Account of a Declaration; Biographies

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Copyright ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All Rights reserved.

William Paca ·1740—1799·: Representing Maryland at the Continental Congress
Born: October 30, 1740 in: Abington, Maryland
Education: Philadelphia College, Studied Law at Annapolis. (Judge)
Work: Delegate to the Maryland Legislature, 1771; Member of the Committee of Correspondence, Patriot Leader; Elected to Continental Congress, 1774-78, Chief Justice of Maryland, 1778; Elected Governor of Maryland, 1782; Federal District Judge for the State of Maryland, 1789-99.
Died: October 23, 1799.

William Paca was born in Abington, Maryland on the thirty first of October, 1740. His education in law was impressive. He was tutored at home in the classics before attending Philadelphia College at age fifteen, where he graduated at eighteen with a Masters degree. He then studied law in Annapolis at the office of an eminent lawyer. Before seeking admission to the Bar of Maryland, he attend training at the Inner Temple in England. His political engagement began in his interest in the law. He wrote and organized against a poll-tax originated by the royal governor just prior to the outbreak of hostilities. He was a local leader in the patriot movement in the late 1770s. Elected to the State Legislature of Maryland in 1771,. he was appointed to the Continental Congress in 1774. He was reelected and served there until 1779 when he was appointed chief justice of the State of Maryland. In 1782 he was elected governor of that state. He was appointed federal district judge for the State of Maryland from 1789, until his death in 1799. -Sources: PFG, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Robert Treat Paine ·1731—1814·: Representing Massachusetts at the Continental Congress
Born: March 11, 1731 in: Boston, Massachusetts
Education: Graduate of Harvard College. (Judge)
Work: Admitted to Massachusetts Bar, 1757; Elected to Provincial Assembly, 1770; Delegate to the Continental Congress, 1774, 1776; Attorney General for Massachusetts, 1777-1796; Judge, Supreme Court of Massachusetts, 1796-1804; State counselor, 1804.
Died: May 11, 1814.

Robert Treat Paine was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1731. He was expected, by family tradition, to become a Minister. He got high marks at the Boston Latin School & was admitted to Harvard College, where he graduated in 1749. He taught school for a while & then began the study of theology. Because of his frail health, Paine set out to build up his strength by working on the sea. He spent some years as a merchant marine visiting the southern colonies, Spain, the Azores, and England. When he returned home he decided to pursue the law. He was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in 1757. He first set up office in Portland, Maine (then part of Massachusetts) and later relocated to Taughton, Massachusetts. In the trials of British soldiers following the Boston Massacre, Paine served as associate prosecuting attorney.
He was elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1770 and that body selected him in 1774 to attend the first Continental Congress. Paine served on committees which formed the rules of debate, and later served as chairman of the committee charged with acquiring gunpowder for the Continental Army. He also wrote the final appeal to the king, known as the Olive Branch Petition, in 1775. Paine was reelected to represent Massachusetts at the Continental Congress of 1776. He participated in the debates leading to the resolution for Independence and his signature appears on the Declaration. According to comments made by Benjamin Rush, Paine was known in Congress as the "Objection Maker," because of his habit of frequent objections to the proposals of others. These objections were eventually taken lightly, for as Rush commented, "He seldom proposed anything, but opposed nearly every measure that was proposed by other people . . ."
In 1777 Paine was elected attorney general of the state of Massachusetts. He was then serving on the legislative committee to draft the first constitution of the state under the new federation. He moved back to Boston in 1780 where he helped found the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Governor Hancock offered him an appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court in 1783 but he declined. That offer was made again in 1796 and he accepted. He retired after some 14 years, in failing health, then died at the age of eighty-three. -Sources: PFG, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Edmund Pendleton ·1721—1803·: Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses
Born: September 9, 1721 in: Caroline County, Virginia
Education: Informal (Lawyer)
Work: Licensed to practice Law, 1741; Admitted to practice in general court, 1745; Appointed a Justice of Caroline County, 1751; Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1752-1776; Represented Virginia at the Continental Congress, 1774-75; President of the Virginia Committee of Safety, 1775; President of Virginia Conventions, 1775-76; first Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, appointed reviser of the statute laws of Virginia, 1776; First Judge of the High Court of Chancery, 1777; President of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1778-1803; President of the Virginia Ratification Convention, 1788; Refused appointment to the Federal judiciary, 1788.
Died: October 23, 1803.

