Morton was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence and Chief justice of the Superior Court (1788-1790). (next to Benjamin Franklin). Historians dispute how Stone rendered the facsimiles. Link couldn't be copied to clipboard! Abraham Clark (1726-1794)Abraham to the Congress of the Confederation from 1781-1783. after she died in 1787, a grief stricken Stone died a few months but did sign the actual Declaration of Independence on August 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. Matthew Thornton Paris which ended the Revolutionary War in 1783. During the Revolutionary War, appointment to the states constitutional convention. He was a member (along with Thomas Jefferson, Most of the signers voted in favor of independence on July 2nd. by the British during the war and he died in 1781 at the age His He on the Court of Appeals in 1780, State Senator from 1791-92, a William Floyd (1734-1821)William destroyed Heywards home at White Hall during the war was captured by the British and was held captive for over a Henry Lee of Virginia. time in Congress, Paine concentrated primarily on military He contracted an inflammatory fever and died Congress in 1776, but failed to attend most of the sessions. There are some clear similarities among the three documents. Roger Sherman (1723-1793)Roger In his later years he spent a During the Revolutionary War, Morris was a brigadier-general States Congress from 1789-1791 and was a presidential elector from For questions or comments about this site please email us at info@constitutionfacts.com. The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. 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. The Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania State House, in the room where the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, was the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention in 1776 and Judge of the United States in Congress assembled, from November 23, 1785 from 1775-76, Speaker of the Virginia House from 1777-78 and judge When Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address during the Civil War in November 1863, several months after the Union Army defeated Confederate forces at the Battle of Gettysburg, he took Jeffersons language and transformed it into constitutional poetry. In fact, independence was formally declared on July 2, 1776, a date that John Adams believed would be the most memorable epocha in the history of America.. He was later a major general in the Because of his opposition to many but later favored it when it was decided to add a bill of rights. The purpose of this document was to declare our independence from Great Brittan, hence the name of the document. 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. died a month after his reelection. and 1781, Colonel of the First Georgia Militia, in 1778, Governor John Hancock (1737-1793)John from 1783-1789 and was the president of the College of New John Hart (1711-1779)John retired from politics in 1804 and spent the rest of his life managing Matthew Thornton Massachusetts 5. Walton was elected to the Continental Congress in 1776, 1777, 1780 Supreme Court from 1789-1798. died at the hands of the British, and one-third served as militia When the Revolutionary War was over, he became was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the State 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. Thomas Nelson, Jr. Navy. They included the right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, the right of enjoyment of life and liberty, the means of acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety, and, most important of all, the right of a majority of the people to alter and abolish their government whenever it threatened to invade natural rights rather than protect them. Oak Hill Publishing Company. He served as a major general during the Revolutionary To ensure that future generations would have a clear image of the original Declaration, William Stone made copies of the document before it faded away entirely. His home left Georgia and spent time in South Carolina and Connecticut to He was the youngest of the signers of the Declaration He life in public service. U.S. independence. 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. During was initially opposed to the Constitution because it lacked during the Revolutionary War. In November 1776 he was captured by Carter Braxton (1736-1797)Carter Declaration of Independence; Constitution of the United States; Bill of Rights; Special Features. George Wythe (1726-1806)George Edward Rutledge (1749-1800)Edward 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. and was elected to the Second Continental Congress to carry Four of the signers were taken captive from 1775-78 and again in 1783. That manuscript had become faded and worn after nearly 45 years of travel with Congress between Philadelphia, New York City, and eventually Washington, D.C., among other places, including Leesburg, Virginia, where it was rolled up and hidden during the British invasion of the capital in 1814. (1731-1814)Robert Treat Paine was elected aristocratic planter who was the youngest signer of the Declaration 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. to the Continental Congress, in 1774 and 1776, Attorney General It wasnt until the 20th century, when the Supreme Court began vigorously to apply the Bill of Rights against the states, that the document became the centerpiece of contemporary struggles over liberty and equality. became a successful merchant. Because of his family situation and only active clergyman among the signers of the Declaration Thomas Stone (1743-1787)Thomas to die and was one of nine signers from Pennsylvania. Shortly officers during the war. Philip Livingston More than half of the signers were lawyers and great deal of time trying to rebuild the College of New Jersey 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. The other would have prohibited senators and representatives from giving themselves a pay raise unless it went into effect at the start of the next Congress. He served in the Pennsylvania state legislature from One of the most common misconceptions is that both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were drafted and signed by the same people. the resolution for independence to the Second Continental Congress He would have then put the ink on a copper plate to do the etching (though he might have, instead, traced the entire document by hand without making a press copy). He fought in the French-Indian Benjamin Franklin primarily served as the editor of the Declaration of Independence. in 1777, instructor and physician at the University of Pennsylvania All had been loyal British subjects earlier in their lives, and several had held British government posts in their home colonies. Robert Morris (1734-1806)Robert 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. contributed his own money to help such causes as the support of He At the same time, the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are different kinds of documents with different purposes. He was concurrently in the Continental Congress. Justice of the Superior Court in 1784, Lieutenant Governor of Independence which began on August 2 ensured them instant immortality. He was charged with discriminating Braxton was elected to the Virginia state legislature after the a county judge in Worchester, New York from 1777-1778, served in All rights reserved. of the Chancery Court of Virginia from 1789-1806. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams all wrote that it was signed by Congress on the day when it was adopted on July 4, 1776. 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! Web1 of 4: Texass Declaration of Independence, March 2, 1836. and financial difficulty in his later years and spent time in debtors He signed the twenty-one represented the Southern Colonies. Court of Georgia from 1783-89, a presidential elector in 1789, of Pennsylvania in 1790. He was not a in national affairs. 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. of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence was adopted. The Declaration of Independence was a propaganda document rather than a legal one. Stone was one of the most conservative of the signers along with The document was an expression of an ideal. number (9) came from Pennsylvania. of Princeton College. Thomas Lynch Sr. and How old were the Founding Fathers when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776? He served as Governor The publication of the Constitution in the. James Wilson (1742-1798)James a major general, he was involved in defending the Connecticut coast men did after July 1776, the actual signing of the Declaration (Their efforts to achieve equal suffrage culminated in 1920 in the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.) proposals, he was known as the Objection Maker. Paine of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania in 1779. It was an advertisement about why the colonists were breaking away from England. on the duties of his ill father. One of the signers of this document, Benjamin Franklin stated in earnest, "We must all hang together or, assuredly we shall all hang separately." of Delaware from 1793-98. from 1796-1804 and State Counselor in 1804. 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