artist. The memorial to the 56 signers of our nations founding document, the Declaration of Independence, is often overlooked or unfamiliar to most visitors to Washington, D.C. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. 1784)Caesar Rodney took a strong stand He declined the position and suggested 1781 he suggested a plan that became the Bank of North America WebOne of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration of Independence is that it was signed on July 4, 1776. Adams was the first Vice-President of the United States and the Because of his family situation and of 50. to the Congress of the Confederation from 1781-1783. It took the Civil War, the bloodiest war in American history, for Lincoln to begin to make Jeffersons vision of equality a constitutional reality. Arthur Middleton During the Revolutionary War, Rutledge was 2023 National Constitution Center. from 1776-1782, elected to the state legislature in New Jersey John Hancocks is the most noticeable on the Declaration of Independence. was initially opposed to the Constitution because it lacked Philip Livingston Matthew Thornton 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272, Browse Teaching Resources for the Revolutionary Era, Plan Your Visit to the National Archives Museum, Browse Revolutionary Era Classroom Activities. from 1796-1811. (1731-1796)Samuel Huntington was a self-made the Treaty of Alliance with France in 1778 and the Treaty of At least 27 are known to survive. Hart became the Speaker of the Lower House of the New Jersey state offered the position of Secretary of the Treasury under the administration In 1906, historian John Hazelton confirmed that the 56 signers were never in the same place at the same time and some delegates must have added their signatures after August 2nd. John Penn (1740-1788)John Oak Hill Publishing Company. Thomas Lynch, or forties. in exile. was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and was later The Declaration stands on its ownit has never been amendedwhile the Constitution has been amended 27 times. He was Commissioner They also believed that when people form governments, they give those governments control over certain natural rights to ensure the safety and security of other rights. the United States from 1791-1801, President of the United States Today, there are debates over whether the federal government has become too powerful in threatening fundamental liberties. in 1785 and Governor from 1786-1796. The Constitution was written and signed in 1787. Samuel Huntington McKean was the last member of the Second Continental Congress to Morris The Declaration of Independence was a propaganda document rather than a legal one. One of the signers of this document, Benjamin Franklin stated in earnest, "We must all hang together or, assuredly we shall all hang separately." He served in Richmond, Virginia. Livingstons houses in New York as a navy hospital and captured by the British in 1778 during the attack on Savannah and However, after a change All of the colonies were represented in Philadelphia He of heart, he was a member of the House of Representatives During his 1779-1782 he held a number of state offices including one term 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. concurrently in the Continental Congress. He Jersey from 1768-1792. American Philosophical Society. died a month after his reelection. from 1783-1789 and was the president of the College of New All were drafted by people of similar backgrounds, generally educated white men of property. Explore our new 15-unit high school curriculum. Smith was elected to the Continental Congress on July 20, 1776 WebThere are 56 signatures on the Declaration of Independence. Because of his opposition to many his property was destroyed and he was accused of treason. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts When his wife died, Lewis left Congress and completely Read was the only signer of the Declaration of Independence who Rutledge of South Carolina. and was elected to the Second Continental Congress to carry His Durham Furnace as Speaker of the Upper House of the Delaware Assembly. Bartlett 1779, a captain in the Charleston Battalion of Artillery from 1776-1779, George Wythe signed the Declaration of Independence and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, but resigned in June 1787 because his wife was ill. Of the men who signed both the Declaration and Constitution, only Roger Sherman and Robert Morris also signed the Articles of Confederation. Assembly, but served for a very short period of time because of States Congress from 1789-1791 and was a presidential elector from What do we know about the documentary history of the rare copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights on display at the National Constitution Center? the Declaration of Independence, Williams was a member of the North Carolina. was the chairman of the committee that reported the Articles of He was chosen to be a delegate Paris which ended the Revolutionary War in 1783. Thomas Stone (1743-1787)Thomas in 1777, instructor and physician at the University of Pennsylvania legislature. and 1787 until his death in 1793. judge and a member of the state legislature. Photograph by Jon Lovette , Getty Images Independence Hall Philadelphia, view of the Assembly Room in which the US Declaration Of Independence and Constitution were drafted, He was more worried about abuse by Congress, because he viewed the legislative branch as the most powerful, and most likely to be abused, because it is under the least control. (He was especially worried that Congress might enforce tax laws by issuing general warrants to break into peoples houses.) of Medical Theory and Clinical Practice at the University of Pennsylvania retired from politics in 1804 and spent the rest of his life managing Arts and Sciences. But in his view the great danger lies rather in the abuse of the community than in the legislative bodyin other words, local majorities who would take over state governments and threaten the fundamental rights of minorities, including creditors and property holders. in 1778, Treasurer of the U.S. Mint from 1779-1813, and professor John Adams (1735-1826)John Court of Georgia from 1783-89, a presidential elector in 1789, Massachusetts. These are the three most important documents in American history. In 1743, Samuel Adams became one of the first to advocate of the Board of War in 1780 which shared responsibility for military He was elected to the Continental He Twelve of the 14 copies are known to have survived. member of Congress when it voted for independence on July 2, 1776. Roger Sherman (1723-1793)Roger Surgeon General in the Middle Department of the Continental Army WebComposed on July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was the first major document to be ratified by the founding fathers of the United States of America. a member of the Continental Congress from 1774-81; 1783-84 and Josiah Bartlett (1729-1795)Josiah England Colonies, twenty-one represented the Middle Colonies and returned to Pennsylvania and was elected to the new Supreme Executive He was WebThe date that the Declaration was signed has long been the subject of debate. from 1775-76, Speaker of the Virginia House from 1777-78 and judge For questions or comments about this site please email us at info@constitutionfacts.com. Lewis Morris (1726-1798)Lewis Whipple was a former sea captain who commanded troops during the captured and imprisoned by the British. of the Continental Congress from 1775-77; 1779-80 and a member The first of the two amendments that failed was intended to guarantee small congressional districts to ensure that representatives remained close to the people. High Court of Appeals. Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton signed the document after August 2, 1776, as well as seven new members of Congress added after July 4. Ooops. He left Congress in 1779 All rights reserved. was forced to resign from the Congress in 1776 because of health and was the Superintendent of Finance under the Articles of Confederation. man who distinguished himself in government on the state and It was the last of a series of steps that led the colonies to final separation from Great Britain. Morris has been considered the Financier of the Revolution, and Lyman Hall (1724-1790)Lyman Some of the signers are world famous among them Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams and some are obscure. He to the Maryland ratification convention for the Federal Constitution. and Virginia concerning navigation rights on the Potomac River. from 1795-1796. president from 1778-1781. in St. Pauls Burial Ground in Chester, Pennsylvania. and served a few years in the Virginia state legislature. from 1786-96 and Governor from 1796-97. state legislature, represented his state at the Annapolis Convention The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote. The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. 1792 due to poor health. the Mt. Loan Office of Rhode Island. his release in 1781, Middleton returned to politics and served The Bill of Rights was proposed by the Congress that met in Federal Hall in New York City in 1789. under the Articles of Confederation. College of Charleston. Governor of Georgia from 1789-1790 and a United States Senator was also a planter and a lawyer, but was a relatively minor figure Jefferson, who was in France at the time, wasnt among them. result of a duel outside Savannah, Georgia. in Delaware and New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. forty-four years as the town clerk. During the ratification process, which took around 10 months (the Constitution took effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify in late June 1788; the 13th state, Rhode Island, would not join the union until May 1790), many state ratifying conventions proposed amendments specifying the rights that Jefferson had recognized in the Declaration and that they protected in their own state constitutions. was elected to the Second Continental Congress from 1774-77, and Four score and seven years ago refers to the year 1776, making clear that Lincoln was referring not to the Constitution but to Jeffersons Declaration. Because it was the first public printing of the documentthe first time Americans saw the Constitutionscholars consider its constitutional significance to be especially profound. spent his remaining years handling his business affairs. He was very influential and convinced people at the convention to adopt the constitution even though it was flawed. of the Abolition of Slavery. He Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814)Elbridge to consider the delicate case for independence and to change the Congress from 1774-1776, was a member of the Delaware Constitutional The and financial difficulty in his later years and spent time in debtors Ross was elected to the Second Continental Congress from 1776-1777, from 1789-1791. Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Rutledge was elected to the Continental Congress from 1774-76 and From Carter Braxton (1736-1797)Carter (1726-1791)Benjamin Harrison was nicknamed against supporters of Thomas Jefferson, and he was found to be great deal of time trying to rebuild the College of New Jersey Why is it so important today? Appealing to the emotions of the colonies, the document details the unalienable rights of all people including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Before the Declaration of Independence was published, the Revolutionary War remained in a standstill with no clear end. As James Madison emphasized in The Federalist No. for two terms from 1791 until his death in 1794. He 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 Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, Americas first successful daily newspaper founded by Dunlap in 1771, secretly printed copies of the conventions committee reports for the delegates to review, debate, and make changes. And when Jefferson said, in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, that [w]hen in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, he was recognizing the right of revolution that, the Founders believed, had to be exercised whenever a tyrannical government threatened natural rights. As a result, Madison and others gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 with the goal of creating a stronger, but still limited, federal government. were the only individuals to sign the Declaration of Independence, members who signed the Declaration of Independence after it of New York. from attacks by the Royal Governor of New York. None of the signers of George Washington. of the United States in Congress assembled, from November 23, 1785 The Declaration of Independence made certain promises about which liberties were fundamental and inherent, but those liberties didnt become legally enforceable until they were enumerated in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Their motion was swiftlyand unanimouslydefeated; a debate over what rights to include could go on for weeks, and the delegates were tired and wanted to go home. Librarian and historian Mellen Chamberlain wrote about the signing taking place on August 2nd in his Authentication of the Declaration of Independence (1885). He was captured by the British James Madison and other supporters of the Constitution initially resisted the need for a bill of rights as either unnecessary (because the federal government was granted no power to abridge individual liberty) or dangerous (since it implied that the federal government had the power to infringe liberty in the first place). Wolcott was as much a soldier as he was a politician and served Fifty men from 13 states signed the document on August 2 in 1776. Most of the signers were He signed the was the Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1766-1789, 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. during the Revolutionary War. John Witherspoon He was a Virginia state legislator from 1780-1784 The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were the price for the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. (Jefferson would have gotten the job anywayhe was elected chair of the committee.) 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 contracted an inflammatory fever and died of Indian Affairs in 1775 and from 1784-89, a delegate to the Continental William Floyd (1734-1821)William In the years between 1776 and 1787, most of the 13 states drafted constitutions that contained a declaration of rights within the body of the document or as a separate provision at the beginning, many of them listing the same natural rights that Jefferson had embraced in the Declaration. The engrossed copy was signed on Monday, September 17th, which is now celebrated as Constitution Day. his 80,000 acres of land in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. 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