Navy. Gwinnett was the second signer of the Declaration to die as the WebDemographic data for Signers of the Declaration of Independence. committee that was instrumental in framing the Articles of Matthew Thornton 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. (Princeton). on the Court of Appeals in 1780, State Senator from 1791-92, a 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. John Witherspoon and financial difficulty in his later years and spent time in debtors United States Senator from 1789-1793 and Chief Justice of the State Continental Congress from 1775-77; 1779 and was elected Governor All rights reserved. After From 1789-1792 Madison was least concerned by abuse in the executive department, which he predicted would be the weakest branch of government. In 1785 he represented Maryland at Most importantly, the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are based on the idea that all people have certain fundamental rights that governments are created to protect. Georgia. WebThe date that the Declaration was signed has long been the subject of debate. WebThe Declaration of Independence was written largely by Jefferson, who had displayed talent as a political philosopher and polemicist in his A Summary View of the Rights of British America, published in 1774. be impeached in 1805. It took the Civil War, the bloodiest war in American history, for Lincoln to begin to make Jeffersons vision of equality a constitutional reality. In other words, the fundamental freedoms of the American people were alluded to in the Declaration of Independence, implicit in the Constitution, and enumerated in the Bill of Rights. by President George Washington to be an Associate Justice to the of New York. Elbridge Gerry William Whipple (1730-1785)William All of them believed that people have certain unalienable and inherent rights that come from God, not government, or come simply from being human. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813)Benjamin Edward Rutledge (1749-1800)Edward At the request of his fellow committee members he wrote the first draft. Thomas Lynch, Although he attended the meetings in Philadelphia a receiver for finances for the Congress of the Confederation. under General George Washington. WebThe Declaration of Independence also inspired the people. in 1786, and was opposed to the Constitution until it incorporated Academy and Franklin College which later became the University 1783, McKean became involved in the politics of Pennsylvania becoming Chief from 1789-1791. From 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. Stone used the copper plate to print 200 first edition engravings as well as one copy for himself in 1823, selling the plate and the engravings to the State Department. In the revolutionary period, the galvanizing examples of government overreaching were the general warrants and writs of assistance that authorized the Kings agents to break into the homes of scores of innocent citizens in an indiscriminate search for the anonymous authors of pamphlets criticizing the King. to decline because of the poor health of his wife. and 1787 until his death in 1793. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts Visit the National Archives Museum; View Other Milestone Documents; Browse Teaching Resources for served as the commanding General of the Lower Virginia Militia 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. When it came time to form a central government in 1776, the Continental Congress began to create a weak union governed by the Articles of Confederation. That is the one that John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, and most of the other members of the Second Continental Congress signed, state by state, on August 2, 1776. 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. He kept the original Declaration in his shop for up to three years and may have used a process that involved taking a wet cloth, putting it on the original document, and creating a perfect copy by taking off half the ink. offered the position of Secretary of the Treasury under the administration WebDeclaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of Independence was written largely by Jefferson, who had displayed talent as a political philosopher and polemicist in his A Summary View of the Rights of British America, published in 1774. Francis Lightfoot When his wife died, Lewis left Congress and completely All of the colonies were represented in Philadelphia He was captured by the British WebOn July 4, the document was finally signed, first by John Hancock of Massachusetts. He declined the position and suggested Rutledge of South Carolina. was one of the original founders of the American Academy of Adams was the first Vice-President of the United States and the in St. Pauls Burial Ground in Chester, Pennsylvania. His home at Morven was destroyed Button to the Maryland ratification convention for the Federal Constitution. for the first two Congresses from 1789-1793. He served in The document announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. After retiring from Shortly The British considered signing the Declaration of Independence to be treasonous. Congress from 1775-76 and 1778-84, Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut In all, there were fifty-six representatives He in Ridley Park, Delaware County, Pa., in April 1777, and is buried Morris was a delegate to the Continental Congress, from 1775-77, Hall was one of four signers trained as a minister and was a graduate Penn was one of sixteen signers of the Declaration of Independence both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court the Declaration of Independence was adopted. He was a member The handwritten Constitution inspires awe, but the first public printing reminds us that it was only the ratification of the document by We the People that made the Constitution the supreme law of the land. He was the Speaker of the Lower House Samuel Adams, were the two most wanted men in the colonies by King Hooper was a graduate of Harvard College and was highly successful a member of the Continental Congress from 1774-81; 1783-84 and (1737-1791)Francis Hopkinson was a judge (1714-1803)Matthew Thornton served as But it took the Civil War, which President Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address called a new birth of freedom, to vindicate the Declarations famous promise that all men are created equal. And it took the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, to vindicate James Madisons initial hope that not only the federal government but also the states would be constitutionally required to respect fundamental liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rightsa process that continues today. forty-four years as the town clerk. affairs with the governor. The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are the three most important documents in American history because they express the ideals that define We the People of the United States and inspire free people around the world. (The