Roger Sherman: The Great Compromiser
Roger Sherman (1721-1793) of Connecticut was a member of the committee which drafted the Declaration of Independence, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he proposed "The Great Compromise," and served as a congressman and senator.
Roger Sherman: The Great Compromiser
Roger Sherman (1721-1793) of Connecticut was a member of the committee which drafted the Declaration of Independence, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he proposed "The Great Compromise," and served as a congressman and senator.
Before the Revolution, Sherman served as treasurer of Yale College and as a colonial politician. He was a firmly religious man, having been tutored under Harvard-educated the Rev. Samuel Dunbar, and Sherman was a professor of religion at Yale, where he corresponded with contemporary theologians. He would also write "A Short Sermon on the Duty of Self-Examination Preparatory to Receiving the Lord's Supper" in 1789. In 1766, he became an associate judge on the state superior court and served in that position for 23 years. Sherman was an early advocate of the Patriot cause, being appointed to the First Continental Congress in 1774, where he served zealously and meticulously on several committees. When war erupted, Sherman became heavily involved in the nation's finances with the Second Continental Congress. In 1776, he helped draft the Declaration of Independence with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Robert R. Livingston. Delegate Jeremiah Wadsworth said Sherman was "as cunning as the Devil in managing legislation."
In 1777, he was a delegate to the New Haven Convention on Prices of New England states to discuss fiscal matters. Sherman served on the Connecticut Council of Safety and was appointed the unenvied task of revising state statutes. In 1784, he was elected mayor of New Haven, a position he would hold for the rest of his life. He saw the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation early and proposed amendments to strengthen the federal government's economic authority.
At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Sherman served on the Committee on Postponed Matters and probably supported William Paterson's New Jersey plan, representing a small state himself. He endorsed the idea of an executive dominated by the legislature, state legislature election of congressmen and senators, and opposed popular ratification of the Constitution. To resolve the dispute between the New Jersey and Virginia Plans of congressional representation -- equal or based on population, respectively -- and perhaps save the convention from disbanding, Sherman proposed the Great Compromise (also called the Connecticut Compromise): that the new Congress have an upper house of equal representation and lower house based on population.
He led the ratification initiative in Connecticut, writing several open letters in the New Haven Gazette to enlist support. In 1789, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he endorsed assumption of state debts, high tariffs and sale of Western lands to pay off the national debt. Sherman filled a vacancy in a U.S. Senate seat in 1791 and died two years later.
Sherman Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin, and New Haven, Connecticut, are named in his honor, and a statue of Sherman was erected at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and the U.S. Capitol.
"Forgotten Founding Fathers" is a weekly series updated Saturdays on the lesser-known contributors to the Revolution and the seeds of American liberty. Check out the whole series! Also be sure to check out Aphra Behn's "Founding Mothers" series!