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- Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
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LIVES OF SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Benson John Lossing
LACONIA PUBLISHERS
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Copyright © 2016 by Benson John Lossing
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIVES
PREFACE.
INTRODUCTION
JOSIAH BARTLETT
WILLIAM WHIPPLE
MATTHEW THORNTON
JOHN HANCOCK
JOHN ADAMS
SAMUEL ADAMS
ROBERT TREAT PAINE
ELBRIDGE GERRY
STEPHEN HOPKINS
WILLIAM ELLERY
ROGER SHERMAN
SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
WILLIAM WILLIAMS
OLIVER WOLCOTT
WILLIAM FLOYD
PHILIP LIVINGSTON
FRANCIS LEWIS
LEWIS MORRIS
RICHARD STOCKTON
JOHN WITHERSPOON
FRANCIS HOPKINSON
JOHN HART
ABRAHAM CLARK
ROBERT MORRIS
BENJAMIN RUSH
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
JOHN MORTON
GEORGE CLYMER
JAMES SMITH
GEORGE TAYLOR
JAMES WILSON
GEORGE ROSS
CÆSAR RODNEY
GEORGE READ
THOMAS MCKEAN
SAMUEL CHASE
THOMAS STONE
WILLIAM PACA
CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON
GEORGE WYTHE
RICHARD HENRY LEE
THOMAS JEFFERSON
BENJAMIN HARRISON
THOMAS NELSON, JR.
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE
CARTER BRAXTON
WILLIAM HOOPER
JOSEPH HEWES
JOHN PENN
EDWARD RUTLEDGE
THOMAS HEYWARD, JR.
THOMAS LYNCH, JR.
ARTHUR MIDDLETON
BUTTON GWINNETT
LYMAN HALL
GEORGE WALTON
ROBERT L. LIVINGSTON
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED.
THE CONFEDERATION.
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
AMENDMENTS
APPENDIX.: STAMP ACT.
LIVES
OF THE
SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION
OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
THE DECLARATION HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED; AND A SKETCH OF THE LEADING EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE ADOPTION OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, AND OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
BY
B. J. LOSSING,
Author of “The Field-Book of the Revolution,”
“History of the War of 1812,” etc.,, etc.
Illustrated by Fifty Portraits and other Engravings.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870,
by EVANS, STODDART & CO.,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
PREFACE.
THERE ARE LESSONS OF DEEP, abiding interest, and of inestimable value, to be learned in studying the lives of the men who perilled their all to secure the blessed inheritance of free institutions which we now enjoy. We do not learn merely the dignity and sacredness of pure patriotism, by following them in their career amid the storms of the Revolution, but all the virtues which adorn humanity are presented in such bold relief, in the private and public actions of that venerated company, that when we rise from a perusal of a narrative of their lives, we feel as if all the noble qualities of our common manhood had been passing before us in review, and challenging our profound reverence.
The biography of a great man, is an history of his own times; and when we have perused the record of the actions of the men of our Revolution, we have imbibed a general knowledge of the great events of that struggle for Freedom. If this proposition is true, then we feel that this volume has a claim to the public regard, for we have endeavored to comprise within as small a compass as a perspicuous view of the subject would allow, the chief events in the lives of the men who stood sponsors at the baptism in blood of our Infant Republic.
The memoirs are illustrated by copious notes explanatory of events alluded to in the course of the biographical narrative, and these, we believe, will be found a highly useful feature of the work.
We have made free use of materials long since laid before the public by abler pens than our own. We did not expect to add much that is new to the biographical facts already published; our aim was to condense those facts into the space of a volume so small, that the price of it would make it accessible to our whole population. It is the mission of true patriotism to scatter the seeds of knowledge broad-cast amid those in the humbler walks of society, because adventitious circumstances deny them access to the full granary of information, where the wealthy are filled; for these humbler ones are equal inheritors of the throne of the people’s sovereignty, and are no less powerful than others at the ballot-box where the nation decides who its rulers shall be
The final adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the organization of the present government of the United States under it, formed the climax—the crowning act of the drama of which the Declaration of Independence was the opening scene. We therefore thought it proper to append to the biographies, a brief sketch of the legislative events which led to the formation and adoption of the Constitution. The Declaration is pregnant with grave charges against the King of Great Britain—charges which his apologists have essayed to deny. We have taken them up in consecutive order as they stand in the document, and adduced proofs from historical facts, of the truth of those charges. These proofs might have been multiplied, but our space would not permit amplification
With these brief remarks, we send our volume forth with the pleasing hope that it may prove useful to the young and humble of our beloved land, unto whom we affectionately dedicate it.
B. J. L.
INTRODUCTION
FROM NO POINT OF VIEW can the Declaration of American Independence, the causes which led to its adoption, and the events which marked its maintenance, be observed, without exciting sentiments of profound veneration for the men who were the prominent actors in that remarkable scene in the drama of the world’s history. Properly to appreciate the true relative position in which those men stood to the then past and future, it is necessary to view the chain of causes and effects, retrospective and prospective, united in them by a brilliant link.
