Who Are These Men?
We ask you to take nine minutes out of your busy day to sit quietly, alone or with your family or with friends, and listen to the story of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, as told by one of America’s best and favorite storytellers, Paul Harvey. Close your eyes and feel his words, then go below and find out more about each of these men who literally created the American Dream for all of us. What will you do to keep it before we lost it forever?
“Let parents then bequeath to their children not riches but the spirit of reverence.”
Plato
SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
“It does not take a majority to prevail . . . but rather an irate, tireless, minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
Samuel Adams
Click on each colony name to learn more about each of the delegates. Read a quote or story about their life. Find out their religion, where they were born, the age they were when they signed the Declaration, their occupation, and more. They deserve to be remembered.
| Select | |||||
| CONNECTICUT | Samuel Huntington | Roger Sherman | William Williams | Oliver Wolcott | |
| DELAWARE | Thomas McKean | George Read | Caeser Rodney | ||
| GEORGIA | Button Gwinnett | Lyman Hall | George Walton | ||
| MARYLAND | Charles Carroll of Carrollton | Samuel Chase | William Paca | Thomas Stone | |
| MASSACHUSETTS | John Adams | Samuel Adams | Elbridge Gerry | John Hancock | Robert Treat Paine |
| NEW JERSEY | Abraham Clark | John Hart | Francis Hopkinson | Richard Stockton | John Witherspoon |
| NEW YORK | William Floyd | Francis Lewis | Phillip Livingston | Lewis Morris | |
| NORTH CAROLINA | Joseph Hewes | William Hooper | John Penn | ||
| PENNSYLVANIA | George Clymer | Benjamin Franklin | Robert Morris | John Morton | George Rush |
| Benjamin Rush | James Smith | George Taylor | |||
| RHODE ISLAND | William Ellery | Stephen Hopkins | |||
| SOUTH CAROLINA | Thomas Heyward, Jr. | Thomas Lynch, Jr. | Arthur Middleton | Edward Rutledge | |
| VIRGINIA | Carter Braxton | Benjamin Harrison | Thomas Jefferson | Francis Lightfoot Lee | Richard Henry Lee |
| Thomas Nelson, Jr. | George Wythe |
CONNECTICUT
Born: 3 July 1731 in Connecticut. Died: 5 January 1796, age 64.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 45. Family: married once, two children.
Service: President of the Continental Congress (1779 – 1781)
“I shall always love my country”
Born: 19 April 1721 in Massachusetts. Died: 23 July 1793, age 72.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 55. Family: married twice, fifteen children.
Service: member of the Committee of Five which drafted the Declaration of Independence.
“The question is, not what rights naturally belong to man, but how they may be most equally and effectively guarded in society.”
Born: 18 April 1731 in Connecticut. Died: 2 August 1811, age 72.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 45. Family: married once, three children.
Service: member of the Sons of Liberty.
“The cause of liberty is the cause of God.”
Born: 20 November 1726 in Connecticut. Died: 2 August 1811, age 72.
Occupation: Minister. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 49. Family: married once, with four children.
Service: Brigadier General with the Continental Army
“The Constitution enjoins an oath upon all the officers of the United States. This is a direct appeal to that God Who is the avenger of perjury. Such an appeal to Him is a full acknowledgement of His being and providence.”
DELAWARE
Born: 19 March 1734 in Pennsylvania. Died: 24 June 1817, age 83.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Presbyterian
Signed: age 42. Family: married twice, eleven children.
Service: Colonel in the Continental Army; President of the Continental Congress in 1781.
“The true liberty of the press is amply secured by permitting every man to publish his opinion; but it is due to the peace and dignity of society, to inquire into the motives of such publications, and to distinguish between those which are meant for use and reformation, and with an eye solely to the public good, and those which are intended merely to delude and defame. To the latter description, it is impossible that any good government should afford protection and impunity.”
Born: 18 September1733 in Maryland. Died: 21 September 1798, age 65.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 42. Family: married once, four children.
Service: First and Second Continental Congress.
“Political change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time.”
Born: 7 October 1728 in Delaware. Died: 26 June 1784 of cancer, age 55.
Occupation: Plantation Owner, who eventually freed his slaves. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 47. Family: never married, had no children.
Service: Wartime governor of Delaware and Major General of the Delaware Militia.
