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Roger Sherman
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Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 (J.C), April 30, 1721 (G.C.) July 23, 1793) was an early American lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic.
He was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the U.S.: the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson once said of him: "That is Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, a man who never said a foolish thing in his life."
Sherman is also the patriarch of one of the most powerful and prolific U.S.
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Encyclopedia
Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 (J.C), April 30, 1721 (G.C.) July 23, 1793) was an early American lawyer and politician. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic.
He was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the U.S.: the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson once said of him: "That is Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, a man who never said a foolish thing in his life."
Sherman is also the patriarch of one of the most powerful and prolific U.S. political families, the Baldwin, Hoar & Sherman family.
Early life
His family moved to Stoughton, Massachusetts, a town located seventeen miles (27 km) south of Boston. The part of Stoughton, Massachusetts where Sherman grew up was later incorporated in 1797 to Canton, Massachusetts. Sherman's education did not extend beyond his father's library and grammar school and his early career was spent as a shoe designer. However, he was gifted with an aptitude for learning, and access to a good library owned by his father, as well as a Harvard educated parish minister, Rev. Samuel Dunbar, who took him under his wing.
In 1743, after his father's death, he moved (on foot) with his mother and siblings to New Milford, Connecticut, where in partnership with his brother, he opened the town's first store. He very quickly introduced himself in civil and religious affairs, rapidly becoming one of the town's leading citizens and eventually town clerk of New Milford. Due to his mathematical skill he became county surveyor of New Haven County in 1745, and began providing astronomical calculations for almanacs in 1748.
Legal, political career
Despite the fact that he had no formal legal training, Sherman was urged to read for the bar exam by a local lawyer and was admitted to the Bar of Litchfield, Connecticut in 1754, and chosen to represent New Milford in the Connecticut General Assembly from 1755 to 1758 and from 1760 to 1761. In 1766 he was elected to the Upper House of the Connecticut General Assembly, where he served until 1785.
He was appointed justice of the peace in 1762,, judge of the court of common pleas in 1765, and justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1766 to 1789, when he left to become a member of the United States Congress. He was also appointed treasurer of Yale College, and awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree. He was a professor of religion for many years, and engaged in lengthy correspondences with some of the greatest theologians of the time.
In 1783 he and Richard Law were appointed to massively revise the confused and archaic Connecticut statutes, which they accomplished with great success. In 1784 he was elected Mayor of New Haven, which office he held until his death. He is especially notable for being the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Association, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. Only one other person, Robert Morris, signed 3 of these documents (not the Articles of Association).
Continental Congress
At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 Sherman was appointed to the Connecticut Governor's Council of Safety and also commissary to the Connecticut Troops. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1774 and served very actively throughout the War, earning high esteem in the eyes of his fellow delegates and serving on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence.
Constitutional Convention
During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, summoned into existence to amend the Articles of Confederation, Sherman offered what came to be called the Great Compromise. In this plan, the people would be represented in the house by proportional representation in one branch of the legislature, called the House of Representatives. The states would be represented in another house called the Senate. Each state had a representative for every 30,000 people. In the upper house, on the other hand, each state was guaranteed two senators, no matter their size.
Sherman is also memorable for his stance against [paper money] and his authoring of Article I Section 10 of the United States Constitution.
- Mr. Wilson & Mr. Sherman moved to insert after the words "coin money" the words "nor emit bills of credit, nor make any thing but gold & silver coin a tender in payment of debts" making these prohibitions absolute, instead of making the measures allowable (as in the XIII art:) with the consent of the Legislature of the U.S. ... Mr. Sherman thought this a favorable crisis for crushing paper money. If the consent of the Legislature could authorize emissions of it, the friends of paper money would make every exertion to get into the Legislature in order to license it."
Family
Rogers Sherman's descendants, in the third and fourth generations and later, via the associated Baldwin, Hoar & Sherman families have been influential political participants and office holders in United States history, especially in the 19th century. One distant relative of Sherman's is William Tecumseh Sherman.
Roger Sherman was a first cousin twice removed of Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin. Sherman's mother Mehitable Wellington and Whitney's great-grandmother Elizabeth Wellington were siblings. It has been suggested that both of them were descended from Edward I of England.
Watergate-era prosecutor Archibald Cox, famous for his firing during the Saturday Night Massacre was a direct descendant of Roger Sherman.
Roger Sherman's grandson and namesake, Roger Sherman Baldwin earned his place in history as as US Senator and was one of two lawyers descended from members of the original Committee of Five who successfully argued for the freedom of approximately 50 Mende men, women, and children involved in the Amistad Supreme Court case of 1841.
He is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, and his grave is the center of the city's 4th of July celebrations.
Places and things named in honor of Roger Sherman
- The town of Sherman, Connecticut is named in honor of Roger Sherman.
- Sherman Street in Canton, Massachusetts is named in honor of Roger Sherman.
- Sherman Avenue in central Madison, Wisconsin is named in honor of Roger Sherman. Most of the main streets in Downtown Madison are named after signers of the United States Constitution. Naturally, there is also a Sherman Avenue in New Haven, which extends into neighboring Hamden.
- The official name of the policy debate team at Western Connecticut State University is the "Roger Sherman Debate Society".
- Roger Sherman Inn of New Canaan, Connecticut is named in honor of Roger Sherman.
External links
- By Thomas Townsend Sherman
- at Political Graveyard
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