For a long series of years the commercial policy of Great Britain, in her dealings with the American Colonies, was narrow and selfish, and its effects influenced the whole social compact here. The colonists felt the injustice of many laws, but their want of representation in the National Legislature, and their inherent political weakness, obliged them to submit. But when the wars with the French and Indians called forth their physical energies, and united, in a measure, the disjointed settlements, scattered in isolated communities along the Atlantic sea board, marked by hardly a semblance of union in feeling and interest, it was then that they perceived the strength and value of unity, and talked with each other respecting their common rights and privileges.
The royal governors viewed the interchange of political sentiments between the colonies with great disfavor, for they saw therein the harbinger of their own departing strength. Their representations to the British Ministry, more than any other single cause, contributed to the enactment of laws respecting the colonies, that finally generated that rebellious spirit in the hearts of the Anglo-Americans, which would not, and did not, stop short of absolute Political Independence.
The enactment of the Stamp Act in 1765, and the kindred measures that soon followed, made it plain to the minds of the colonists that even common justice would be denied them by the Home Government, if its claims interfered with the avaricious demands of an exhausted treasury. They saw plainly that the King and Parliament were resolved to turn a deaf ear to all petitions and remonstrances that were based upon the righteous assumption that “taxation and equitable representation are one and inseparable.” As this was a principle too vital in the very constitution of a free people, to be yielded the colonists felt the necessity of a General Council to deliberate upon the solemn questions involved. In this, the great heart of colonial America seemed to beat with one pulsation, and almost simultaneously, and without previous concert, the proposition for a General Congress was put forth in several of the colonies.
The time and place for holding a Congress were designated, and on the fifth of September, 1774, delegates from the various colonies assembled in Carpenter’s Hall, in Philadelphia. Their deliberations were orderly but firm. Loyalty to the crown, notwithstanding its oppressions, was a leading theme in their debates. Not a word was whispered of dismemberment and independence, but they solemnly consulted with each other upon the best means of maintaining the integrity of the British realm, compatible with the preservation of their own inalienable rights. To this end their efforts were directed, and they humbly petitioned the King, remonstrated with Parliament, and appealed to their brethren in Great Britain for justice. But their petitions and remonstrances were in vain. New oppressions were laid upon them, and the blood of American citizens was shed by British soldiery at Lexington and Concord!
Another Congress assembled in May, 1775, organized a temporary general government, made provisions for an army, and appointed Washington commander-in-chief And yet they talked not of independence. They armed in defence of rights bestowed by the British Constitution, and they were still willing to lay them down, and avow their loyalty, when those rights should be respected. Even with arms in their hands, and successfully opposing the force of British bayonets, they petitioned and remonstrated. But their petitions were unheeded; their remonstrances were insultingly answered; and their demands for justice were met by swarms of armed mercenaries, purchased by the British Government of petty German princes, and sent hither to butcher British subjects for asserting the rights of British subjects!
Hope for reconciliation faded away at the opening of 1776, and in June of that year, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered a resolution in the General Congress, declaring all allegiance of the colonies to the British crown, at an end. This bold proposition was soon after followed by the appointment of a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence. This committee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. The draft was made by Jefferson, and after a few verbal alterations by Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams, it was submitted to Congress on the twenty-eighth of June. It was laid upon the table until the first of July, when it was taken up in committee of the whole, and after several amendments were made, nine States voted for Independence. The Assemblies of Maryland and Pennsylvania refused their concurrence; but conventions of the people having been called, majorities were obtained, and on the fourth of July, votes from all the Colonies were procured in its favor, and the thirteen united Colonies were declared free and independent States.
The Declaration was signed on that day, only by John Hancock, the President of Congress, and with his name alone, it was first sent forth to the world. It was ordered to be engrossed upon the Journals of Congress, and on the second day of August following, it was signed by all but one of the fifty-six signers whose names are appended to it. That one was Matthew Thornton, who, on taking his seat in November, asked and obtained the privilege of signing it. Several who signed it on the second of August, were absent when it was adopted on the fourth of July, but, approving of it, they thus signified their approbation.
The signing of that instrument was a solemn act, and required great firmness and patriotism in those who committed it. It was treason against the home government, yet perfect allegiance to the law of right. It subjected those who signed it to the danger of an ignominious death, yet it entitled them to the profound reverence of a disenthralled people. But neither firmness nor patriotism was wanting in that august assembly. And their own sound judgment and discretion, their own purity of purpose and integrity of conduct, were fortified and strengthened by the voice of the people in popular assemblies, embodied in written instructions for the guidance of their representatives.
Such were the men unto whose keeping, as instruments of Providence, the destinies of America were for the time intrusted; and it has been well remarked, that men, other than such as these,—an ignorant, untaught mass, like those who have formed the physical elements of other revolutionary movements, without sufficient intellect to guide and control them—could not have conceived, planned, and carried into execution, such a mighty movement, one so fraught with tangible marks of political wisdom, as the American Revolution. And it is a matter of just pride to the American people, that not one of that noble band who periled life, fortune, and honor, in the cause of freedom, ever fell from his high estate into moral degradation, or dimmed, by word or deed, the brightness of that effulgence which halos the Declaration of American Independence.