After riding all night – 0ver 80 miles in a thunderstorm – he reached Independence Hall, arriving just in time to cast his vote, still wearing his spurs and coat. He boldly stated, “As I believe the voice of my constituents and all sensible and honest men, and my own judgement confers, is in favor of Independence, I vote for Independence.”
GEORGIA
Born: early 1735 in Gloucester, England. Died: 8 May 1877 in a duel with rival Lachlan McIntosh, age 42.
Occupation: Merchant and Plantation Owner; sold his slaves. Religion: Congregationalist
Signed: age 41. Family: married once, three children.
Service: Wrote the original draft of Georgia’s first state constitution.
Lyman Hall said of Button, “. . . the Man was valuable, so attached to the Liberty of this State and Continent that his whole attention, influence, and interest circled in it and seemed riveted to it . . . the Friends of Liberty on a whole Continent deplore his fall.”
Born: 12 April 1724 in Connecticut. Died: 19 October 1790, age 69.
Occupation: Physician and Minister; Plantation Owner. Religion: Congregationalist
Signed: age 52. Family: married twice, one child.
Service: His home in the town of Sunbury was burned by the British and Hall’s family fled north until 1782. He later became Governor of Georgia.
“I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am satisfied that it is as much the work of Divine Providence as any miracles recorded in the Old and New Testaments.”
Born: 1741 in Virginia. Died: 2 February 1804, age 63.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Episcopalian
Signed: age 35. Family: married once, two children.
Service: Colonel in the Georgia Milita, shot and captured by the British, held as a prisoner in the town of Sunbury.
In a letter to George Washington, Walton wrote: “You will permit us most earnestly to recommend to you a steady perseverance in the cause of Liberty, and that you will use all possible caution not to say or do anything unworthy of so glorious a cause; to promote frugality, peace, and good order, and in the practice of every social and religious duty, patiently to wait the return of the happy day, when we may quietly sit under our vine and fig-tree, and no man make us afraid.”
MARYLAND
Born: 9 September 1737 in Maryland. Died: 14 November 1832, age 95.
Occupation: Merchant, Plantation Owner. Religion: Roman Catholic
Signed: age 38. Family: married once, seven children.
Service: The wealthiest man in America at the time, he helped fund the war. He also presided over the Maryland branch of the American Colonization Society, which sought to provide means for former slaves to return to Africa.
Two quotes sum up his beliefs: “To obtain religious as well as civil liberty, I entered jealously into the Revolution, and observing the Christian religion divided into many sects, I founded the hope that no one would be so predominant as to become the religion of the State”; and ““Why keep alive the question of slavery? It is admitted by all to be a great evil.” Yet he did not free his slaves.
Born: 17 April 1741 in Maryland. Died: 19 June 1811, age 70.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Episcopalian
Signed: age 35. Family: married twice, four children.
Service: Represented Maryland in the Continental Congress.
“The Jury has the right to determine both the law and the facts.”
Born: 31 October 1740 in Maryland. Died: 13 October 1799, age 58.
Occupation: Lawyer, Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian
Signed: age 35. Family: married twice, five children.
Service: Member of Sons of Liberty, First and Second Continental Congress, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals, Governor of Maryland.
“We see our sufferings and labours crowned with success and the independence of America established on the surest foundation.”
Born: 1743 in Maryland. Died: 5 October 1787, age 44.
Occupation: Lawyer, Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian
Signed: age 33. Family: married once, three children.
Service: Article of Confederation committee (1777), President of Congress (1784).
“You know my heart wishes for peace upon terms of security and justice to America. But war, anything, is preferable to a surrender of our rights.”
MASSACHUSETTS
Born: 30 October 1735 in Massachusetts. Died: 4 July 1826, age 90.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Congregationalist, later converted to Unitarianism.
Signed: age 40. Family: married once, five children.
Service: two terms as Vice-President under George Washington; second President of the United States.
“The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the precepts of Christianity”; and “Liberty once lost, is lost forever.”
Born: 27 September 1722 in Massachusetts. Died: 2 October 1803, age 81.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 53. Family: married twice, two children; second cousin to John Adams.
Service: Sons of Liberty Founder, First and Second Continental Congress, Governor of Massachusetts.
“The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the precepts of Christianity”; and “Liberty once lost, is lost forever.”
Born: 17 July 1744 in Massachusetts. Died: 23 November 1814, age 70.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 32. Family: married once, seven children.