Edmund Pendleton was another sterling example of public service to a fledgling nation. Born to a poor family & a widowed mother, he was a bright young man who displayed a maturity and sense of duty at a early age. Pendleton received little in the way of formal education, was apprenticed to Colonel Benjamin Robinson, Clerk of Court of Caroline County, at age thirteen, and began practicing law at age twenty. He was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1745 and was made Justice of the Peace for his native county in 1751. The following year he was elected to the House of Burgesses and then elected a representative to each of five successive Virginia conventions. He was elected president of the last two. He attended the Continental Congress' of 1774 and 1775 while serving as President of Virginia Committee of Safety.
In March of 1777 Pendleton fell from his horse and dislocated his hip. This crippled him for the rest of his life though he continued to serve with the aid of crutches. He had been elected Speaker of the first House of Delegates the preceding year and though unable to attend the first 1777 session, the speakership was held for him until he recovered enough to return the following September. When the Delegates established the Court of Chancery in 1778, Pendleton was nominated as a judge and then elected as the President of that Court in 1779. He was further elevated to the Supreme court of Appeals in 1788. The Virginia Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution met in 1788 with Pendleton again representing his county; that convention too, elected him President.
Known always as a modest and honorable man, Edmund Pendleton spent his entire life in service to the people of Virginia. In 1788, Washington appointed him to the new Federal Judiciary, a job which he declined due to advancing age. He continued to serve as the President of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals until his death in 1803. -Sources: EPB.©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

John Penn ·1741—1788·: Representing North Carolina at the Continental Congress
Born: May 17, 1741 in: Near Port Royal, Virginia
Education: Informal (Lawyer)
Work: Law Practice in Virginia, 1762; Accepted to the North Carolina Bar, 1774; Member of Continental Congress, 1775-77, 1779-80; Member of the Board of War, 1780.
Died: September 14, 1788.

John Penn was born in Caroline County, Virginia, to a family of means. His father died when he was eighteen years old, and though he had received only a rudimentary education at a country school, he had access to the library of his relative Edmund Pendleton. He was licensed to practice law in the state of Virginia at age twenty-two. In 1774 he moved to Granville County, North Carolina, where he established a law practice and soon became a gentleman member of the political community. He was elected to attend the provincial Congress in 1775 and elected to the Continental Congress that same year. He served there until 1777, participating in committee work. He was again elected in 1779, appointed to the Board of War, where he served until 1780. He declined a judgeship in his native state around that time, due to failing health. In retirement he engaged in his law practice. He died at the age of forty-eight. -Sources: PFG, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Peyton Randolph ·1723—1775·: Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, Representing Virginia at the Continental Congress
Born:1723
Education: Graduate of Oxford, Master of Arts (Lawyer)
Work: Attorney General of Virginia, 1756; Member, Virginia House of Burgesses, c. 1763; Delegate, President, first Continental Congress, 1774-75.
Died: October 22, 1775.

Peyton Randolph was born into an eminent Virginia family and educated, in the tradition of the time, in England. He Graduated Oxford University with honors & returned to Virginia to study law. He joined the Virginia Bar and was later made Attorney General of the colony. Randolph was also a military leader in the defense of the colony against Indian attack during the French & Indian War. At the end of the war he was elected to the House of Burgesses, where he often presided. He was the House leader when Patrick Henry made his stand against the Stamp act, and later when the House was dissolved by the governor for its resolutions against parliamentary aggression to Massachusetts. He left his seat in the House of Burgesses to attend the first Continental Congress in 1774, was elected President of the congress by unanimous vote and so became the first President of the united colonies. He was again elected President the following session but, his health failing, he resigned the office 14 days later. He resumed a seat in the congress the following September but died that October in Philadelphia. -Sources: PFG, EA. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

George Read ·1733—1798·: Representing Delaware at the Continental Congress
Born: September 18, 1733 in: North East, Maryland
Education: Private school - Chester Pennsylvania, Philadelphia College, Law studies (Judge)
Work: Admitted to Philadelphia Bar, 1753; Attorney General (in Delaware), 1761; Member of Delaware Committee of Correspondence, 1774; Elected to Continental Congress, 1774-1776; Member of Delaware Constitutional Convention, 1776; Acting Governor of Delaware, 1777; Judge, Court of Appeals, 1780; State Senator 1791, 92; Chief Justice of the State of Delaware, 1793-98.
Died: September 21, 1798.