Their bodies now have all returned to their kindred dust in the grave, and their souls have gone to receive their reward in the Spirit Land.
Congress was assembled in Independence Hall, at Philadelphia, when the Declaration was adopted, and, connected with that event, the following touching incident is related. On the morning of the day of its adoption, the venerable bell-man ascended to the steeple, and a little boy was placed at the door of the Hall to give him notice when the vote should be concluded. The old man waited long at his post, saying, “They will never do it, they will never do it.” Suddenly a loud shout came up from below, and there stood the blue-eyed boy, clapping his hands, and shouting, “Ring! Ring!!” Grasping the iron tongue of the bell, backward and forward he hurled it a hundred times, proclaiming “Liberty to the land and to the inhabitants thereof.”
JOSIAH BARTLETT
THE ANCESTORS OF JOSIAH BARTLETT were from Normandy, whence they emigrated to England. The name was conspicuous in English History at an early date. Toward the close of the seventeenth century a branch of the family emigrated to America, and settled in the town of Beverley, in Massachusetts. Josiah was born in Amesbury, in Massachusetts, in November, 1729. His mother’s maiden name was Webster, and she was a relative of the family of the great statesman of that name of our time.
Young Bartlett lacked the advantage of a collegiate education, but he improved an opportunity for acquiring some knowledge of the Greek and Latin, which offered in the family of a relative, the Rev. Doctor Webster. He chose for a livelihood the practice of the medical profession, and commenced the study of the science when he was sixteen years old. His opportunities for acquiring knowledge from books were limited, but the active energies of his mind supplied the deficiency, in a measure, and he passed an examination with honor at the close of his studies. He commenced practice at Kingston in New Hampshire, and proving skillful and successful, his business soon became lucrative, and he amassed a competency.
Mr. Bartlett was a stern, unbending republican in principle, yet, notwithstanding this, he was highly esteemed by Wentworth, the royal governor, and received from him a magistrate’s commission, and also the command of a regiment of militia. In 1765 he was elected a member of the provincial legislature of New Hampshire. It was at the time when the Stamp Act was before the British Parliament, and Mr. Bartlett soon became a prominent leader of a party that opposed the various oppressive measures of the home government. Through Wentworth, magnificent bribes were offered him, but his patriotism was inflexible.
In 1776 he was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety of his State. The governor was alarmed when this committee was appointed, and to prevent the transaction of other business of a like nature, he dissolved the Assembly. They re-assembled in spite of the governor, and Dr. Bartlett was at the head of this rebellious movement. He was soon after elected a member of the Continental Congress, and in 1775, Governor Wentworth struck his name from the magistracy list, and deprived him of his military commission. Still he was active in the provincial assembly, and the governor, despairing of reconciliation, and becoming somewhat alarmed for his own safety, left the province. The provincial Congress assumed the reins of government, and immediately re-appointed Dr. Bartlett colonel of militia.
In August, 1775, he was again chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, and was again re-elected in 1776. He was one of the committee appointed to devise a plan for the confederation of the States, as proposed by Dr. Franklin. He warmly supported the proposition for independence, and when, on the second of August, 1776, the members of Congress signed the Declaration, Dr. Bartlett was the first who affixed his signature, New Hampshire being the first State called.
In 1778, he obtained leave from Congress to visit his family and look after his private affairs, which had become much deranged. He did not resume his seat again in that body. In 1779 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of New Hampshire, and the muster master of its troops. He was afterward raised to the bench of the Supreme Court. He took an active part in the Convention of his State, in favor of the Constitution of 1787, and when it was adopted, he was elected a member of the first Senate that convened under it in the city of New York. But he declined the honor, and did not take his seat there. He had been previously chosen President of New Hampshire, and held that responsible office until 1793, when he was elected the first governor of that State, under the Federal Constitution. He held the office one year, and then resigning it, he retired to private life, and sought that needful repose which the declining years of an active existence required. He had served his country faithfully in its hour of deepest peril, and the benedictions of a free people followed him to his domestic retreat. But he was not permitted long to bless his family with his presence, nor was he allowed to witness his country entirely free from perils of great magnitude, that threatened its destruction, while the elements of the new experiment in government were yet unstable, for in 1795 death called him away. He died on the nineteenth of May of that year, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.
WILLIAM WHIPPLE
WILLIAM WHIPPLE WAS BORN AT Kittery, in New Hampshire (that portion which is now the State of Maine) in the year 1730. His early education was received at a common school in his native town.
When quite a lad, he went to sea, in which occupation he was engaged for several years. At the age of twenty nine he quitted the seafaring life, and, with his brother, Joseph Whipple, entered into mercantile pursuits in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
He early espoused the cause of the colonies and soon became a leader among the opposition to British authority. In 1775 he was elected a member of the Provincial Congress of New Hampshire, and was chosen by that body, one of the Committee of Safety. When, in 1775, the people of that State organized a temporary government, Mr. Whipple was chosen a member of the Council. In January, 1776, he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, and was among those who, on the fourth of July of that year, voted for the Declaration of Independence. He remained in Congress until 1777, when he retired from that body, having been appointed a Brigadier General of the New Hampshire Militia. He was very active in calling out and equipping troops for the campaign against Burgoyne. He commanded one brigade, and General Stark the other. He was under Gates at the capture of Burgoyne, and was one of the commissioners to arrange the terms of capitulation. He was afterward selected one of the officers to march the British prisoners to Cambridge, near Boston.