Service: Second Continental Congress, Articles of Confederation, the political process of gerrymandering is named after him. Refused to sign the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was added.
“Self-defense is a primary law of nature, which no subsequent law of society can abolish; the immediate gift of the Creator obliges everyone to resist the first approaches of tyranny.”
Born: 12 January 1737 in Massachusetts. Died: 8 October 1793, age 56.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 40. Family: married once, two children.
Service: longest serving President of the Continental Congress, nine times Governor of Massachusetts, first to sign the Declaration of Independence.
“Some boast of being friends to government; I am a friend to righteous government, to a government founded upon the principles of reason and justice; but I glory in publicly avowing my eternal enmity to tyranny.”
Born: 11 March 1731 in Massachusetts. Died: 11 May 1814, age 83.
Occupation: Lawyer, Scientist. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 45. Family: married once, eight children.
Service: Massachusetts first attorney general and associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
“The day before yesterday the Declaration of American Independency was voted by twelve colonies…Thus the issue is joined; and it is our comfortable reflection, that if by struggling we can avoid that service subjection which Britain demanded, we remain a free and happy people; but if, through the frowns of Providence, we sink in the struggle, we do but remain the wretched people we should have been without this Declaration. Our hearts are full, our hands are full; may God, in whom we trust, support us.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Born: 21 November in Massachusetts. Died: 19 May 1795, age 65.
Occupation: Physician. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 46. Family: married once, twelve children.
Service: Continental Congress Representative, fourth governor of New Hampshire, and Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “One of the Signers” was composed to honor Josiah. He wrote: “For in that hour of Destiny, Which tried the men of bravest stock, He knew the end alone must be A free land or a traitor’s block. Among those picked and chosen men Than his, who here first drew his breath, No firmer fingers held the pen Which wrote for liberty or death.”
Born: 1714 in Ireland. Died: 24 June 1803, age 89.
Occupation: Physician. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 62. Family: married once, five children.
Service: Continental Congress, Surgeon and Colonel in the New Hampshire Militia.
“Duty to God, ourselves, posterity, and the cries of slaughtered innocents, have urged us to take up arms in our defense.”
Born: 14 January 1730 in Maine (Province of Massachusetts Bay). Died: 28 November 1785, age 55.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 46. Family: married once, no children, second cousin to signer Stephen Hopkins.
Service: Continental Congress, Surgeon and Colonel in the New Hampshire Militia.
William believed that no man could fight for freedom and hold another in bondage. He said, “A recommendation is gone thither for raising some regiments of Blacks. This, I suppose will lay a foundation for the emancipation of those wretches in that country. I hope it will be the means of dispensing the blessings of Freedom to all the human race in America.” He freed his enslaved servant, Prince Whipple.
NEW JERSEY
Born: 15 February 1726 in New Jersey. Died: 15 September 1794, age 68.
Occupation: Lawyer, Surveyor. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 50. Family: married once, ten children. Two of his sons, Aaron and Thomas, were serving as soldiers when they were taken captive by the British and held in a prison ship. Here is their story.
Service: Continental Congress, Second and Third United States Congress as New Jersey Representative.
“While General Howe with a Large Armament is advancing towards New York, our Congress resolved to Declare the United Colonies free and Independent States. A Declaration for this Purpose, I expect, will this day pass Congress…It is gone so far that we must now be a free independent State, or a Conquered Country.”
Born: 1713 in New Jersey. Died: 11 May 1779, age 68.
Occupation: Land Owner. Religion: Baptist.
Signed: age 65. Family: married once, twelve children.
Service: First and Second Continental Congress, Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, provided land for the Continental Army encampment (Battle of Monmouth).
Though he left no quotable words, his actions speak to his character: he refused to leave his dying wife during a British siege even as his own life was in danger, later escaping to join Washington’s Army as a Private. Dr. Benjamin Rush said of him “a plain, honest, well‑meant Jersey farmer, with but little education, but with good sense and virtue enough to pursue the true interests of his country”.
Born: 2 October 1737 in Pennsylvania. Died: 9 May 1791, age 53.
Occupation: Lawyer and Musician. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 38. Family: married once, five children.
Service: Second Continental Congress, member of the Navy Board, first federal judge of the Eastern District Court in Pennsylvania.
He is known for several accomplishments: he designed the Great Seal of the United States, the national flag, and is considered America’s first poet-composer.
