(March 19, 1734-June 24, 1817)
Born in New London Township, Pennsylvania
Delegate to the Continental Congress (1774-76,1777-83)
President of the Continental Congress (July 10-November 4, 1781)
Signed the Declaration of Independence (1776) and Articles of Confederation (1781)
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania (1777-99)
Governor of Pennsylvania (1799-1808)

He did not sign the Declaration of Independence until 1781.
He was simultaneously Pennsylvania's Chief Justice and a Delegate to the Continental Congress representing Delaware.
He switched from the Federalist Party to the Democratic-Republicans and back.
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives tried (unsuccessfully) to impeach him as both Chief Justice and Governor.

He missed the ceremony where the other Continental Congress delegates signed the Declaration of Independence because he had left Philadelphia to join a militia unit defending New York.
He wrote the Constitution of Delaware almost entirely by himself (August, 1776).
As Chief Justice of Pennsylvania he asserted the court's right to strike down laws as unconstitutional a decade before the US Supreme Court did.
At age 80, he led a citizens group to organize Philadelphia's defenses during the War of 1812.

Credit: C. Fishel

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