He joined Sullivan in his expedition against the British on Rhode Island in 1778, with a pretty large force of New Hampshire Militia. But the perverse conduct of the French Admiral D’Estaing, in not sustaining the siege of Newport, caused a failure of the expedition, and General Whipple, with his brigade, returned to New Hampshire.
In 1780, he was offered the situation of Commissioner of the Board of Admiralty, but declined it. In 1782, he was appointed by Robert Morris, financial agent in New Hampshire, * but he resigned the trust in the course of a year. During that year, he was appointed one of the commissioners to settle the dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, concerning the Wyoming domain, and was appointed president of the Court. He was also appointed, during that year, a side judge of the Superior Court of New Hampshire.
Soon after his appointment, in attempting to sum up the arguments of counsel, and submit the case to the jury, he was attacked with a violent palpitation of the heart, which ever after troubled him. In 1785 he was seriously affected while holding court; and, retiring to his chamber, he never left it again while living. He expired on the twenty-eighth day of November, 1785, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He requested a post mortem examination, which being done, it was found that a portion of his heart had become ossified, or bony. Thus terminated the valuable life of one who rose from the post of a cabin boy, to a rank among the first men of his country. His life and character present one of those bright examples of self-reliance which cannot be too often pressed upon the attention of the young; and, although surrounding circumstances had much to do in the development of his talents, yet, after all, the great secret of his success was doubtless a hopeful reliance upon a conscious ability to perform any duty required of him.
MATTHEW THORNTON
MATTHEW THORNTON WAS BORN IN Ireland, in 1714, and was brought to this country by his father when he was between two and three years of age. His father, when he emigrated to America, first settled at Wiscasset, in Maine, and in the course of a few years moved to Worcester, in Massachusetts, where he gave his son an academical education, with a view to fit him for one of the learned professions. Matthew chose the medical profession, and at the close of his preparatory studies, he commenced his business career in Londonderry, New Hampshire. He became eminent as a physician, and in the course of a few years acquired a handsome fortune.
In 1745 he was appointed surgeon of the New Hampshire troops, and accompanied them in the expedition against Louisburg. After his return he was appointed by the royal governor (Wentworth) a Colonel of Militia, and also a Justice of the Peace. He early espoused the cause of the colonists, and soon, like many others, became obnoxious to the governor. His popularity among the people was a cause of jealousy and alarm on the part of the chief magistrate.
When the provincial government of New Hampshire was organized, on the abdication of Governor Wentworth. Dr. Thornton was elected president. When the provincial Congress was organized he was chosen Speaker of the House. In September of the same year, he was appointed a delegate to the Continental Congress for one year, and was permitted to sign his name to the Declaration of Independence, when he took his seat in November. In January, 1776, (prior to his election to the Continental Congress) he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of his State, having previously been elected a member of the Court of Common Pleas. In December of that year, he was again elected to the general Congress for one year from the twenty-third of January, 1777. At the expiration of the term he withdrew from Congress, and only engaged in public affairs as far as his office as judge required his services. He resigned his judgeship in 1782.
In 1789, Dr. Thornton purchased a farm in Exeter, where he resided until the time of his death, which took place while on a visit to his daughters in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on the twenty-fourth of June, 1803. He was then in the eighty-ninth year of his age.
Dr. Thornton was greatly beloved by all who knew him, and to the close of his long life he was a consistent and zealous Christian. He always enjoyed remarkably good health, and, by the practice of those hygeian virtues, temperance and cheerfulness, he attained a patriarchal age.
JOHN HANCOCK
ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED personages of the War of Independence, was John Hancock, who was born near the village of Quincy, in Massachusetts, in the year 1737. His father and grandfather were both ministers of the gospel. His father is represented as a pious, industrious, and faithful pastor; a friend of the poor, and a patron of learning. He died while John was quite an infant, and left him to the care of a paternal uncle, who cherished him with great affection. This relative was a merchant in Boston, who had amassed a large fortune, and after having given John a collegiate education at Harvard College (where at the age of seventeen years he graduated) he took him into his counting-room as clerk. His abilities proved such, that, in 1760, he sent him on a business mission to England, where he was present at the funeral rites of George II., and the coronation ceremonies of George III. Soon after his return to America, his uncle died, and left him, at the age of twenty-six, in possession of a princely fortune—one of the largest in the Province of Massachusetts.
He soon relinquished his commercial pursuits, and became an active politician, always taking sides with those whose sentiments were liberal and democratic. He was soon noticed and appreciated by his townsmen in Boston, and was chosen by them one of its selectmen, an office of much consideration in those days. In 1766, he was chosen a representative for Boston in the General Provincial Assembly, where he had for his colleagues some of the most active patriots of the day, such as Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Thomas Cushing.
Years before Mr. Hancock entered upon public life, the tyrannous measures of the British cabinet had excited the fears of the American colonies, and aroused a sentiment of resistance that long burned in the people’s hearts before it burst forth into a flame of rebellion.
