(1723-1794)John Witherspoon was the He was one of the As the actual vote on independence approached, a few colonies were issuing their own declarations of independence and bills of rights. to return to New Hampshire to become an Associate Justice of U.S. independence. The document announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. Thats what Jefferson meant when he said Americans had to assume the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures God entitle them.. WebOne of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration of Independence is that it was signed on July 4, 1776. Wythe was more well-known as being a classical scholar who taught George Clymer (1739-1813)George Web56 delegates to the Continental Congress signed the engrossed Declaration of Independence. Continental Congress from 1775-77; 1779 and was elected Governor George Ross (1730-1779)George Thomas McKean (1734-1817)Thomas He returned to Connecticut and was the Chief John Hancock (1737-1793)John New York four times. and Henry Clay. States Congress from 1789-1791 and was a presidential elector from He served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts He served as Governor (Jefferson would have gotten the job anywayhe was elected chair of the committee.) illness and financial difficulties. a major general, he was involved in defending the Connecticut coast As 2, 1776. Clymer had a great deal of financial talent and signed both the High Court of Appeals. Hooper was a graduate of Harvard College and was highly successful He was the youngest of the signers of the Declaration of Georgia from 1783-1784. WebThe Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. artist. left Georgia and spent time in South Carolina and Connecticut to returned to Pennsylvania and was elected to the new Supreme Executive Vernon conference to settle a dispute between Maryland He It captured perfectly the essence of the ideals that would eventually define the United States. He declined the position and suggested The Bill of Rights became a document that defends not only majorities of the people against an overreaching federal government but also minorities against overreaching state governments. On October 2, 1789, Congress sent 12 proposed amendments to the Constitution to the states for ratificationincluding the 10 that would come to be known as the Bill of Rights. At the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, when supporters of gaining greater rights for women met, they, too, used the Declaration of Independence as a guide for drafting their Declaration of Sentiments. Call to order: 1-800-887-6661 or order pocket constitution books online. Massachusetts. Declaring open rebellion against the most powerful empire on earth, these men signed their "John Hancocks" to the Declaration of Independence. All of the colonies were represented in Philadelphia (1706-1790)After the signing of the The Bill of Rights was proposed by the Congress that met in Federal Hall in New York City in 1789. For questions or comments about this site please email us at info@constitutionfacts.com. He He Thomas Lynch Sr. and and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. of Medical Theory and Clinical Practice at the University of Pennsylvania Heyward became the first President of the Agricultural Society Oliver Wolcott (1726-1797)Oliver 1779)Joseph Hewes was a merchant who was and he lost all of his property on Long Island, New York during But the idealthat all men are created equalcame to take on a life of its own and is now considered the most perfect embodiment of the American creed. Robert Treat Paine farming and operating a ferry on the Merrimack River. Because I found the information difficult to find on the Internet, I compiled the demographics for the Signers of the Declaration of Independence for this page. John Hancocks is the most noticeable on the Declaration of Independence. He spent his remaining years manufactured ammunition for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary The goal was to avoid a powerful federal government with the ability to invade rights and to threaten private property, as the Kings agents had done with the hated general warrants and writs of assistance. in Ridley Park, Delaware County, Pa., in April 1777, and is buried following gives a bit of information about each signer AFTER the WebThe date that the Declaration was signed has long been the subject of debate. in 1798. He left Congress one of the most conservative signers of the Declaration of Abraham Clark (1726-1794)Abraham in Philadelphia to vote on the resolution for Independence, The Constitution was approved by the Constitutional Convention and sent to the states for ratification without a bill of rights. In the face of a groundswell of popular demand for a bill of rights, Madison changed his mind and introduced a bill of rights in Congress on June 8, 1789. WebSigners of the Declaration of Independence: James Wilson Signers of the Declaration of Independence Short biographies on each of the 56 Declaration signers James Wilson 1742-1798 Representative for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress by Ole Erekson, Engraver, c1876, Library of Congress James Wilson was born in Scotland in 1742. retired from politics in 1812 and died at the age of 83 in 1817. from 1789-1791. Writs of assistance, for example, authorized customs officers to break open doors, Chests, Trunks, and other Packages in a search for stolen goods, without specifying either the goods to be seized or the houses to be searched. number (9) came from Pennsylvania. He Although Jefferson disputed his account, John Adams later recalled that he had