He was unanimously elected for two succeeding years, and while holding that office was chosen a member of the convention which met in May, 1787, to frame the Constitution under which the people of the United States are still living. With the adoption of that instrument, to which he contributed as much as any other individual, he retired from official life, though not from the service of the public.
His last public act was the signing of a memorial to Congress on the subject of human slavery by the Abolition Society, of which he was the founder and president.
He died in Philadelphia April 17, 1790, and four days later his body was interred in Christ Church burying ground. His funeral was such as the greatest philosopher and statesman had deserved.
Long Reign of Terror by Mollie Maguires
Brought to End January 18, 1876
January 18, 1876, was an eventful day in Mauch Chunk, the county seat of Carbon County, and, in fact, for the State of Pennsylvania and the entire country.
On that day Michael J. Doyle, of Mount Laffee, Schuylkill County, and Edward Kelly were arraigned charged with the crime of the murder of John P. Jones, of Lansford.
For years preceding this murder the coal regions of Pennsylvania had been infested by a most desperate class of men, banded together for the worst purposes—called by some the Buckshots, by others the Mollie Maguires. They made such sad havoc of the country that life was no longer secure and the regions suffered in many ways.
The unusual circumstance of this trial was the fact that it was the first indictment of a “Mollie Maguire” in this country which had a possible chance for ultimate conviction.