These feelings were familiar to the bosom of young Hancock, for he imbibed the principles of liberty with the breath of his infancy, and when circumstances called for a manifestation thereof, they exhibited the sturdy vigor of maturity.
When Parliament adopted those obnoxious measure toward America, which immediately succeeded the odious Stamp Act, Mr. Hancock was a member of the Provincial Assembly, and, in union with those patriots before named, and others, he determined not to submit to them. He was one of the first who proposed and adopted non-importation measures, a system which gradually spread to the other colonies, and produced a powerful effect upon the home government. Open resistance at length became common, and the name of Hancock figures conspicuously in the commotions that agitated Boston for more than eight years. He became a popular leader and drew upon himself the direst wrath of offended royalty.
At the time of the Boston Massacre, and during the commotion known as the Tea Riot, Mr. Hancock was bold and active; and in March, 1774, on the occasion of the anniversary of the “Massacre,” he boldly delivered an oration, in which he spoke in most indignant terms of the acts and measures of the British Government.
In 1767, Mr. Hancock was elected a member of the Executive Council, but the choice was so displeasing to the governor, that he rejected him. He was again and again elected, and as often rejected, and this served to increase his popularity among the people. At last the governor, for reasons not easily divined, sanctioned his appointment, and received him into the Council.
In 1774, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts unanimously elected Hancock their president. The same year he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress; and was re-elected to the same station in 1775. When, during the summer of that year, Peyton Randolph left the presidential chair of that body, John Hancock was elected to the station,—a gift the most exalted, possessed by the American people. In that office he labored arduously, and filled that chair on the ever memorable Fourth of July, 1776. As President, he first signed the Declaration of Independence, and with his name alone, it first went forth to the world. His bold signature, the very index of his character has always excited the admiration of the beholder.
Mr. Hancock resigned the office of President of Congress in 1777, owing to the precarious state of his health and the calls of his private affairs, which had been necessarily much neglected, and he hoped to pass the remainder of his life in the retirement of the domestic circle. But that pleasure he was not suffered long to enjoy by his fellow citizens. He was elected a member of the Convention of Massachusetts to form a Constitution for the government of that commonwealth. Therein he was assiduous as usual, and upon him was first conferred the honor, under the instrument of their adoption, of being Governor of the Province, or State. He was the first who had this dignity conferred by the voluntary suffrages of the people. He held the office five consecutive years, by annual election. For two years he declined the honor, but again accepted it, and held the office until his death, in 1793.
He was governor during that period of confusion which followed the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and its final ratification by the several States, and his wisdom and firmness proved greatly salutary in restraining those lawless acts which a spirit of disaffection toward the general government had engendered in New England, and particularly in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Of course his character and motives were aspersed by the interested, but when the agitation ceased, and the clouds passed away, his virtues and exalted character, shone with a purer lustre than before.
He was elected a member of the Convention of Massachusetts to act on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and was chosen president of that body; but sickness prevented his attendance until the last week of the session. He voted for the adoption of the constitution, and by his influence, a majority voted with him.
Mr. Hancock continued a popular leader until the time of his death, and no one could successfully contend with him for office. He was not a man of extraordinary talent, but was possessed of that tact and peculiar genius fitted for the era in which he lived. He was beloved by all his cotemporaries, and posterity venerates his name, as a benefactor of his country. He died on the eighth of October, 1793, in the fifty-fifth year of his age.
JOHN ADAMS
NO LOFTIER GENIUS NOR PURER patriot wore the Senatorial robe during the struggle for Independence, than John Adams. He was born at Braintree (now Quincy), in Massachusetts, on the thirtieth of October, 1735, and was a direct lineal descendant, in the fourth generation, from Henry Adams, who fled from the persecutions in England during the reign of the first Charles. His maternal ancestor was John Alden, a passenger in the May-Flower, and thus the subject of our memoir inherited from both parental ancestors, the title of a Son of Liberty, which was subsequently given to him and others. His primary education was derived in a school at Braintree, and there he passed through a preparatory course of instruction for Harvard University, whence he graduated at the age of twenty years.
Having chosen the law as a profession, he entered upon the study of it with an eminent barrister in Worcester, by the name of Putnam. There he had the advantage of sound legal instruction, and through Mr. Putnam he became acquainted with many distinguished public men, among whom was Mr. Gridley, the Attorney-General. Their first interview awakened sentiments of mutual regard, and young Adams was allowed the free use of Mr. Gridley’s extensive library, a privilege of great value in those days. It was a rich treasure thrown open to him, and its value was soon apparent in the expansion of his general knowledge. He was admitted to the bar in 1758, and commenced practice in Braintree.
At an early period, young Adams’ mind was turned to the contemplation of the general politics of his country, and the atmosphere of liberal principles in which he had been born and nurtured, gave a patriotic bias to his judgment and feelings. He watched narrowly the movements of the British government toward the American colonies, and was ever out-spoken in his condemnation of its oppressive acts.
