected to the Massachusetts Council” (Peter Shaw, The Character of John Adams (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1976), 76). He was a member of the Committee of Five, which “was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world the colonies' case for independence.”( “Declaration of Independence: A History,” The National Archives Experience, http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_history.html) While Jefferson was the only member of this committee that was actually responsible for writing the Declaration, Adams was one of two members (the other being Benjamin Franklin) that actually made any changes to the document once Jefferson had written it (Ibid). Following the signing of the Declaration, Adams became one of key ambassadors to France in 1778 (Shaw, The Character of John Adams, 107). While there, he “served as a commercial commissioner with Franklin and Jefferson (Malone, The Story of the Declaration of Independence, 113).” Not only did Adams play a key role in aligning himself with France, he also helped smooth over the tensions between the newly independent America and its former motherland as he became the first American minister in England (Ibid, 113).
One reason that Adams may have been chosen to represent Massachusetts was “his independence of any party and his adherence to fundamental rights above any cause (Shaw, The Character of John Adams, 78)” which can be seen by his defense of the British Soldiers following the Boston Massacre (Ibid, 78). This can lead to the conclusion that Adams was chosen to attend the Second Continental Congress because he was not afraid to stand up for what he believed was right, no matter what the circumstances were.
Adams went on to have a very successful political career following independence. In 1788, he became the first Vice President of the United States (Malone, The Story of the Declaration of Independence, 113-114). Following this, he went on to become the second President of the country (Ibid, 114). His son, John Quincy Adams, also went on to become President of the United States (Ibid, 114).

Reputable Website about Early American History: About.com: American History. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/colonialamerica/Colonial_America.htm

Alex Elkin

Robert Treat Paine, Massachusetts

Born on March 11, 1731 Robert Treat Paine was to become a man that that not only watched the great events of his time unfold, but also had a hand in almost every aspect of them. Paine graduated from Harvard School in 1749. After this he took a few varying jobs: once a chaplain to the Northward Troops, he also became a teacher to support himself and supplement the dwindling fortune of his family.

Prior to the Revolutionary War Paine became involved in Law. It was actually his teaching that he used to pay his way through schooling to become a lawyer. In 1770 he became the prosecuting attorney for the trial against five British soldiers for the infamous Boston Massacre. It was that year that he was also elected to the Massachusetts Provincial Assembly. In 1774 he was selected to attend, as a representative of Massachusetts, the First Continental Congress where he served as chairman of the Debating Committee. He was also a signer of the Olive Branch Petition to King George as a list ditch effort to make amends before revolution. In 1775 he was appointed to a committee to acquire gunpowder for the Continental Army. In a letter to the congress Paine states “I cannot express to you the surprise and uneasiness I received on hearing the Congress express respecting the want of gunpowder; it was always a matter that lay heavy on my mind;. . .”(1) In 1776 he was selected again to represent Massachusetts in the Second Continental Congress. It was there that he received the nickname “Objection Maker”(2)Benjamin Rush says this is because, “He seldom proposed anything, but opposed nearly every measure that was proposed by other people...”(3)

During the war he was still a very busy man. In 1777 he was elected to be the Attorney General for the State of Massachusetts and served in this position until 1790. That year he also served on the committee to draft the first constitution of the State for the New Federation. 1779 he was selected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. In 1780 he moved to his Hometown of Boston and helped found the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1783 he was offered an appointment to the Massachusetts Supreme Court by Governor Hancock; he turned this down until a later date.

After the war in the year 1796 Paine was finally convinced to take the offer of the position upon the Supreme Court. He proudly served as a judge until the year 1804 when he retired due to failing health. In 1814 Robert Treat Paine passed away due to poor health and age at of 83. America sadly lost a man that had offered so much to the founding of the country, its ideals, and someone who set an example of determination and selflessness.

Endnotes:
1. Goodrich, Rev. Charles A. Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence. New York: William Reed & Co., 1856
2. US History.Org, “Signers of the Declaration of Independence” http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/paine.htm
3. Ibid.

Bibliography:
Goodrich, Rev. Charles A. Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence. New York: William Reed & Co., 1856

US History.Org, “Signers of the Declaration of Independence” http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/paine.htm

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, “Paine, Robert Treat (1731-1814)” http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000029

Wanda White

Elbridge Gerry, Massachusetts

Elbridge Gerry was an influential politician in the early days of the United States of America; from signing the Declaration of Independence he went on to help frame the federal Constitution and served as Minister to France, Governor of Massachusetts and Vice President of the United States.

