Happy Fourth of July to all, and I hope you are enjoying our Independence Day. I have some thoughts/questions on this holiday, and I can't think of a better place than DailyKos to find some answers.
First, check out a list of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence.
* New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
* Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
* Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
* Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
* New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
* New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
* Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
* Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
* Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
* Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
* North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
* South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
* Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Fifty-six in total. Now, the signers of the Constitution:
* New Hampshire: John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman
* Massachusetts: Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King
* Connecticut: William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman
* New York: Alexander Hamilton
* New Jersey: William Livingston, David Brearly, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton
* Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris
* Delaware: George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom
* Maryland: James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll
* Virginia: George Washington, John Blair, James Madison Jr.
* North Carolina: William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson
* South Carolina: John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler
* Georgia: William Few, Abraham Baldwin
Thirty-nine in all, far less than the Declaration of Independence. In fact, only six of the signers of the Declaration of Independence went on to also sign the Constitution: Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, Robert Morris, George Read, James Wilson and Roger Sherman.
I know that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were abroad. Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry both opposed the idea of changing the status quo and didn't attend the Constitutional Convention. Patrick Henry in particular said he "smelt a rat in Philadelphia, tending toward the monarchy." And I'm sure that several others who signed the Declaration of Independence had died. But the 39 signatories ignores that a total of 55 delegates actually attended the convention in Philadelphia. Several refused to sign the constitution, including Elbridge Gerry and George Wythe, both had signed the Declaration of Independence.
Here is the list of delegates who refused to sign the Constitution:
* Connecticut: Oliver Ellsworth
* Georgia: William Pierce, William Houstoun
* Maryland: John Francis Mercer, Luther Martin
* Massachusetts: Elbridge Gerry, Caleb Strong
* New Jersey: William Houston
* New York: Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr.
* North Carolina: Alexander Martin, William Richardson Davie
* Virginia: Edmund Randolph, George Mason, George Wythe, James McClurg
So of the fifty-six who signed the Declaration of Independence, six signed the Constitution, two specifically opposed signing the Constitution, two were abroad, and I know of at least who who didn't attend because they supported the status quo. Can anyone help fill in the blanks for the remaining forty-four? People who had passed away obviously wouldn't have an opinion, but among the other forty-four were they in favor of the Constitution or not?