He was admitted as a barrister in 1761, and as his professional business increased, and his acquaintance among distinguished politicians extended, he became more publicly active, until in 1765, when the Stamp Act had raised a perfect hurricane in America, he wrote and published his “Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law.” This production at once placed him high in the popular esteem; and the same year he was associated with James Otis and others, to demand, in the presence of the royal governor, that the courts should dispense with the use of stamped paper in the administration of justice.
In 1766 Mr. Adams married Abigail Smith, the amiable daughter of a pious clergyman of Braintree, and soon afterward he removed to Boston. There he was actively associated with Hancock, Otis, and others, in the various measures in favor of the liberties of the people, and was very energetic in endeavors to have the military removed from the town. Governor Bernard endeavored to bribe him to silence, at least, by offers of lucrative offices, but they were all rejected with disdain.
When, after the Boston Massacre, Captain Preston and his men were arraigned for murder, Mr. Adams was applied to, to act as counsel in their defence. Popular favor on one side, and the demands of justice and humanity on the other, were the horns of the dilemma between which Mr. Adams was placed by the application. But he was not long in choosing. He accepted the invitation—he defended the prisoners successfully—Captain Preston was acquitted, and, notwithstanding the tremendous excitement that existed against the soldiers, the patriotism of Mr. Adams was too far above suspicion to make this defence of the enemy a cause for withdrawing from him the confidence which the people reposed in him. His friends applauded him for the act, and the people were satisfied, as was evident by their choosing him, that same year, a representative in the provincial Assembly.
Mr. Adams became very obnoxious to both Governors Bernard and Hutchinson. He was elected to a seat in the Executive council, but the latter erased his name. He was again elected when Governor Gage assumed authority, and he too erased his name. These things increased his popularity. Soon after the accession of Gage the Assembly at Salem adopted a proposition for a general Congress, and elected five delegates thereto in spite of the efforts of the governor to prevent it. John Adams was one of those delegates, and took his seat in the first Continental Congress, convened in Philadelphia on the fifth of September, 1774. He was again elected a delegate in 1775, and through his influence, George Washington of Virginia was elected Commander-in-Chief of all the forces of the United Colonies.
On the sixth of May, 1776, Mr. Adams introduced a motion in Congress “that the colonies should form governments independent of the Crown.” This motion was equivalent to a declaration of independence, and when, a month afterward, Richard Henry Lee introduced a motion more explicity to declare the colonies free and independent, Mr. Adams was one of its warmest advocates. He was appointed one of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, and he placed his signature to that document on the second of August, 1776. After the battle of Long Island he was appointed by Congress, with Dr. Franklin and Edward Rutledge, to meet. Lord Howe in conference upon Staten Island, concerning the pacification of the colonies. According to his prediction, the mission failed. Notwithstanding his great labors in Congress, he was appointed a member of the council of Massachusetts, while on a visit home, in 1776, the duties of which he faithfully fulfilled.
In 1777 Mr. Adams was appointed a special commissioner to the Court of France, whither Dr. Franklin had previously gone. Finding the subject of his mission fully attended to by Franklin, Adams returned home in 1779. He was immediately called to the duty of forming a Constitution for his native State. While in the discharge of his duty in convention, Congress appointed him a minister to Great Britain, to negotiate a treaty of peace and commerce with that government. He left Boston in the French frigate, La Sensible, in October, 1777, and after a long passage, landed at Ferrol, in Spain, whence he journeyed by land to Paris. He found England indisposed for peace, if American Independence was to be the sine qua non, and was about to return home, when he received from Congress the appointment of commissioner to Holland, to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with the States General. The confidence of Congress in him was unlimited, and he was intrusted at one time, with the execution of no less than six missions, each of a different character. In 1781 he was associated with Franklin, Jay, and Laurens, as a commissioner to conclude treaties of peace with the European powers. In 1782 he assisted in negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain, and was the first of the American Commissioners who signed the definitive treaty of peace with that power. In 1784, Mr. Adams returned to Paris, and in January, 1785, he was appointed Minister for the United States at the Court of Great Britain. That post he honorably occupied until 1708, when he resigned the office and returned home.
While Mr. Adams was absent, the Federal Constitution was adopted, and it received his hearty approval. He was placed upon the ticket with Washington for Vice President, at the first election under the new Constitution, and was elected to that office. He was re-elected to the same office in 1792, and in 1796, he was chosen to succeed Washington in the Presidential Chair. In 1801 he retired from public life.
In 1816 he was placed on the democratic ticket as presidential elector. In 1818 he lost his wife, with whom he had lived fifty-two years in uninterrupted conjugal felicity. In 1824 he was chosen a member of the convention of Massachusetts to revise the Constitution, and was chosen president of that body, which honor he declined on account of his great age. In 1825 he had the felicity of seeing his son elevated to the presidency of the United States. In the spring of 1826 his physical powers rapidly declined, and on the fourth of July of that year, he expired, in the ninety-second year of his age. On the very same day, and at nearly the same hour, his fellow committee-man in drawing up the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, also died. It was the fiftieth anniversary of that glorious act, and the coincidence made a deep impression upon the public mind.