Born: 1 October 1730 in New Jersey. Died: 28 February 1781, age 50.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Quaker.
Signed: age 45. Family: married once, six children; he was father-in-law to Dr. Benjamin Rush.
Service: In the Continental Army, captured at Ft. Ticonderoga and imprisoned; all his property was plundered.
“The public is generally unthankful, and I never will become Servant of it, till I am convinced that by neglecting my own affairs I am doing more acceptable Service to God and Man.”
Born: 5 February 1723 in Scotland. Died: 15 November 1794, age 71.
Occupation: Minister. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 53. Family: married twice, twelve children.
Service: Second Continental Congress, Articles of Confederation, president of the College of New Jersey (later to become Princeton University).
“Liberty is not found in the absence of government, but rather in the proper exercise of government’s authority.”
NEW YORK
Born: 17 December 1734 in New York. Died: 4 August 1821, age 86.
Occupation: Land Speculator. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 41. Family: married twice, five children.
Service: Continental Congress, Major General with the Suffolk County Militia; Presidential Elector for Washington/Clinton (1792), Jefferson/Burr (1800), and Jefferson/Clinton.
No known quotes exist. Interesting notes: he ran for New York Lieutenant Governor on the Democratic-Republican ticket; and the 1820 census shows his household includes six slaves and two free black residents.
Born: 21March 1713 in Wales. Died: 31 December 1802, age 89.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 63. Family: married once, seven children.
Service: Continental Congress, Chairman of the Continental Board of Admiralty
No known quotes exist. Interesting notes: His home was destroyed and his wife was taken captive after the Battle of Long Island. She was later released in a prisoner exchange for two wives of Philadelphia Loyalists.
Born: 15 January 1716 in New York. Died: 12 June 1778, age 62.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 63. Family: married once, nine children.
Service: Continental Congress, New York State Senate
No known quotes exist. Interesting notes: During the Battle of Long Island his home was used as a meeting place for General Washington and his officers. After the Battle, the British used it as a Royal Navy Hospital and another of his properties as a barracks.
Born: 8 April 1726 in New York. Died: 22 January 1798, age 71.
Occupation: Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 50. Family: married once, ten children; half-brother to Gouverneur Morris.
Service: Continental Congress, New York State Legislature, Presidential Elector for Adams/Pickney (1796)
When his brother warned him of the consequences of signing the Declaration of Independence, Lewis stated, “Damn the consequences. Give me the pen.”
NORTH CAROLINA
Born: 9 July 1730 in New Jersey. Died: 10 November 1779, age 49.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Quaker.
Signed: age 46. Family: never married; his only fiancé died a few days before the wedding.
Service: First and Second Continental Congress, the Naval Board and the Marine Committee as the first executive leader of the Navy.
“On Monday the great question of independence and total separation from all political intercourse with Great Britain will come on. It will be carried, I expect, by a great majority, and then I suppose we shall take upon us a new name.”
Born: 17 June 1742 in Massachusetts. Died: 14 October 1790, age 48.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 34. Family: married once, three children.
Service: First and Second Continental Congress, both his estates were burned by the British and he contracted malaria
This quote earned him the nickname Prophet of Independence: “The Colonies are striding fast to independence, and ere long will build an empire upon the ruins of Great Britain; will adopt its Constitution, purged of its impurities, and from an experience of its defects, will guard against those evils which have wasted its vigor.”
Born: 6 May 1740 in Virginia. Died: 14 September 1788, age 48.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 36. Family: married once, one child.
Service: Continental Congress
“My first wish is for America to be free.”
PENNSYLVANIA
Born: 16 March 1739 in Pennsylvania. Died: 23 January 1813, age 73.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 37. Family: married once, nine children.
Service: Continental Congress, member of the Slave Trade Compromise committee, first president of the Philadelphia Bank, first president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
“My dearest wish is for my country to become independent.” Interesting note: George was considered a minor slave holder. He did, however, fight for the abolition of the slave trade.
Born: 17 January 1706 in Massachusetts. Died: 6 January 1805, age 84.
Occupation: Scientist and Printer. Religion: raised Presbyterian.
Signed: age 70. Family: married once, three children.
Service: Continental Congress, Diplomat to France and Sweden, First Postmaster General, Sixth President of Pennsylvania, President of the University of Philadelphia, President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Born: 31 January 1734 in England. Died: 8 May 1806, age 72.
