Road to Liberty: Roger Sherman

Roger Sherman, born on April 19, 1721, in Newton, Massachusetts, was the only person to have signed all four of the most significant documents in our nation’s early history: the Continental Association from the first Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. 

The son of a farmer and cobbler, Sherman received minimal education. Nevertheless, he was an avid learner who made extensive use of his father’s sizable personal library. In 1743, Sherman moved to New Milford, Connecticut. There, he worked as a surveyor and storekeeper. He was admitted to the bar in 1754, despite having no formal legal training, and began his legal career. 

Sherman entered politics in 1755 as justice of the peace and a member of Connecticut’s General Assembly. During the Second Continental Congress, Sherman was appointed to the Committee of Five where he helped review and refine Thomas Jefferson’s drafts of the Declaration of Independence. 

Following America’s War for Independence, Sherman participated in the Constitutional Convention and proposed the Great Compromise (also known as the “Connecticut Compromise”), establishing a bicameral legislature with equal state representation in the Senate and population-based representation in the House. 

In 1784, Sherman was elected as the mayor of New Haven, Connecticut and held this position concurrently alongside others until his death. Sherman was elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1789. In 1791, he was chosen to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. Two years later, he fell ill with typhoid fever and died.