James Smith (Pennsylvania politician)

Template:Infobox person James Smith (September 17, 1719<ref name=Appleton>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Maszczak>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> – July 11, 1806), a Founding Father of the United States, was an Irish-American lawyer and a signer to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Pennsylvania.

He was born in Ireland; his family immigrated to Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1729.<ref name=Appleton/> Smith attended the Philadelphia Academy.<ref name=Congress>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He studied law at the office of his brother George and was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, initially practicing near Shippensburg and later near York.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He became captain of the militia there. He was appointed to the provincial convention in Philadelphia in 1775, to the state constitutional convention in 1776, and was elected to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence. He was reelected to Congress in 1785 but declined to attend because of his advanced age.

Smith died on July 11, 1806, and is buried in York, Pennsylvania, First Presbyterian Churchyard. The University of Delaware has a dormitory on its North Campus bearing his name.

See also

• Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence

References

• Lawyers and Leaders: The Role of Lawyers in the Development of York County, Pennsylvania, 2005, Template:ISBN, York County Bar Association by Georg R. Sheets

External links

• http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/JamesSmith.php
• Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856 Template:Webarchive
• Template:CongBio

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