He was born on July 17, 1744 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, to a family of merchants.1 After graduating from Harvard in 1762, he returned home to join in the family business. After the Boston Massacre in 1770, Gerry became highly involved in local politics. He was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1772, where he was influenced by Samuel Adams and took part in the Massachusetts committee of correspondence. When Boston harbor was closed in 1774, Gerry played a central role in coordinating the relief effort for Boston, since Marblehead became a major port of entry.2

Gerry attended the first and second Massachusetts Provincial Congresses between 1774-1776, where he served on several important committees, including those for safety and for supply. In October of 1775, Gerry began to support American independence, and was elected to replace Thomas Cushing in the Massachusetts delegation to the second Continental Congress in order to resolve the delegation’s split in favor of independence.3 Drawing on his background, Gerry specialized in financial and military matters within Congress.4

After the revolution, Gerry continued to serve periodically in Congress, and attended to Constitutional Convention in 1787 as part of the Massachusetts delegation, where he played an important role. He became Massachusetts governor in 1810, and served as James Madison’s Vice President in 1813, dying while in office on Nov. 23, 1814.5

Brooke Saunders

Endnotes
1. George Bilias, Elbridge Gerry: founding Father and Republican Statesman (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1976), 5.
2.Ibid., 16.
3.Ibid., 65.
4.“The Founding Fathers: Massachusetts,” US National Archives and Records Administration, [www.archives.gov.]
5. The term “Gerrymandering” comes from a combination of “Gerry” and “salamander,” since while Elbridge Gerry was governor of Massachusetts his Republicans restructured districts in order to help elect more Republicans to the Senate. As a result, Essex County where Gerry was born was redrawn in a district that looked like a salamander (Bilias, 317).

Stephen Hopkins, Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island was born March 7, 1707. He was a man of very little formal education, but gained knowledge by being an avid reader. He started off as a farmer and surveyor, and eventually made the switch to politics becoming one of Rhode Island’s most prominent figures. Hopkins sat on the General Assembly for all but 4 years from 1732-52, and was a member of the Superior Court from 1447-49. He became a champion of colonial rights after his 1764 publication “The Grievances of the American Colonies Candidly Examined,” where he argued against the sugar and stamp duties. This book also served to “foreshadow John Dickenson’s theory of colonial home rule” (Boatner, Encyclopedia, 513). “In 1772, Hopkins was again elected to the general assembly. He freed his slaves in 1773 and the following year he sponsored a bill that prohibited the importation of slaves into the colony” (Klos, Hopkins). In the years 1775, and 1776 Hopkins was chosen the represent Rhode Island the continental congress. Also, in 1776, Hopkins had the pleasure of signing The Declaration of Independence. “He recorded his name with a trembling hand, the only instance in which an unsteady signature is visible among the fifty-six patriots who wrote their names” (Ibid.). His trembling was a sign of the weakness of his flesh, not his mind, as he had a condition which forced him to guide his right hand with his left. After this, Hopkins “was a member of the committee to organize the Navy” (Boatner, Encyclopedia, 513). Hopkins was a natural choice to be a representative of Rhode Island due to his long and active political career as well many of his social achievements which included establishing the Providence Gazette, as well being a prominent contributor, as well being the first chancellor of what is now Brown University.

William Ellery, Rhode Island

Roger Sherman, Connecticut

Roger Sherman, one of the signers representing Connecticut, on The Declaration of Independence, was born on April 19th 1721 in Newton Massachusetts. His father was a respectable farmer, but the family income was modest so he was unable to further Rogers' education beyond the local school. Although Sherman attended the local school for a period of time, most of his education came from his Parish Minister, Reverend Danbar. When Sherman reached the age of twenty-two, he moved to Connecticut "motivated by cheaper land prices" in order to try and make himself a fortune, which he successfully did. (Collier, Sherman,29) Throughout Sherman's life, he went through a series of jobs ranging from author of a local almanac, Lawyer, Justice of the Peace, Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut, and eventually he went as far as being the US Senator from Connecticut. "Roger Sherman's rise to prominence, mercantile and political, coincided with an economic revolution in Connecticut"(Collier, Sherman, 29), a state that he helped shape. During the time of the Revolution in America, Sherman had been appointed the Commissary of the Connecticut regiment. In 1744 Sherman was elected to sit on the Continental Congress in which he found useful for his efforts to build a new nation. While sitting on Congress, Sherman played an active role in a number of committees, which eventually led to his role in the drafting of The Declaration of American Independence. Although Sherman's credentials were ones to be proud of, his main contribution to US history was being one of the signers on the Declaration. Sherman was married twice within his life and had a total of fifteen children between the two women. On July 23rd 1793, Roger Sherman died of Typhoid fever at the age of 72, he left behind him a new nation of which he had spent a great deal of time trying to achieve.

