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Stephen Hopkins

STEPHEN HOPKINS was born near Providence, (R. I.,) in a place now called Scituate, on the 7th of March, 1707. He was of respectable parentage, being a descendant of Benedict Arnold, the first governor of Rhode Island. His early education was limited, but he is said to have excelled in penmanship, and in the practical branches of mathematics.

For several years he followed the profession of a farmer. He was afterwards chosen Town Clerk of Scituate, and a Representative to the General Assembly. He was subsequently appointed a Justice of the Peace, and a Justice of one of the courts of Common Pleas. In 1733, he became Chief Justice of that court. In 1742, he removed to Providence, where he entered into commerce, and was extensively engaged in building and fitting out vessels. He was chosen a Representative from that town to the General Assembly, and became speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1751, he was made Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and held that office till the year 1754, when he was appointed a Commissioner to the celebrated Albany Convention. The object of this Convention was the securing of the friendship of the five great Indian nations, in the approaching French war, and an union between the several colonies of America.

In 1756, Mr. Hopkins was elected Chief Magistrate of the colony of Rhode Island. This office he continued to hold, almost without intermission, until 1767; discharging its duties in an efficient and highly satisfactory manner. He resolutely espoused the cause of the colonies, and in a pamphlet entitled "The rights of Colonies Examined," proved the injustice of the Stamp Act, and other measures of the British ministry. In 1774, Mr. Hopkins received the appointment of Delegate from Rhode Island to the Continental Congress. In this assembly he took his seat on the first day of the session, and became one of the most zealous advocates of the measures adopted by that illustrious body of men. In the year 1775 and 1776, he again represented Rhode Island in Congress. In this latter year, he affixed his name to the Declaration of Independence. His signature was the only one upon the roll, which gave indications of a trembling hand; but it was not the tremulousness of fear. Mr. Hopkins had for some time been afflicted with a paralytic affection, which compelled him, when he wrote, to guide his right hand with his left.

In 1778, Mr. Hopkins was a Delegate to Congress for the last time: but for several years afterwards, he was a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island. He closed his useful and honorable life on the 13th of July, 1785, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Mr. Hopkins was enabled by the vigor of his understanding to surmount his early deficiencies, and rise to the most distinguished offices in the gift of his fellow-citizens. He possessed considerable fondness for literature, and greatly excelled as a mathematician. He was an unshaken friend of his country, and an enemy to civil and religious intolerance, distinguished for his liberality, and for the correct and honorable discharge of his various duties.