Roger Sherman
State: Connecticut (Born in Massachusetts)
Age at Convention: 66
Date of Birth: April 19, 1721
Date of Death: July 23, 1793
Schooling: No formal legal education, Honorary MA from Yale 1768
Occupation: Lawyer, Merchant, Public Security Interests, Cobbler
Prior Political Experience: State Upper House of Connecticut 1766-1785, Connecticut Superior Court 1766-1789, Signed the Declaration of Independence, Signed Articles of Confederation, Member of Continental Congress 1774-1781, Confederation Congress 1783-1784, Mayor of Newhaven 1784-1786
Committee Assignments: First Committee of Representation (served for Oliver Ellsworth), Third Committee of Representation, Committee on Assumption of State Debt, Chairman of Committee of Trade, Committee of Leftovers
Convention Contributions: Arrived May 30, and except for a brief absence in late July, was present until he signed the Constitution. He was one of two delegates who signed all three of the nation’s documents. He debated with James Madison over the representation issue and was influential in securing the passage of the Connecticut Compromise. William Pierce stated that “the oddity of his address, the vulgarisms that accompany his public speaking, and the strange New England Kant which runs through his public as well as his private speaking make everything that is connected to him grotesque and laughable; and yet he deserves infinite praise, no Man has a better Heart or a clearer Head.”
New Government Participation: Wrote on behalf of ratification of the Constitution and attended the Ratification Convention. Served as Connecticut’s Representative (1789 – 1791) and Senator (1791 – 1793).
Biography from the National Archives: In 1723, when Sherman was 2 years of age, his family relocated from his Newton, Massachusetts, birthplace to Dorchester (present Stoughton). As a boy, he was spurred by a desire to learn and read widely in his spare time to supplement his minimal education at a common school. But he spent most of his waking hours helping his father with farming chores and learning the cobbler’s trade from him. In 1743, 2 years after his father’s death, Sherman joined an elder brother who had settled in New Milford, Connecticut.Purchasing a store, becoming a county surveyor, and winning a variety of town offices, Sherman prospered and assumed leadership in the community. In 1749, he married Elizabeth Hartwell, by whom he had seven children. Without benefit of a formal legal education, he was admitted to the bar in 1754 and embarked upon a distinguished judicial and political career. In the period 1755-61, except for a brief interval, he served as a representative in the colonial legislature and held the offices of justice of the peace and county judge. Somehow he also eked out time to publish an essay on monetary theory and a series of almanacs incorporating his own astronomical observations and verse.
In 1761, Sherman abandoned his law practice, and moved to New Haven, Connecticut. There, he managed two stores, one that catered to Yale students, and another in nearby Wallingford. He also became a friend and benefactor of Yale College, and served for many years as its treasurer. In 1763, or three years after the death of his first wife, he wed Rebecca Prescott, who bore eight children.
Meanwhile, Sherman’s political career had blossomed. He rose from justice of the peace and county judge to an associate judge of the Connecticut Superior Court and to representative in both houses of the colonial assembly. Although opposed to extremism, he promptly joined the fight against Britain. He supported nonimportation measures and headed the New Haven committee of correspondence.
Sherman was a longtime and influential member of the Continental Congress (1774-81 and 1783-84). He won membership on the committees that drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, as well as those concerned with Indian affairs, national finances, and military matters. To solve economic problems, at both national and state levels, he advocated high taxes rather than excessive borrowing or the issuance of paper currency.
While in Congress, Sherman remained active in state and local politics, continuing to hold the office of judge of the Connecticut Superior Court, as well as membership on the council of safety (1777-79). In 1783 he helped codify Connecticut’s statutory laws. The next year, he was elected mayor of New Haven (1784-86).
Although on the edge of insolvency, mainly because of wartime losses, Sherman could not resist the lure of national service. In 1787, he represented his state at the Constitutional Convention, and attended practically every session. Not only did he sit on the Committee on Postponed Matters, but he also probably helped draft the New Jersey Plan and was a prime mover behind the Connecticut, or Great, Compromise, which broke the deadlock between the large and small states over representation. He was, in addition, instrumental in Connecticut’s ratification of the Constitution.
Sherman concluded his career by serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1789-91) and Senate (1791-93), where he espoused the Federalist cause. He died at New Haven in 1793 at the age of 72 and is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery.
Related:
* indicates delegates who did not sign the Constitution
Connecticut
William Samuel Johnson – Roger Sherman – Oliver Ellsworth (Elsworth)*
Delaware
George Read – Gunning Bedford, Jr. – John Dickinson – Richard Bassett – Jacob Broom
Georgia
William Few – Abraham Baldwin – William Houstoun* - William L. Pierce*
Maryland
James McHenry – Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer – Daniel Carroll – Luther Martin* - John F. Mercer*
Massachusetts
Nathaniel Gorham – Rufus King – Elbridge Gerry* - Caleb Strong*
New Hampshire
John Langdon – Nicholas Gilman
New Jersey
William Livingston – David Brearly (Brearley) - William Paterson (Patterson) - Jonathan Dayton – William C. Houston*
New York
Alexander Hamilton – John Lansing, Jr.* - Robert Yates*
North Carolina
William Blount – Richard Dobbs Spaight – Hugh Williamson – William R. Davie* - Alexander Martin*
Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin – Thomas Mifflin – Robert Morris – George Clymer – Thomas Fitzsimons (FitzSimons; Fitzsimmons) - Jared Ingersoll – James Wilson – Gouverneur Morris
South Carolina
John Rutledge – Charles Cotesworth Pinckney – Charles Pinckney – Pierce Butler
Rhode Island
Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Convention.
Virginia
John Blair – James Madison Jr. – George Washington – George Mason* - James McClurg* - Edmund J. Randolph* - George Wythe*
Other:
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