Signers of the Declaration of Independence

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July 4, 1776 (and following)

American Declaration of Independence is signed

Signing the Declaration of Independence required remarkable personal courage. The Founding Fathers who signed it understood that King George III and the British Parliament would regard this act as treason. After years of attempted dialog with the King and Parliament, the Signers personally calculated what it might cost them to take the bold step. Following the teaching of the American pulpit, they had come to believe that no law was above God’s law, and for this reason, the devised the motto of the American Revolution: “No king, but King Jesus!”

The subject addressed in this article is discussed at greater length in American Matriarchs. Christian Heritage Fellowship would be honored to work with individuals, businesses, churches, institutions, or organizations to help communicate the truth concerning the positive influence of the Christian faith by providing bulk pricing: Please contact us here... To purchase a limited quantity of this publication, please click: Purchase here...

Contrary to the assertions of contemporary Deconstructionism that America was birthed from the womb of secularism, the facts clearly indicate that America’s Founding Fathers were deeply influenced by the principles of the Bible and the Christian Faith when laying the foundation of American law—which was true for both the states and federal government.

The information and materials that appear below are part of a larger project here at Christian Heritage Fellowship. Realizing that knowledge of the persons and character of America’s Founding Fathers will go a long way to answer the secular and Deconstructive attacks against the Christian foundation of America, we undertake the effort to present thumbnail sketches of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. One of the earliest collective works on the Signers summarized their efforts in the following words:

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 entrusted; 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.”[1]

All the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. . .

Charles Carroll

Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III to distinguish him from his similarly-named relatives, was a wealthy Maryland planter and an early advocate of independence from Great Britain. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and Confederation Congress and later as first United States Senator for Maryland. He was the only Catholic and the longest-lived (and last surviving) signatory of the Declaration of Independence, dying at the age of 95, at his city maRead more...

Button Gwinnett

Button Gwinnett (1735 – May 19 or 27, 1777) was an British-born American political leader who, as a representative of Georgia to the Continental Congress, was the second of the signatories (first signature on the left) on the United States Declaration of Independence. He was also, briefly, the provisional president of Georgia in 1777, and Gwinnett County (now a major suburb of metropolitan Atlanta) was named for him. Gwinnett was killed in a duel by a rival, Lachlan McIntosh, following a dispute after a failed invasion of East Florida.Read more...

Robert Treat Paine

Robert R. Livingston

Caesar Rodney

William Williams

Edward Rutledge

Edward Rutledge (November 23, 1749 – January 23, 1800) was an American politician and youngest signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He later served as the 39th Governor of South Carolina. The brief biographical sketch of his life presented below is taken from the nineteenth-century work, Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by Rev. Charles Goodrich. Article Contents A Thumbnail Sketch For Further Consideration Related Articles Anchor Elements Article Notes and Sources Read more...

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Richard Henry Lee

George Ross

George Read

George Wythe

George Wythe (1726 – June 8, 1806) was the first American law professor, a noted classics scholar and Virginia judge, as well as a prominent opponent of slavery. The first of the seven Virginia signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence, Wythe served as one of Virginia's representatives to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. Wythe taught and was a mentor to Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Henry Clay and other men who became American leaders.Read more...

Benjamin Franklin: Advocate of America's Christian Heritage

Without consideration being given to the person of Jesus Christ, it is fair to say that probably a greater man than Benjamin Franklin has never lived who has possessed greater analytical ability; often this trait has distinguished itself in true greatness by means of internal qualities rather than by means of brilliant external displays. In almost every particular characteristic of a man, Benjamin Franklin presented a model of excellence of the highest degree.[1] Article Contents Early Home Life Becomes a Printer Travels to EnRead more...

George Clymer

George Clymer (March 16, 1739 – January 24, 1813) was an American politician and founding father. He was one of the last Patriots to advocate complete independence from Britain. As a Pennsylvania representative, Clymer was, along with five others, a signatory of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Points of significance include the following: Orphaned at seven, was raised by an uncle, and followed his uncle into mercantilism in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Accepted a commission as captain over a company of voluntRead more...

Thomas Jefferson Calls Virginia to Prayer and Thanksgiving

On October 20, 1779, the Continental Congress asked the states to set “apart the second Thursday in December next, as a day of general thanksgiving.”[1] This request issued by Congress to the thirteen American states was the eighth spiritual proclamation of sixteen calling the states to fast, pray and give thanks to God. Beginning in 1775, the Continental Congress issued nearly two spiritual proclamations a year until 1783—throughout the years of the American Revolution. In the spring, usually a proclamation was issued by Congress asking theRead more...

James Wilson

Benjamin Harrison V

Benjamin Harrison V (April 5, 1726 – April 24, 1791) was an American planter and merchant from Charles City County, Virginia, a revolutionary leader and a Founding Father of the United States. He received his higher education at the College of William and Mary. Harrison was a representative to the Virginia House of Burgesses for Surry County, Virginia (1756–1758, 1785-1786), and Charles City County (1766–1776, 1787-1790). He was a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1777 and, during the Second Continental Congress, was a Read more...

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Thomas McKean

Abraham Clark

Benjamin Rush

Lewis Morris

Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American landowner and developer from Morrisania, New York. He signed the Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York. The brief biographical sketch of his life presented below is taken from the nineteenth-century work, Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by Rev. Charles Goodrich. Article Contents A Thumbnail Sketch For Further Consideration Related Articles Anchor Elements Article Notes and SouRead more...

Joseph Hewes

Joseph Hewes (January 23, 1730 – November 10, 1779) was a native of Princeton, New Jersey, where he was born in 1730. Hewes’s parents were members of the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. He became an apprentice of a merchant and in fact became a very successful merchant. After finishing his apprenticeship he earned himself a good name and a strong reputation, which would serve him well in becoming one of the most famous signers of the Declaration of Independence for North Carolina, along with William Hooper and John Penn.Read more...

John Witherspoon

[1] B. J. Lossing, Biographical Sketches 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 (New York: George F. Cooledge & Brother, 1848), 11-12; reprint, Aledo, Texas, WallBuilder Press, 1998.

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Signers of the Declaration of Independence

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