Roger Sherman

Born: Newton, Massachusetts; April 19, 1721
Died: New Haven; July 23, 1793

Entry by Albert D. Van Dusen

Merchant, lawyer, and statesman, Sherman was born in Newton, but spent his early years in Dorchester's South Precinct, where his father taught him the trade of cordwainer. After his father's death, in 1743 Sherman moved the family to New Milford and in 1745 secured the highly profitable position of New Haven County surveyor, which later was shifted to the newly-established Litchfield County.

Active in church and town affairs, he held the important positions of clerk, deacon, grand juryman, selectman, deputy, and justice of the peace and quorum. In 1750 he and his brother William opened New Milford's only detached store. As a merchant, having suffered the ill effects of rapidly-depreciating paper money, he wrote a pamphlet in 1752 emphasizing the evil results of using a fluctuating medium of exchange, especially that of neighboring colonies. A man of very diversified talents, in 1750 he started publishing Connecticut's first almanac, modeled after that of Nathaniel Ames, a series which continued for eleven years. Reading on his own, he was admitted to the bar in Litchfield County in 1754, rapidly gaining an active practice.

Seeking greater opportunities, in 1761 he moved to New Haven where he abandoned law in favor of trade, having already opened a store there in July 1760. As relations with England deteriorated, he devoted less time to business and more to politics and public service. Elected deputy in 1764, he served until the fateful election of 1766 when he was elected an assistant, a position he held until 1785. Appointed a superior court judge in 1766, he served until 1789. Although not an early advocate of the Susquehannah Company, by 1774 he had become a strong supporter. Of a cautious and conservative temperament, he nevertheless embraced the Revolutionary cause wholeheartedly. He was the only American to sign four famous and momentous historical documents: the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Federal Constitution.

With the exception of 1782 and 1783, he served throughout the Revolution as a member of Congress, becoming one of its most influential members. Probably his greatest achievement was attained at the Federal Constitutional Convention, which he attended as a Federationist but left as a nationalist. The "Connecticut Compromise," which the Connecticut delegates so ably engineered, originated with a proposal Sherman had made some eleven years earlier. In the First Federal Congress, which made many fundamental decisions about the direction of American domestic and foreign policies, as a strong exponent of states' rights and an economic nationalist, he left his imprint on much important legislation. Appointed to fill William Samuel Johnson's unexpired term in 1791, he served until his death. While his greatest contributions were on the national level, he gave long and devoted service as New Haven's first mayor and treasurer of Yale College. Plain and blunt in speech and manner and lacking in social graces, he nevertheless left an indelible mark on his times.

For Further Reading

Boardman, Roger Sherman. Roger Sherman, Signer and Statesman. Philadelphia, 1938.

Collier, Christopher. Roger Sherman's Connecticut, Yankee Politics and the American Revolution. Middletown, Connecticut, 1971.

* Entry under revision.