CONTENTS.
| PAGE. | |
| Declaration of Independence, | [9] |
| Thomas Jefferson, | [13] |
| John Hancock, | [25] |
| Benjamin Franklin, | [30] |
| Roger Sherman, | [38] |
| Edward Rutledge, | [45] |
| Thomas M’Kean, | [49] |
| Philip Livingston, | [55] |
| George Wythe, | [58] |
| Abraham Clark, | [61] |
| Francis Lewis, | [64] |
| Richard Stockton, | [66] |
| Samuel Adams, | [70] |
| Dr. Benjamin Rush, | [78] |
| Oliver Wolcott, | [83] |
| George Read, | [85] |
| Thomas Heyward, | [88] |
| Robert Morris, | [92] |
| John Witherspoon, | [97] |
| Thomas Lynch, Jr. | [102] |
| Matthew Thornton, | [105] |
| William Floyd, | [108] |
| William Whipple, | [112] |
| Francis Hopkinson, Esq. | [115] |
| Josiah Bartlett, | [117] |
| Arthur Middleton, | [122] |
| James Wilson, | [126] |
| Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, | [132] |
| William Williams, | [136] |
| Samuel Huntington, | [139] |
| George Walton, | [142] |
| George Clymer, | [146] |
| Carter Braxton, | [152] |
| John Morton, | [155] |
| Richard Henry Lee, | [158] |
| Stephen Hopkins, | [164] |
| Robert Treat Paine, | [170] |
| George Taylor, | [174] |
| Francis Lightfoot Lee, | [177] |
| Thomas Stone, | [181] |
| Lewis Morris, | [184] |
| John Hart, | [188] |
| Button Gwinnett, | [191] |
| William Ellery, | [195] |
| Lyman Hall, | [200] |
| John Penn, | [203] |
| Elbridge Gerry, | [208] |
| William Paca, | [215] |
| George Ross, | [219] |
| Benjamin Harrison, | [223] |
| Cæsar Rodney, | [230] |
| Samuel Chase, | [236] |
| William Hooper, | [248] |
| Thomas Nelson, | [253] |
| James Smith, | [260] |
| Joseph Hewes, | [267] |
| John Adams, | [273] |
| George Washington, | [292] |
| Patrick Henry, | [303] |
| Appendix: | |
| Washington’s Farewell Address to the People of the United States, | [313] |
| A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America, setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms, | [325] |
| Articles of Confederation, | [330] |
| Constitution of the United States, | [337] |
| Amendments to the Constitution, | [348] |
| The Declaration of Independence as originally written by Thomas Jefferson, | [350] |
ADVERTISEMENT.
The proprietor of this book, now verging on four score years, presents it to the public with an anxious hope that it will be instrumental in doing much good. To place within the reach of all classes of persons who desire it, the history of the venerable sages who wisely conceived, nobly planned and boldly achieved the independence of these United States, is believed to be a matter of great importance, especially to the rising generation.
Of those who signed the Declaration penned by Jefferson—the Articles of Confederation adopted by the Continental Congress, and the Federal Constitution—not one survives to aid in directing the destinies of our country. Like leaves in autumn they have descended to the earth—the winter of death has shut them from this world for ever. But they have left their bright examples, their shining lights, their luminous beacons, to guide their successors in the path of duty and of safety.
Having had the pleasure of seeing all the signers of the declaration before they made their last bow and retired from the stage of action, and having had the satisfaction of a personal acquaintance with many of them, the proprietor has long felt a strong desire to have the history of the prominent traits of their lives and characters reduced to a single portable and cheap volume, that should not be an onerous tax upon the purse or the memory. Such a volume is now presented to the American public, carefully and impartially prepared—plain in style, simple in arrangement and republican in its features.
If all obey the precepts suggested, and imitate the examples delineated upon the following pages, our republic will continue to rise sublimely, until it reaches an eminence of power and grandeur before unknown among the nations of the earth.