SAMUEL ADAMS
THIS DISTINGUISHED PATRIOT OF THE Revolution, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the twenty-second of September, 1722. He was of pilgrim ancestors, and had been taught the principles of Freedom, from his infancy. His father was a man of considerable wealth, and was for a long series of years a member of the Massachusetts Assembly, under the Colonial Government. He resolved to give Samuel a liberal education. After a preparatory course of study, he entered him at Harvard College, Cambridge, where, in 1740, at the age of eighteen years, he took his degree of A. B. He was uncommonly sedate, and very assiduous in the pursuit of knowledge, while a pupil.
His father destined him for the profession of the law, but this design was relinquished, and he was placed as an apprentice with Thomas Gushing, a distinguished merchant of Boston, and afterward an active patriot. His mind, however, seemed fixed on political subjects, and the mercantile profession presented few charms for him. His father furnished him with ample capital to commence business as a merchant, but his distaste for the profession, and the diversion of his mind from its demands, by politics, soon caused him serious embarrassments, and he became almost a bankrupt.
When Samuel was twenty-five years old, his father died, and the cares of the family and estate devolved on him, as the oldest son. Yet his mind was constantly active in watching the movements of the British government, and he spent a great deal of his time in talking and writing in favor of the resistance of the Colonies to the oppressions of the crown and its ministers. He took a firm and decided stand against the Stamp Act and its antecedent kindred schemes to tax the Colonies. As early as 1763, he boldly expressed his sentiments relative to the lights and privileges of the Colonists; and in some instructions which he drew up for the guidance of the Boston members of the General Assembly, in that year, he denied the right of Parliament to tax the Colonies without their consent—denied the supremacy of Parliament, and suggested a union of all the Colonies, as necessary for their protection against British aggressions. It is asserted that this was the first public expression of such sentiments in America, and that they were the spark that kindled the flame upon the altar of Freedom here.
In 1765, Mr. Adams was chosen a representative for Boston, in the General Assembly, and became early distinguished in that body, for his intelligence and activity. He became a leader of the opposition to the royal governor, and treated with disdain the efforts made to silence him, although the offers proffered would have placed him in affluent circumstances. He was chosen Clerk of the House of Representatives; and he originated the “Massachusetts Circular,” which proposed a Colonial Congress to be held in New York, and which was held there in 1766.
During the excitement of the Boston Massacre, he was among the most active; and chiefly through his influence, and the boldness with which he demanded the removal of the troops from Boston, was that object effected.
Mr. Adams, and Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, almost simultaneously proposed the system of Committees of Correspondence, which proved such a mighty engine in bringing about a union of sentiment among the several Colonies previous to the bursting out of the Revolution. This, and other bold movements on his part, caused him to be selected as an object of ministerial vengeance, and when Governor Gage issued his proclamation, offering pardon to all who would return to their allegiance, Samuel Adams and John Hancock were alone excepted. This greatly increased their popularity, and fired the people with indignation. Adams was among those who secretly matured the plan of proposing a general Congress, and appointing delegates thereto, in spite of the opposition of Governor Gage. Mr. Adams was one of the five delegates appointed, and he took his seat in that body on the fifth of September, 1774. He continued an active member of Congress until 1781, and was among those who joyfully affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.
Mr. Adams retired from Congress in 1781, but not from public life. He was a member of the Convention to form a Constitution for Massachusetts, and was on the committee who drafted it. He was successively a member of the Senate of that Commonwealth, its President, Lieutenant-governor, and finally Governor. To the latter office he was annually elected, until the infirmities of age obliged him to retire from active life. He expired on the third day of October, 1803, in the eighty-second year of his age.
ROBERT TREAT PAINE
THIS DISTINGUISHED PATRIOT WAS BORN in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1731. His father was a clergyman, and his mother was the daughter of the Reverend Mr. Treat, of Barnstable county. His maternal grandfather was Governor Treat, of Connecticut. Thus connected with the honored and pious, the early moral education of Mr. Paine was salutary in the extreme, and he enjoyed the advantage of instruction in letters, from Mr. Lovell, who was also the tutor of John Adams and John Hancock.
Young Paine entered Harvard College at the age of fourteen years, and graduated with the usual honors. For a time after leaving college he taught school. He then made a voyage to Europe, and on his return he prepared himself for the ministry, in which calling he was engaged as chaplain in a military expedition to the north in 1755. Not long afterward he relinquished theology, studied law with Mr. Pratt, (afterward Chief Justice of New York,) and was admitted to practice at the bar.
He commenced law practice in Boston, but after a short residence there he removed to Taunton, where he became a powerful opponent and rival of the celebrated Timothy Ruggles. He early espoused the popular cause, but so prudently did he conduct himself, that he retained the full confidence of the Governor. In 1768, after Governor Bernard had dissolved the Assembly, and a provincial Convention was called, Mr. Paine attended as a delegate from Taunton. In 1770, when the trial of Captain Preston and his men occurred, the District Attorney being sick, Mr. Paine was chosen his substitute, and he conducted the case with great ability. He was chairman of the Committee of Vigilance in Taunton, in 1773. The same, and the following year (1774) he was elected a member of the Provincial Assembly, and was one of the commissioners appointed to conduct the proceedings in the case of the impeachment of Chief Justice Oliver.
