A founding father who made Connecticut proud

On the Fourth of July this year, New York Times columnist Gail Collins, no doubt reflecting general opinion, wrote about the fiveperson committee assigned by the Continental Congress to write a declaration of independence, correctly identifying Thomas Jefferson as its author, with minor edits by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. About the other two committee members she wrote, “we don’t remember much;” perhaps we could “look them up as a holiday project.”

One of those was Robert R. Livingston of New York, who in congressional debate actually urged delaying the declaration’s publication. He failed in that endeavor, and was elected by the Congress to head the Department of Foreign Affairs. After the Revolution, Livingston remained prominent as a Jeffersonian in New York politics and was instrumental in bringing about the state’s ratification of the U.S. Constitution. In later years, he provided muchneeded support for Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase. Yet Livingston remains widely unknown outside of New York.

The other of Collins’ unknown committee members was the sternfaced but much respected Roger Sherman of New Haven. Sherman, who was put on the committee to balance the less radical Livingston, was one of the nation’s first fulltime politicians. He served more time in national congresses than any other legislator and, in that capacity, was the only signer of all four foundational American documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the treaty of peace with England and the U.S. Constitution. He was elected to the first U.S. Congress and was serving in the Senate when he died in 1793. Sherman served in Connecticut’s lower house and its Council, which was both its upper house and highest judiciary. He dominated local politics and the state’s delegation to the U.S. Congress. In Congress, he successfully insisted that the protections of individual rights be appended to 10 separate articles rather than integrated at points in the original document, as James Madison proposed.

Sherman, along with the other committee members, is depicted on the U.S. $2 bill.

Sherman was New Haven’s first mayor, when the town was incorporated as a city. Through Roger Sherman, New Haven’s influence in the nation’s founding is solid and noteworthy. We actually know quite a lot about him.

Christopher Collier, professor of history emeritus at the University of Connecticut, was Connecticut state historian from 19842000. He is the author of “Roger Sherman’s Connecticut: Yankee Politics and the American Revolution.”