Hibernian Chronicle: 229 Years Ago

Approving and signing the Declaration carried with it enormous personal risk, for the British considered it an act of treason, a crime punishable by death if the quest for independence failed. As Benjamin Franklin put it to the delegates, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration, three were Irish-born and at least five were of Irish ancestry. James Smith, delegate for Pennsylvania, was born in Ulster in 1719. He emigrated to America with his family when he was about ten and grew up to become a lawyer and surveyor in western Pennsylvania. A leading public official by the 1770s, he won election as delegate to provincial assemblies where he advocated the cause of colonial rights. In 1776 he was elected to the Continental Congress, and thus became a signatory to the Declaration. After the war he served in the state assembly, as a judge, and general in the state militia. He died in 1806.
George Taylor, also a delegate for Pennsylvania, was born in Ulster in 1716. He arrived in America in the late 1730s and became a successful ironmaster. Elected to the Pennsylvania assembly in 1764, he emerged as a leading voice of colonial opposition to British policy. He advised Pennsylvania’s delegates to the first Continental Congress and served on the Committee of Correspondence and Committee of Safety. In 1775 he was appointed to replace a Continental Congress delegate who opposed independence. He arrived too late to vote for the Declaration, but did sign it later. He died in 1781, two years before the war’s end.
Matthew Thornton, delegate for New Hampshire, was born in Ulster in 1714 and was brought to America with his parents when he was three. He grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, became a doctor, and later settled in New Hampshire. Elected to the New Hampshire provincial assembly in the mid-1770s, he was named its president and drafted the first state constitution in America. He, too, arrived late to the Constitutional Convention but being a strong supporter of independence signed the Declaration nonetheless. He continued in public life after the Revolution and died in 1803.
Thomas Lynch, Jr. was born in Winyah, South Carolina in 1749 and was educated in England. He returned in 1772 and immediately immersed himself in politics and serving as company commander for the militia. Elected to the Continental Congress, he signed the Declaration, but soon developed serious health problems. He left for the West Indies and is believed to have died around 1779.
Thomas McKean, from Delaware, was born in New London, Pennsylvania in 1734. He studied law and became one of colonial Pennsylvania’s most prominent attorneys and political officials, serving in numerous offices in the 1760s and 1770s. As a delegate to the Continental Congress, he voted for the Declaration and signed it. He subsequently served on the committee that drew up the Articles of Confederation, was appointed Pennsylvania’s Chief Justice, held the office of President of the Congress, and attended the Constitutional Convention. In 1799 he was elected governor of Pennsylvania and served nine years. He died in 1817.
George Read, delegate for Delaware, was born in North East, Maryland in 1733. Educated in Philadelphia, he studied law and became a prominent attorney. He relocated to Delaware and was named Attorney General for three counties. Elected to the Continental Congress in 1774, he initially urged caution on the independence question but joined the majority when they approved Lee’s Resolution. When Delaware’s governor was captured by the British, Read served as acting governor for the duration of the war. He later served as a judge, state senator, and Chief Justice of Delaware. He died in 1798.
Edward Rutledge was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1749 to a wealthy and powerful family. Educated at Oxford, he returned and at the age of 27 was named delegate to the Continental Congress which approved the Declaration. Soon thereafter he joined South Carolina’s militia, fought in several key battles against the British and achieved the rank of captain. Captured by the British in 1780 he was released one year later and elected to the state legislature. After the war he served in the state legislature and in 1789 won election as Governor of South Carolina. He died in 1800 at age 51. His brother John Rutledge became a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Charles Carroll, delegate from Maryland, was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was born into a wealthy family in Annapolis, Maryland in 1737. Educated in France, he returned to America at age 28 and immediately joined the patriot cause as a strong advocate of independence. Because Carroll was elected to represent Maryland at the second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, he arrived after the debate and vote but nonetheless signed the document. Carroll later served on the Board of War, helped draft Maryland’s constitution, won election to the state senate and Congress. He was the sole surviving signer of the Declaration when he died in 1832.
The Irish connection to the Declaration of Independence goes beyond the signers. John Dunlap, the Irish-born publisher of the Pennsylvania Packet, had the honor of printing the first copies of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. These copies were distributed throughout the colonies, informing Americans of the momentous decision.
Charles Thomson (1729-1824), a former indentured servant from Ireland who went on to become a prosperous Philadelphia merchant, was Secretary of the Continental Congress in 1776. In that capacity he was called upon to give the first reading of the Declaration of Independence before Congress. His name appears next to John Hancock’s at the bottom of the “Dunlap” version of the Declaration. Thomson later had the duty of informing George Washington of his election as President.

Sources: David McCullough, “1776” (2005) and John Ferling, “A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic” (2003).

Learn more at www.edwardtodonnell.com/irish.htm

HIBERNIAN HISTORY WEEK

June 30 1865: Michael O’Laughlin is found guilty of conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He died of yellow fever two years later at Fort Jefferson in Florida.

July 2, 1963: John F. Kennedy meets Pope Paul VI at the Vatican, the first ever such meeting between a U.S. president and a pope.

HIBERNIAN BIRTHDATES:

July 2, 1898: General Anthony McAuliffe, famous for answering a German demand for surrender with “Nuts!,” is born in Washington, DC.

July 4, 1826: prolific songwriter (“Oh, Susanna!”) Stephen Foster is born in Lawrenceville, PA.