George Read was born on his family farm near North East, Cecil County, Maryland in 1733. He attended a school in Chester, Pennsylvania then the Philadelphia Academy under Doctor Allison at New London. At fifteen he graduated and proceeded to study law at the office of John Moland in Philadelphia. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1753. He moved to New Castle Delaware to establish a new practice the following year. He established quite a reputation there and was appointed Attorney-general to three Delaware counties, an office which he resigned in 1774 when he was elected to the first Continental Congress. In 1764, the period leading up to the stamp act protests, Read had joined the Delaware Committee of Correspondence and was active in the patriot movement. At the Continental Congress he found Lee's Resolution for Independence to be too hasty and voted against it. When it was adopted; however, he joined the majority in working toward independence.
In 1776 Read was called upon to join the Constitutional Convention in Delaware, where he served as president of the committee that drafted the document. In 1777 the British captured Delaware governor John McKinly and Read took over as governor in the emergency. He lead the state through the crisis of the war, raising money, troops, & supplies for the defense of his state.
In 1779 he suffered a bout of poor health & had to retire from official duties. He recovered; however, and was appointed Judge in Court of Appeals in admiralty cases three years later. Read went on to be twice elected State Senator under the new constitution, and later still was appointed Chief Justice of the State of Delaware. He served in that office until his death in 1798. -Sources: PFG, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Caesar Rodney ·1728—1784·: Representing Delaware at the Continental Congress
Born: October 7, 1728 in: Dover, Delaware
Education: Informal (Judge)
Work: Commissioned High Sheriff of Kent County, 1755; Elected to Colonial Assembly, 1758-70, 1771-76; Delegate to the Stamp Act Congress, 1765; Member of the Delaware Committee of Correspondence, 1765; Elected to Continental Congress, 1774-76, 77; Military Leader, 1774-77, Elected President of the State of Delaware, 1778-80; Member of the Upper House of the State Assembly, 1776-84;
Died: June 29, 1784.

Cæsar Rodney was born on his father's farm near Dover, Delaware, in October of 1728. He was tutored by his parents and may have attended a local Parson's school, but received no formal education. His father died when Cæsar was seventeen. He was placed in the guardianship of Nicholas Ridgely who was a clerk of the peace in Kent county, and this seems to be the root of Rodney's life in politics. In 1755, under the royal government, Rodney was commissioned High Sheriff of Kent County Delaware. This was quite a distinction for a man twenty-two years of age and he apparently honored the distinction, for in succeeding years his official capacities grew to include registrar of wills, recorder of deeds, clerk of the orphan's court, and justice of the peace. At age thirty he attained his first elected office as a representative in the colonial legislature at Newcastle. He served in that position, reelected each year except 1771, until the legislature was dissolved in 1776—and then resumed the seat as a representative to the Upper House of the State of Delaware until 1784.
Rodney was a leading patriot in his colony, a member of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, a formative member of the Delaware Committee of Correspondence, a military leader in the colonial militia, and a delegate to the Continental Congress from formation until 1777. The following year he was elected President of the State of Delaware for a three year term, a duty that he assumed even as he served as Major-General of the Delaware Militia. In this office he played a crucial part not only in the defense of his own colony but in support of Washington's Continental Army, for Delaware had a record of meeting or exceeding its quotas for troops and provisions throughout the revolutionary conflict. Rodney's health and strength flagged for a time. He suffered from asthma and from a cancerous growth on his face, for which he never attained proper treatment. He saw his colony through the war at the cost of personal neglect.
In 1782 he was again elected to the national Congress, but was forced to decline the office due to failing health. He nonetheless continued to serve as Speaker to the Upper House of the Delaware Assembly. He died in that office, in June of 1784. -Sources:Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