Occupation: Merchant and Land Speculator. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 42. Family: married once, seven children.
Service: Continental Congress, Superintendent of Finance of the United States – known as “Financier of the Revolution”.
“It is the duty of every individual to act his part in whatever station his country may call him to in hours of difficulty, danger, and distress.”
Born: 1724 in Pennsylvania. Died: 1 April 1777, age 53.
Occupation: Farmer. Religion: Lutheran and Episcopalian.
Signed: age 52. Family: married once, eight children.
Service: Continental Congress, Finnish descendant of the colony of New Sweden.
“It is the duty of every individual to act his part in whatever station his country may call him to in hours of difficulty, danger, and distress.”
Born: 10 May 1730 in Delaware. Died: 14 July 1779, age 49.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 46. Family: married once, three children; uncle-in-law of Betsy Ross.
Service: Continental Congress, Colonel in the Continental Army.
There are no quotes from George. He died young of ill health. He fought in the battles of Long Island, Trenton, Germantown, Brandywine and others.
Born: 4 January 1749 in Pennsylvania. Died: 19 April 1813, age 67.
Occupation: Physician. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 30. Family: married once, thirteen children.
Service: Continental Congress, Surgeon-General in the Continental Army, Treasurer of the United States Mint, elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, among many other achievements and humanitarian causes.
“The American war is over; but this far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government…”
Born: 17 September 1719 in Northern Ireland. Died: 11 July 1806, age 87.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 57. Family: married once, five children.
Service: Continental Congress; Captain and Colonel with the Pennsylvania Militia, later being named Brigadier-General.
All his papers and correspondence with other Founding Fathers was lost in an 1805 fire in his law office. He has been described as “perhaps the most eccentric in character of the illustrious men that had the happiness to affix their names to the Declaration of Independence.”
Born: 1719 in Northern Ireland. Died: 23 February 1781, age 65.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 60. Family: married twice, seven children.
Service: Continental Congress, Justice of the Peace, elected to the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly.
No quotes have been found. Interesting Notes: He arrived in the colonies as an indentured servant to an iron works. He later had his own ironworks which supplied cannon shot for both the British (in the French and Indian War) and later for the Continental Army and Navy. He also owned two men as slaves.
Born: 14 September in Scotland. Died: 21 August 1798, age 55.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Presbyterian.
Signed: age 60. Family: married twice, seven children.
Service: Continental Congress, appointed Associate Chief Justice by President Washington.
“Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness.”
RHODE ISLAND
Born: 22 December 1727 in Rhode Island. Died: 15 February 1820, age 92.
Occupation: Lawyer and Merchant. Religion: Congregationalist.
Signed: age 48. Family: married twice, sixteen children.
Service: Sons of Liberty, Continental Congress, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, an active abolitionist.
“The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.” And, “Slavery is the moral disease of civilization.”
Born: 7 March 1707 in Rhode Island. Died: 13 July 1785, age 78.
Occupation: Merchant. Religion: Quaker.
Signed: age 69. Family: married twice, seven children; cousin to Benedict Arnold.
Service: Continental Congress, Governor of Rhode Island, Chief Justice Rhode Island Supreme Court, Rhode Island General Assembly (introduced a bill which became the first anti-slave trade laws in the United States).
“Liberty is the greatest blessing that men enjoy, and slavery the heaviest curse that human nature is capable of …” He held five slaves. Four were eventually freed. One, a woman with young children, whom he refused to free, stating that “she had children that needed the immediate care of a Mother.” This caused him the loss of membership in his Quaker community.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Born: 28 July 1749 in South Carolina. Died: 16 March 1809, age 62.
Occupation: Lawyer and Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 30. Family: married twice, eight children.
Service: Continental Congress, South Carolina Militia Officer, taken captive at the Battle of Charleston (transferred to a prison ship, later relocated to Florida where he was held for eleven months.
“Liberty only survives when it is defended.” And, “I have not been able to reconcile myself to the idea of being subject to a government that treats us as inferiors.” Note: He held several hundred slaves.
Born: 5 August 1749 in South Carolina. Died: 17 December 1779, age 30.
Occupation: Lawyer and Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 26. Family: married once, no children.
Service: Continental Congress (succeeded his father who was too ill to attend).