Mr. Paine was an advocate for a Continental Congress. He was a member of the Assembly, when, in spite of Governor Gage, it elected delegates to the General Congress, of whom Mr. Paine was one. He was elected a member of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in the autumn of 1774, where he was very active. He was deputed by the General Congress, with two others, to visit the army of General Schuyler at the north for the purpose of observation. It was a delicate commission, but one which Mr. Paine and his colleagues performed with entire satisfaction. The same year, John Adams was appointed Chief Justice of the province of Massachusetts, and Mr. Paine was chosen a side judge. He declined the honor, and in December was again elected to the General Congress, where he was very active, and on the fourth of July, the following year, (1776,) he voted for the Declaration of Independence, and was one of its signers. In 1777, he was chosen Attorney-General of Massachusetts, by a unanimous vote of the council and representatives, which office he held until 1790, when he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court. He was a member of the Convention that framed the Constitution of his native State, which was adopted in 1780. For fourteen years, he discharged his duties as judge, and in 1804, he left the bench, on account of the approaching infirmities of age. He died in 1814, at the age of eighty-four years. His long and active life was devoted to the public service, and his labors were duly appreciated by a grateful people.
ELBRIDGE GERRY
ELBRIDGE GERRY WAS BORN IN Marblehead, Massachusetts, on the seventeenth of July, 1744. His father was a merchant in extensive business, and he resolved to give his son an excellent education. When his preparatory studies were concluded, he entered Harvard College, and graduated with the title of A. B., in 1762. He soon after entered into commercial pursuits, amassed a handsome fortune, and by his intelligence and good character, won for himself the esteem of his fellow-citizens. He watched with much solicitude the rapid strides which the oppressions of Great Britain were making in this country, and having expressed his sentiments fearlessly, his townsmen elected him a member of the General Court of the province, in 1773. There he soon became a bold and energetic leader, ingenious in devising plans of operation, and judicious and zealous in their execution. He was connected with John Adams and others in carrying through resolutions that had been offered in the General Court, having reference to the removal of Governor Hutchinson from office.
Mr. Gerry was active in all the leading political movements in Massachusetts until the War broke out. He was a member of the first Provincial Congress of that province, and was one of the most efficient opposers of Governor Gage. He was a member of the Provincial Congress at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. The night preceding that event, he and General Warren slept together in the same bed. They bade each other an affectionate farewell in the morning, and separated, Mr. Gerry to go to the Congress, sitting at Watertown, and Dr. Warren to be slain upon the battle-field.
In January, 1776, Mr. Gerry was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. There his commercial knowledge proved very useful, and he was put upon many committees where such knowledge was needed. He had been previously elected a Judge of the Court of Admiralty, but preferring a more active life, he declined the appointment. He was a warm supporter of the resolution of Mr. Lee, declaring the United States free and independent, and he signed his name to the Declaration on the second of August, following its adoption.
In 1777, Mr. Gerry was appointed one of a committee to visit Washington at his headquarters at Valley Forge. The report of that committee had a great effect upon Congress, and caused more efficient measures to be taken for the relief and support of the army. In 1780 he retired from Congress to look after his private affairs, but was re-elected in 1783. In all the financial operations of that body, Mr. Gerry was indefatigably engaged. In 1785 he again retired from Congress, and fixed his residence in Cambridge.
Mr. Gerry was a member of the Convention of Massachusetts which adopted the present Constitution of the United States. He was so opposed to many of its leading features that he never subscribed his name to it, but when it became the fundamental law of the land, he did all in his power to carry out its provisions. He was twice elected a member of the House of Representatives of the United States under it, and after faithful services he again retired to private life.
Mr. Adams, when President, knew and appreciated the abilities of Mr. Gerry, and he called him forth from his domestic quiet, by nominating him one of three envoys to the Court of France. The joint mission was not received by that government, but Mr. Gerry was accepted, and this made him very unpopular with a large portion of the people of the United States. Mr. Gerry considered it his duty to remain, and did so. After his return from France, the Republicans of Massachusetts nominated him for Governor. He failed the first time, but was elected the next. In 1811, he was nominated for, and elected, Vice President of the United States.
While in the performance of his duties at the seat of government, he was suddenly seized with illness, and died on the twenty-third of November, 1814, at the age of seventy years. He was entombed in the Congressional Cemetery, and a handsome monument was erected to his memory by Congress.
STEPHEN HOPKINS
STEPHEN HOPKINS WAS BORN IN the town of Providence, Rhode Island, on the seventh of March, 1707. His mother was the daughter of one of the first Baptist ministers of Providence. The opportunities for acquiring education at the time of Mr. Hopkins’ childhood, were rare, but his vigorous intellect, in a measure, became a substitute for these opportunities, and he became self-taught, in the truest sense of the word. Mr. Hopkins was a farmer until 1731, when he removed to Providence and engaged in mercantile business. In 1732, he was chosen a representative for Scituate in the General Assembly, and was re-chosen annually until 1738. He was again elected in 1741, and was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives. From that time until 1751, he was almost every year a member and speaker of the assembly. That year he was chosen Chief Justice of the Colony.