Whitney Girouard

Samuel Huntington, Connecticut

William Williams, Connecticut

Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut

William Floyd, New York

Philip Livingston, New York

Francis Lewis, New York

Lewis Morris, New York

Lewis Morris was born in New York in 1726 to his father, Judge Lewis Morris and his mother, Catharine (Staats) Morris. After graduating from Yale University, Morris was involved both in his farm property in New York as well as the Provincial legislature right before and during the conflict with Britain. Morris was a wealthy man himself but was against the overarching presence of Britain in the affairs of the Colonies. His influence in New York politics led to him being sent to the Second Continental Congress in 1775. His tasks in congress involved the committee of the defence of New York, provisioning colonial forces, and Indian Affairs.1.
Of significance, Morris was involved in the negotiations with Indians at Fort Pitt in late 1775, convincing the Indians to join the colonists against Britain. During the war Morris had his hands full. He was a general in the New York militia and was also tied to his duties in Congress. It was in 1777 that he left Congress, passing his seat on to his half brother in order to focus his efforts on New York. He wanted to influence the people that the cause for independence was worth the fight, willing to put himself and his property at risk. He was also a judge in the county of Worcester in 1777 and was also a member of the board of regents of the University of the State of New York. He died in 1798.
What was remarkable about Morris was his self-martyring personality and deep feelings of patriotism. Morris was living a prosperous life with friends and family and the role of Britain within the Colonies presented only a minor disruption to his lifestyle. However, his involvement in the conflict against Britain could cost him everything he had gained. Regardless, Morris’ love for his country trumped any individual priorities. Even though his one thousand acre property was destroyed and his family displaced, the people of New York eventually sided with the Colonists’ cause, leading to Independence. 2.

1 “Signers of the Declaration of Independence-Lewis Morris.” “USHistory.Org.” . 4 July 1995. 9 October 2007.
2 “Lewis Morris, 1726-1798.” “Long Island Genealogy.” . 1998. 9 October 2007.

Richard Stockton, New Jersey

John Witherspoon, New Jersey

On July 2, 1776, John Witherspoon, along with many of his fellow countrymen, signed the Declaration of Independence. This document, adopted on July 4th of the same year, declared the thirteen colonies of America to be a free and sovereign nation from Britain. John Witherspoon was a great candidate to join the Second Continental Congress, the committee that signed the Declaration of Independence, for two main reasons. First, he had the unwavering respect of seemingly everyone he encountered, due to both his high education, amiable personality, and impressive life achievements. Furthermore, he was a true patriot and provocateur for the American people to stand up against their British oppressors.
During Dr. Witherspoon’s earlier years, he received the best education available to him, taking full advantage of this by receiving both his Master of Arts degree and latter his Doctorate of Divinity after spending several years as a Presbytarian minister. While still in Scotland, he received an offer to become the president of the College of New Jersey, which he eventually accepted. Upon becoming president of what is now known as Princeton, Dr. Witherspoon turned the school around, greatly improving the schools curriculum and funds. With this he also helped to create a new age of educated Americans that were receiving much the same education now as Europeans. Once the American War broke out, however, the school was broken up by the British, leading Dr. Witherspoon to become an American citizen and avid protestor against British rule. Now known to his countrymen as a very persuasive and gifted orator, he was elected to represent New Jersey in the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He proceeded to remain in congress for many years, continuing to speak his opinions on many key issues.

Francis Hopkinson, New Jersey

John Hart, New Jersey

Abraham Clark, New Jersey

Robert Morris, Pennsylvania

Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania

Benjamin Rush was thirty years of age when he signed the Declaration of Independence.1 Born in Pennsylvania, Rush was raised by his mother and stepfather.2 Rush was trained at the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University.3 Rush considered the idea of becoming a lawyer, but decided instead to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh.4
Having completed his medical education, Rush gained experience in Paris and London before returning to Philadelphia.5 He practiced as a physician and lectured on chemistry at the college of New Jersey.6 Rush became friends with several prominent men while practicing as a physician, including Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine.7 Rush suggested the name Common Sense to Thomas Paine for his very famous pamphlet.8

Rush married the daughter of Richard Stockton, another signer of the Declaration of independence.9 The two were married by John Witherspoon, yet another signer of the Declaration of Independence.10

Rush was elected to the Continental Congress in June of 1776.11 This was just in time for him to sign the Declaration of Independence.12 Rush was not re-elected to congress in 1777 because he had been opposed to creating Philadelphia’s constitution.13

Rush became surgeon general of the Continental Army, and his work in the medical field was very influential.14 Rush’s medical ideas were controversial as he experimented with bloodletting and purging, and he also was an advocate for psychiatry and the better treatment of the mentally ill.15

In 1797, Rush was appointed to be the Treasurer of the United States Mint by President John Adams.16


1 David Hawke, Honorable Treason: The Declaration of Independence and the Men Who Signed It (New York: Viking Press, 1976), 68.
2 Ibid, 69.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 The National Park Service, “Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania,” http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/declaration/bio42.htm, (accessed October 10, 2007).
6 Hawke, Honorable, 70.
7 National Park Service, “Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania.”
8 Hawke, Honorable, 71.
9 National Park Service, “Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania.”
10 Bernard A. Weisberger, “The Paradoxical Doctor Benjamin Rush,” Americanheritage.com, December 1975, under “Volume 27, Issue 1,” http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1975/1/1975_1_40.shtml (accessed October 13, 2007).
11 Ibid.
12 National Park Service, “Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania.”
13 Ibid.
14 MSN Encarta Online, s.v. “Benjamin Rush,” http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574064/Rush_Benjamin.html (accessed October 11, 2007).
15 Encarta, “Benjamin Rush.”
16 Ibid.

Deborah Howse