The family owned a large number of slaves. Two years after he signed the Declaration, he stated that South Carolina would secede from the United States “if it is debated, whether their slaves are their property, there is an end of the Confederation.”
Born: 26 June 1742 in South Carolina. Died: 1 January 1787, age 44.
Occupation: Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 34. Family: married once, nine children.
Service: Continental Congress, officer in the South Carolina Militia (captured by the British at the Battle of Charleston and was held several months in Florida).
No quotes found relating to the principles of liberty. He held hundreds of slaves on his several plantations.
Born: 23 November 1749 in South Carolina. Died: 23 January 1800, age 50.
Occupation: Lawyer and Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 26. Family: married twice, three children.
Service: Continental Congress (youngest signer)
“A nation of sovereign states, Mr. Adams. United for our mutual protection, but … separate for our individual pursuits. Now, that is what we have understood it to be. And that is what we will support.” Edward actively sought to have men of African ancestry removed from the Continental Army.
VIRGINIA
Born: 10 September 1736 in Virginia. Died: 10 October 1797, age 61.
Occupation: Merchant and Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 39. Family: married twice, eighteen children.
Service: Continental Congress
“Almost all the civil liberty now enjoyed in the world owes its origin to the principles of the Christian religion.”
Born: 7 April 1726 in Virginia. Died: 24 April 1791, age 65.
Occupation: Farmer and Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 50. Family: married once, seven children; father of President William Henry Harrison and great grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison.
Service: Continental Congress, fifth Governor of Virginia, supported the right of Quakers not to bear arms in military conflicts.
“Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression” And, “It is much to be wished that slavery may be abolished. The honour of the States, as well as justice, requires it”. Benjamin’s family held many slaves, to their credit they had a policy of not breaking up families.
Born: 13 April 1743 in Virginia. Died: 4 July 1826, age 83.
Occupation: Lawyer, Scientist, and Plantation Owner. Religion: non-sectarian Christian.
Signed: age 33. Family: married once, six children
Service: Continental Congress, Minister to France, Secretary of State (under Washington), Vice-President to John Adams, Third President of the United States, Founder of the University of Virginia
“The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.” And, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” And, “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable … I wish it always to be kept alive.” Though he kept slaves, Thomas believed that the institution of slavery was harmful to both master and slave. He advocated for retraining of slaves and a gradual emancipation.
Born: 14 October 1734 in Virginia. Died: 11 January 1797, age 62.
Occupation: Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 41. Family: married once, no children; brother to Richard Henry Lee.
Service: Continental Congress
In 1877, Mark Twain wrote an essay about Francis. In it he said ” “This man’s life-work was so inconspicuous that his name would now be wholly forgotten, but for one thing — he signed the Declaration of Independence. He dealt in no shams … His course was purity itself, and he retired unblemished when his work was done. He retired gladly … He did no brilliant things, he made no brilliant speeches; but the enduring strength of his patriotism was manifest. Since then we have Progressed one hundred years. Let us gravely try to conceive how isolated, how companionless, how lonesome, such a public servant as this would be in Washington today.”
Born: 20 January 1732 in Virginia. Died: 19 June 1794, age 62.
Occupation: Merchant and Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 44. Family: married twice, thirteen children; brother to Francis Lightfoot Lee.
Service: Continental Congress, sixth President of Congress, United States Senator
“The first maxim of a man who loves liberty, should be never to grant to rulers an atom of power that is not most clearly and indispensably necessary for the safety and well being of society.”
Born: 26 December 1738 in Virginia. Died: 4 January 1789, age 50.
Occupation: Merchant and Plantation Owner. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 37. Family: married once, thirteen children.
Service: Continental Congress, Brigadier-General in the Continental Army (Siege of Yorktown), Governor of Virginia.
“Our delegates in Congress be enjoined in the strongest and most positive manner to exert their ability in procuring an immediate, clear, and full statement of independence.”
Born: 1726 in Virginia. Died: 8 June 1806, age 80; likely of arsenic poisoning.
Occupation: Lawyer. Religion: Episcopalian.
Signed: age 50. Family: married twice, one child.
Service: Continental Congress, first law professor in America, abolitionist
“Freedom is the birthright of every human being.” George began freeing his slaves, but some opted to stay as paid workers. When he died, he owned no slaves.
Travel the Founders Road to Independence
Participate in the Declaration Challenge
Declare Your Independence from the Two-Party System