George Ross ·1730—1779·: Representing Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress
Born: May 10, 1730 in: New Castle, Delaware
Education: Private, Classical. Read law in Philadelphia (Judge)
Work: Admitted to Pennsylvania Bar, 1750; Crown Prosecutor for Carlisle, twelve years; Elected to Provincial Assembly, 1768-1776; Elected to Continental Congress, 1774, 1776-77; Colonel in the Continental Army, 1776; Vice president of the Pennsylvania constitutional convention, 1776; Judge of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania, 1779.
Died: July 14, 1779.

George Ross was born in May of 1730 in Newcastle, Delaware, into very large family. His father was a minister, educated at Edenburgh, and the Ross children received a sound classical education at home. George then proceeded to read law at the office of his older brother, John. George attained the Bar in Philadelphia at the age of twenty and established his own practice in Lancaster. As was typical of many gentlemen of the day, his politics were Tory. He served for some twelve years as Crown Prosecutor (attorney general) to Carlisle, until elected to the provincial legislature of his state in 1768. There he came to understand first hand the rising conflict between the colonial assemblies and the Parliament. He was an unabashed supporter of the powers of the former. In 1774 he was elected to the provincial conference that would select delegates to attend the General Congress, and was selected as a representative of Pennsylvania that same year. Ross continued to serve his provincial legislature and was a member of the Committee of Safety for his colony in 1775. In 1776 he was again elected to the Continental Congress, while serving as a provincial legislator, and a Colonel in the Continental Army. That year he also undertook negotiations with the Northwestern Indians on behalf of his colony, and took a seat as vice-president of the first constitutional convention for Pennsylvania. He was reelected to the Continental Congress once more in 1777, but resigned the seat before the close due to poor health. In March of 1779 he was appointed to a judgeship in the Pennsylvania Court of Admiralty. He died in that office, in July of the same year. -Sources: PFG, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Benjamin Rush ·1745—1813·: Representing Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress
Born: December 24, 1745 in: Byberry, Pennsylvania.
Education: B.A. at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), M.D. at the University of Edinburgh (Physician)
Work: Physician, Professor of Chemistry at the College of Philadelphia, 1769; Writer, Member of the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia, 1773 . . .; Elected to Pennsylvania provincial conference, Elected to Continental Congress, 1776; Appointed Surgeon-general to the armies of the middle department (of the Continental Army), 1777; Instructor, Physician, University of the State of Pennsylvania, 1778 . . .; Treasurer of the U.S. Mint, 1779-1813; Professor of medical theory and clinical practice, University of Pennsylvania, 1791-1813
Died: April 19, 1813.