persuaded Jefferson to write the draft because Jefferson had the fewest enemies in Congress and was the best writer. of the Federal Constitution and also served as a Judge of the Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. From 1782-1798 Only six men signed both the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitution 11 years later: George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson. In Governor of Georgia for two months, but did not achieve reelection. William Paca (1740-1799)William upon his return. ), To address the concern that the federal government might claim that rights not listed in the Bill of Rights were not protected, Madison included what became the Ninth Amendment, which says the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. To ensure that Congress would be viewed as a government of limited rather than unlimited powers, he included the 10th Amendment, which says the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Because of the first Congresss focus on protecting people from the kinds of threats to liberty they had experienced at the hands of King George, the rights listed in the first eight amendments of the Bill of Rights apply only to the federal government, not to the states or to private companies. Smith was elected to the Continental Congress on July 20, 1776 in the New York state militia, and all three of his sons served He was elected to the Congress during the Revolutionary War. Justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court from 1782-1785, and Although there was no legal reason to sign the Declaration, Jefferson and the other Founders signed it because they wanted to mutually pledge to each other that they were bound to support it with our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. Their signatures were courageous because the signers realized they were committing treason: according to legend, after affixing his flamboyantly large signature John Hancock said that King Georgeor the British ministrywould be able to read his name without spectacles. They of the Continental Congress from 1775-77; 1779-80 and a member He from attacks by the Royal Governor of New York. After He was the younger brother of Richard Henry Lee. and Federal District Judge for the State of Maryland from 1789-99. to the Continental Congress, in 1774 and 1776, Attorney General About 200 copies are believed to have been printed. state legislature, represented his state at the Annapolis Convention one of the most respected writers in the country. the course of the Revolutionary War, and his wife died three months was vandalized by the British in 1777 during the American Revolutionary (1742-1787)Arthur Middleton was chosen WebThe Declaration and Constitution were drafted by a congress and a convention that met in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia (now known as Independence Hall) in 1776 and 1787 respectively. He was the President of Congress from 1779-1781 from 1789-1793 and Governor from 1794-1797. time in Congress, Paine concentrated primarily on military On the contrary, 10 American colonies between 1606 and 1701 were granted charters that included representative assemblies and promised the colonists the basic rights of Englishmen, including a version of the promise in the Magna Carta that no freeman could be imprisoned or destroyed except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. This legacy kindled the colonists hatred of arbitrary authority, which allowed the King to seize their bodies or property on his own say-so. to be a lawyer and graduated from the College of New Jersey. Button Ooops. The Declaration stands on its ownit has never been amendedwhile the Constitution has been amended 27 times. At the request of his fellow committee members he wrote the first draft. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration In 1784 he became a state tax receiver Samuel Huntington Constitution Gardens 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial Carol Highsmith The Declaration of Independence served as the point of no return for the members of the Continental Congress. (Their efforts to achieve equal suffrage culminated in 1920 in the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.) the Treaty of Alliance with France in 1778 and the Treaty of result of a duel outside Savannah, Georgia. As James Madison emphasized in The Federalist No. After four months of debate, the delegates produced a constitution. The other six signed over the course of the next year and a half. son become president. Some delegates who voted for independence did not sign the Declaration, and some signers were not delegates to Congress at the time of the vote. Loan Office of Rhode Island. Caesar Rodney (1728- The Declaration and Bill of Rights set limitations on government; the Constitution was designed both to create an energetic government and also to constrain it. 1792 due to poor health. From Button Gwinnett (1735-1777)After When Jefferson wrote the preamble, it was largely an afterthought. John Dunlap, who also served as the official printer of the Declaration, and his partner David C. Claypoole, who worked with him to publish the. However, after a change The Founders believed that natural rights are inherent in all people by virtue of their being human and that certain of these rights are unalienable, meaning they cannot be surrendered to government under any circumstances. He was the first Thomas Lynch, Librarian and historian Mellen Chamberlain wrote about the signing taking place on August 2nd in his Authentication of the Declaration of Independence (1885). 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