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Roger Sherman

ROGER SHERMAN was born in Newton, Massachusetts,>, on the 19th of April, 1721. He was early apprenticed to a shoemaker, and followed the business of one for some time after he was twenty-two years of age. The father of Roger Sherman died in 1741, leaving his family, which was quite numerous, dependent upon his son for support. He entered upon the task with great cheerfulness. Towards his mother, whose life was protracted to a great age, he always manifested the tenderest affection, and assisted two of his younger brothers to qualify themselves for clergymen.

An elder brother had established himself in New Milford, Connecticut. In 1743, the family of Mr. Sherman removed to that place, and he again commenced business as a shoemaker; but, not long after, he entered into partnership with his brother, whose occupation was that of a country merchant. The mind of Roger Sherman was invincibly bent upon the acquisition of knowledge. The variety and extent of his attainments, even at this time, were almost incredible. He soon became known in the county of Litchfield, where he resided, as a man of superior talents, and of unusual skill in the science of mathematics. At the early age of twenty-four, he was appointed to the office of county surveyor. At this time, he had also made no trifling advances in the science of astronomy. As early as 1748, he supplied the astronomical calculations for an almanac, published in New York, and continued to furnish them for several succeeding years.

In 1749, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Hartwell of Stoughton, in Massachusetts. After her decease, in 1760, he married Miss Rebecca Prescott, of Danvers, in the same State. By these wives he had fifteen children. In 1754, Mr. Sherman was admitted as an attorney to the bar. The circumstance which led to his study of the profession was merely accidental, and an accident which, in a mind less decided and persevering than that of Sherman, would have passed away without improvement. He became rapidly distinguished as a counsellor, and, the year following his admission to the bar, was appointed a Justice of the Peace for New Milford, which town he also represented in the Colonial Assembly. In 1759, he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Litchfield, which office he held for two years. At the expiration of that time, he became a resident of New Haven, of which town he was soon after appointed a Justice of the Peace, and often represented it in the Colonial Assembly. In 1765, he was made a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and about the same time was appointed treasurer of Yale College, which institution bestowed upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. In 1766, Mr. Sherman was elected a member of the Upper House, in the General Assembly of Connecticut; and during the same year he was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court. He continued a member of the Upper House for nineteen years, until 1785, when, the two offices which he held being considered incompatible, he relinquished his seat at the council-board, preferring his station as a Judge. The latter office he continued to exercise until 1789, when he resigned it on being chosen to Congress, under the Federal Constitution.

Mr. Sherman was a delegate to the celebrated Congress of 1774, and continued uninterruptedly a member of that body, until his death in 1793. His services during his congressional career were many and important. He was employed on numerous committees, and was indefatigable in the investigation of complicated and difficult subjects. In 1776, he received the most flattering testimony of the high respect in which he was held, in being associated with Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, and Livingston, in the responsible duty of preparing the Declaration of Independence. In the State where he resided, Mr. Sherman continued to receive repeated demonstrations of the esteem with which his fellow-citizen regarded him.

Under the new Constitution, Mr. Sherman was elected a representative to Congress from the State of Connecticut. At the expiration of two years, a vacancy occurring in the Senate, he was elevated to seat in that body. In this office he died on the 23d of July, 1793, in the seventy-third year of his age. A predominant trait in the character of Roger Sherman was his practical wisdom. Although inferior to many in rapidity of genius, he was surpassed by none in clearness of apprehension, energy of mind, or honesty of action. A remark of Jefferson bears testimony to the strength and soundness of his intellect. "That is Sherman," said he to a friend, to whom he was pointing out the most remarkable men of Congress, "a man who never said a foolish thing in his life." Not less honorable to the integrity of his character, is the remark of Fisher Ames, who was wont to say: "If I am absent during the discussion of a subject, and consequently know not on which side to vote, I always look at Roger Sherman, for I am sure if I vote with him I shall vote right."