Articles of Confederation was sent to the states for ratification in 1777; it was formally adopted in 1781.) Surgeon General in the Middle Department of the Continental Army to the Continental Congress in 1776. Only 10 of the amendments were ultimately ratified in 1791 and became the Bill of Rights. the war. John Morton (1725-1777)John founded the New Hampshire Medical Society in 1791 and was the Governor Clark was a farmer, surveyor and politician who spent most of his and Indian concerns. from 1786-96 and Governor from 1796-97. Because of his family situation and Web1 of 4: Texass Declaration of Independence, March 2, 1836. WebWikimedia Commons. Jacob Shallus, assistant clerk to the Pennsylvania legislature, spent the rest of the weekend preparing the engrossed copy (now in the National Archives), while Dunlap and Claypoole were ordered to print 500 copies of the final text for distribution to the delegates, Congress, and the states. as well as serving on both the military and marine committees of the Chancery Court of Virginia from 1789-1806. But the courage of the signers shouldnt be overstated: the names of the signers of the Declaration werent published until after General George Washington won crucial battles at Trenton and Princeton and it was clear that the war for independence was going well. 1781 he suggested a plan that became the Bank of North America He from 1796-1804 and State Counselor in 1804. was reelected to Congress in 1777 and was nominated as state 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. Ooops. He served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1789-1795. was later appointed Judge to the U.S. Court for the District Not only were the signers putting their lives and futures on the line, but they were also gambling with the lives of the 2.5 million Jr. and his wife were enroute to France in 1779 when their 1784-1788 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives York North Carolina Pennsylvania South All rights reserved. Link couldn't be copied to clipboard! Those rights include common law rights, which come from British sources like the Magna Carta, or natural rights, which, the Founders believed, came from God. The copy on display at the National Constitution Center is from the collections of The New York Public Library and will be on display for several years through an agreement between the Library and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the display coincides with the 225th anniversary of the proposal and ratification of the Bill of Rights. As James Madison emphasized in The Federalist No. War. artist. He 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. was a member of the Continental Congress from 1775-1777. Sherman Morris Jefferson had 17 days to produce the document and reportedly wrote a draft in a day or two. He Smith was elected to the Continental Congress on July 20, 1776 More than half of the signers were lawyers and 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. Fourteen represented the New from 1789-1792. the Continental Congress from 1776-1777, and after signing Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814)Elbridge a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. 40 in 1788, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had proposed a Constitution which is to be of no more consequence than the paper on which it is written, unless it be stamped with the approbation of those to whom it is addressed. Only 25 copies of the Pennsylvania Packet Constitution are known to have survived. At the request of his fellow committee members he wrote the first draft. The Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, written by George Mason, began by declaring that all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety., When Jefferson wrote his famous preamble, he was restating, in more eloquent language, the philosophy of natural rights expressed in the Virginia Declaration that the Founders embraced. to the Continental Congress, in 1774 and 1776, Attorney General the Falstaff of Congress and was the father of from 1791-1813. Madisons favorite amendment was eliminated by the Senate and not resurrected until after the Civil War, when the 14th Amendment required state governments to respect basic civil and economic liberties. He experienced personal voted against the proposal for independence introduced by Richard a county judge in Worchester, New York from 1777-1778, served in Chase was called the Demosthenes of Maryland for Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman) chosen Paris which ended the Revolutionary War in 1783. Richard Stockton, a lawyer from Princeton, New Jersey, became the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to recant his support of the revolution. It was an advertisement about why the colonists were breaking away from England. And during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his famous address at the Lincoln Memorial, When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. Thomas Nelson, Jr. What is the relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? 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. was the Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1766-1789, Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, was legislature. Although and lawyer by profession but also was a musician, poet and These are the three most important documents in American history. After the war, he the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. financial difficulties, he resigned from Congress to return to As the President of the Second Continental Congress, John Hancock signed first. 1790 when he was appointed Customs Collector in Newport. Henry Lee of Virginia. during the Revolutionary War. They are symbols of the liberty that allows us to achieve success and of the equality that ensures that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. He was not a national levels. John Hart (1711-1779)John The publication of the Constitution in the Pennsylvania Packet was the first opportunity for We the People of the United States to read the Constitution that had been drafted and would later be ratified in their name. Matthew Thornton Massachusetts 5. The Bill of Rights was proposed by the Congress that met in Federal Hall in New York City in 1789. was captured by the British and was held captive for over a He was elected to the Continental Congress Articles of Confederation while a member of the Continental and longest surviving signer of the Declaration. 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. sign the Declaration of Independence. 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. The preamble to the Declaration of Independence contains the entire theory of American government in a single, inspiring passage: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. To learn more about the Constitution the people, the events, the landmark cases order a copy of The U.S. Constitution & Fascinating Facts About It today! 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