Benjamin Rush, eminent Physician, writer, educator, humanitarian, is as interesting a figure as one could find in the formation of the United States. A wildly popular and much loved man, he was nonetheless a fallible character. He was born in December of 1745 in Byberry, Pennsylvania, some twelve miles from Philadelphia. Hi father died when Benjamin was six, and his mother placed him in the care of his maternal uncle Dr. Finley who became his teacher and advisor for many years. In 1759 he attended the College of Philadelphia, where he ultimately attained a Bachelor of Arts degree. He continued his education with a Dr. Redman of Philadelphia for four years and then crossed the Atlantic to attend to an M.D. at Edinburgh. He spent several years in Europe studying and practicing Medicine, French, Italian, Spanish, and science. He returned in 1769, opened a private practice in Philadelphia, and was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the College of Philadelphia.
Benjamin Rush was soon beloved in the city, where he practiced extensively amongst the poor. His practice was successful, his classes were popular, and he further began to engage in writing that would prove to be of considerable importance to the emerging nation. Rush published the first American textbook on Chemistry. In 1773 he contributed editorial assays to the papers about the Patriot cause and also joined the American Philosophical Society. He was active in the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia during that time. In June of 1776 he was elected to attend the provincial conference to send delegates to the Continental Congress. He was appointed to represent Philadelphia that year and so signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1777 he was appointed surgeon-general of the middle department of the Continental Army. This office lead to some trouble for him; he was critical of the administration of the Army Medical service under Dr. William Shippen. He complained to Washington, who deferred to the Congress. Ultimately Congress upheld Shippen and Rush resigned in disgust. As the war continued and Army forces under General Washington suffered a series of defeats, Rush secretly campaigned for removal of Washington as commander in chief, and went so far as to write an anonymous letter to then Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia. He was caught in the act and confronted by Washington, at which point he bowed out of any activities related to the war.
In 1789 he wrote in Philadelphia newspapers in favor of adopting the Federal constitution. He was then elected to the Pennsylvania convention which adopted that constitution. He was appointed treasurer of the US Mint where he served from 1797 to 1813.
Rush's teaching career and medical practice continued till the end of his life. He became the Professor of medical theory and clinical practice at the consolidated University of Pennsylvania in 1791, where he was a popular figure at the height of his influence in medicine and in social circles. He was also a social activist, a prominent advocate for the abolition of slavery, an advocate for scientific education for the masses, including women, and for public medical clinics to treat the poor.
Benjamin Rush was a regular writer, and many notes about the less well known signers of the Declaration come from his observations on the floor of congress. Other members of congress, Franklin, and John Adams foremost, had some harsh observations to make about Rush. He was handsome, well-spoken, a gentleman and a very attractive figure-he was also a gossip & was quick to rush to judgement about others. He was supremely confident of his own opinion and decisions, yet shallow and very unscientific in practice. His chief accomplishment as a physician was in the practice of bleeding the patient. It was said that he considered bleeding to be a cure for nearly any ailment. Even when the practice began to decline, he refused to reconsider the dangers of it. He died at the age of sixty-eight at his home in Philadelphia, the most celebrated physician in America. -Sources: EA, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Edward Rutledge ·1749—1800·: Delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina, 1774-76, 1779
Born: November 23, 1749 in: Charleston, S.C.
Education: Graduate of Oxford, Studied at Middle Temple (London), Member of the English Bar (Lawyer)
Work: State Legislator, Representative to the Continental Congress, 1774-76, 1779; Captain, Charleston Battalion of Artillery, 1776-1779; State legislator, 1782-1796; College of Electors, 1788, 1792, 1796; Elected Governor for South Carolina, 1798.
Died: January 23, 1800

Born to an aristocratic Family in South Carolina, Edward Rutledge was perhaps destined to a life of Public service. He was educated in law at Oxford and studied for & was admitted to the English Bar. He and his brother John were both engaged in the law, and both attended the congress. They supported each other unabashedly, both on the floor and in committee. Edward attended Congress at the remarkable age of twenty-seven, and was no doubt pretty excited to find himself in the company of the most eminent men of the colonies.
He took leave of Congress in November of 1776 to join the defense of his colony. He was a member of the Charleston Battalion of Artillery, engaged in several important battles, and attained the rank of Captain. The colonial legislature sent him back to Congress in 1779 to fill a vacancy. He took his leave again in 1780 when the British conducted a third invasion of South Carolina. He resumed his post as Captain in the defense of Charleston, was captured and held prisoner until July of 1781.
In 1782 he returned to the legislature of his native state, where he served until 1796. He was a very active member, intent on the prosecution of British Loyalists. At times he served on as many nineteen committees. He also served as an elector, in 1788, 1792, and in 1796 when, despite his avowed allegiance to the Federalist party, he voted for Thomas Jefferson. He was then elected to the state Senate, twice, and in 1789 was elected Governor. This would be his last office. His health declining, he was barely able to complete his term as Governor. He died in January of 1800 at the age of fifty-one. -Sources: EA, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Roger Sherman ·1721—1793·: Representing Connecticut at the Continental Congress
Born: April 30, 1721 in: Newton, Mass.
Education: Informal, Cobbler, Surveyor, Lawyer. Honorary M.A. from Yale.
Work: Admitted to Bar in New Milford Connecticut, 1754; Justice of the Peace, elected to General Assembly, representing New Milford Connecticut, 1755-58, 1760-61; Commissary for the Connecticut Troops, 1759; Elected to various Upper & Lower House offices representing New Haven, 1760s, 1770s; Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut, 1766-1789; Elected to Continental Congress, 1774-81, 1783-84; Distinguished member of the Constitutional Convention, 1785; Elected US Senator for Connecticut, 1791-93.
Died: July 23, 1793.

Roger Sherman was born at Newton, near Boston, on April 30, 1721. When he was two his father took the family to what was then a frontier town, Stoughton. His education was very limited. He had access to his fathers library, a good one by the standards of the day, and when Roger was about thirteen years old the town built a "grammar school" which he attended for a time. Stoughton was also fortunate to have a parish Minister by the name of Rev. Samuel Danbar, who was trained at Harvard. Danbar helped young Roger acquire some facility with mathematics, sciences, literature, and philosophy.
His first experience with an official office came in 1743 when he was appointed surveyor of New Haven County. A few years later he was commissioned by neighbor to consult a lawyer at the county seat regarding a petition before the court. The lawyer asked if he could examine Sherman's notes & reading them, urged Sherman to set up for the practice of law. At age twenty one he engaged in both civic and religious affairs in New Milford Connecticut, where he and his brother also opened the towns first store. He served as the town clerk there & was also chosen to lobby on behalf of the town at the provincial assembly. Since New Milford did not have a newspaper & reading material was hard to come by, Sherman wrote & published a very popular Almanac each year from 1750 to 1761.
Sherman was accepted to the Bar of Litchfield in 1754, and to represent New Milford in the General Assembly the following year. He was appointed justice of the peace, and four years later justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut. By the age of forty, he had become a very successful landowner and businessman while integrating himself into the social and political fabric of New England. He was appointed commissary to the Connecticut Troops at the start of the Revolutionary war; this was experience that he put to great use when he was elected to the Continental Congress in 1774. Sherman was a very active and much respected Delegate to the congress. He served and numerous committees, including the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. He served all through the war for Independence. As active as he was in Congress, he simultaneously fulfilled his other offices. In 1776 these efforts began to take their toll on his health. Thus, he appealed to then governor Trumbull to relieve him of some of his state duties while he remained on in Congress through 1781. He left the office in 1781, then returned in 1783 and 84, where he served on the committee forming the Articles of Confederation. His interests in the strength of the federation carried him to the Constitutional Convention in 1785 where he was one of the most vocal and persistent members. Madison's notes on the convention credit him with one hundred and thirty-eight speeches to the convention. His tiny state of Connecticut was in a precarious position, and Sherman, then sixty-one apparently spared no effort in defending the rights of the smaller states.
Many of the most notable figures of the revolution, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, admitted a deep admiration for Roger Sherman and his work. From their notes Sherman appears as a picture of New England pragmatism: stern, taciturn, spare with his words and very direct in his speech, but never hesitating to stand-and stand again-for his principles. In July of 1793, Roger Sherman died of typhoid at the age of seventy-two. At the time he served as US Senator from Connecticut under the new constitution that he had helped to build; in the new nation, that he had spent most of his life defending and defining.-Sources: Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

James Smith ·1719—1806·: Representing Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress
Born: Circa 1719 in: Dublin, Ireland
Education: Informal, Classical education. Apprenticed law with brother George. (Lawyer)
Work: Resume with dates.
Died: July 11, 1806.

James Smith was born in Northern Ireland around 1719. He emigrated to Cheshire County Pennsylvania with his family when he was ten or twelve years old. His father was a successful farmer & James benefited from a good, simple, classical education from a local Church Minister. He later studied law at the office of his older brother George, in Lancaster. Smith was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar at age twenty-six, and set up an office in Cumberland County, near Shippensburg. This was a frontier area at the time, so he spent much of his time engaged in surveying, only practicing law when such work was available. After four or five years he moved back to more populated York, where he might practice law exclusively.
During the 1760s Smith became a leader in the area. He attended a provincial assembly in 1774 where he offered a paper he had written, called "Essay on the Constitutional Power of Great Britain over the Colonies in America." In the essay, he offered a boycott of British goods, and a General Congress of the Colonies, as measures in defense of colonial rights. Later that year he organized a volunteer militia company in York, which elected him Captain. His company later grew to be a battalion, at which point he deferred leadership to younger men.
He was appointed to the provincial convention in Philadelphia in 1775, the state constitutional convention in 1776, and was elected to the Continental Congress the same year. He remained in Congress only two years, and as Congress was meeting in Philadelphia in those days, provided his office for meetings of the Board of War.
James Smith retired from the Congress in 1777, and served in few public offices after: one term in the State assembly, a few months as a judge of the state High Court of Appeals. In 1782 he was appointed Brigadier General of the Pennsylvania militia. He was reelected to Congress in 1785 but declined to attend due to advancing age. Little is know about his work, because a fire destroyed his office and papers shortly before he died. -Sources:PFG, EA, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Richard Stockton ·1730—1781·: Representing New Jersey at the Continental Congress
Born: October 1, 1730 in: Near Princeton, N.J.
Education: West Nottingham Academy, Graduate of College of New Jersey. (Lawyer)
Work: Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1774; Elected to Continental Congress, 1776
Died: February 28, 1781.

Richard Stockton was born near Princeton, on October 1, 1730. He attended the West Nottingham Academy under Dr. Samuel Finley, and then earned his degree at the College of New Jersey (Now Princeton) in 1748. He studied law with David Ogden of Newark. Stockton became an eminent Lawyer with one of the largest practices in the colonies. He was not much concerned with politics, but applied his talents & person to the revolutionary cause when the day came. He was appointed to the royal council of New Jersey in 1765 and remained a member until the government was reformed. He was a moderate with regard to Colonial autonomy. He argued that the colonies should be represented in the Parliament. With the passage of the Stamp Act, such arguments were overcome by colonial backlash. In 1774 he was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. In 1776, the New Jersey delegates to the Congress were holding out against Independence. When news of this reached the constituents, New Jersey elected Richard Stockton and Dr. Witherspoon to replace two of the five New Jersey delegates. They were sent with instructions to vote for Independence. Accounts indicate that, despite clear instruction, Justice Stockton wished to hear the arguments on either side of the issue. Once he was satisfied, the New Jersey delegates voted for Independence.
Stockton was appointed to committees supporting the war effort. He was dispatched on a fact finding tour to the northern army. New Jersey was overrun by the British in November of '76, when he was returning from the mission. He managed to move his family to safety, but was captured and imprisoned by the British. He was not released until several years later, badly treated and in very poor condition. He lost all of his extensive library, writings, and all of his property during the British invasion. He died a pauper in Princeton at the age of fifty-one. -Sources: PFG, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.

Thomas Stone ·1743—1787·: Representing Maryland at the Continental Congress
Born: 1743 in: Charles County, Md.
Education: Parish School, Law Studies. (Lawyer)
Work: Admitted to the Maryland Bar, 1764; Elected to the Continental Congress, 1775-78, 1783; Elected to Constitutional Convention (declined), 1785.
Died: October 5, 1787.

Thomas Stone was born at Poynton Manor in Charles County Maryland in 1743. He was educated by a Scottish school-master and later studied law at the office of Thomas Johnson. He was admitted to the Bar in 1764 and set up practice in Frederick Maryland. He was a prosperous landowner and moderately successful lawyer.
Stone was elected to Congress in 1775. He did not speak much in congress, so little is known of his service there, except that he was a member of the committee that framed the Articles of Confederation. He voted for Independence in 1776, and his name is affixed to the Declaration. He was elected to Congress again in 1783 and served as chairman, but retired at the end of his term. He was elected to attend the Constitutional Convention in 1785, but declined the office because of his wife's failing health. She died 1787, and Stone never got over the grief. He decided to travel to England, but died in Alexandria while waiting for the ship. He was forty-four years old. Little else is know about Thomas Stone, as no letters or papers accounting his life have ever been found. -Sources: PFG, Signers. ©1996-2003 by LeftJustified Publiks. All rights reserved.