Summary
John Witherspoon was born in Scotland, and he was the only active clergyman and college president to sign the Declaration. He taught James Madison and Aaron Burr.
John Witherspoon | Signer of the Declaration of Independence
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Biography
John Witherspoon was born in Yester, Scotland. He was a precocious young man who went to college at thirteen and earned his Masters of Arts at the University of Edinburgh soon after his 16th birthday. By the age of twenty, Witherspoon was a Doctor of Theology. He was a devoted Protestant and was briefly imprisoned for his opposition to the efforts in the 1740s to restore the Catholic Stuart line of kings to the throne of Britain. He served as a minister in several Presbyterian churches in Scotland, and his reputation led New Jersey political leaders to recruit him to be president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) when he was forty-five. He accepted the position and emigrated to America in 1768.
Witherspoon found the college deeply in debt and suffering from an outdated curriculum. He set about to put it on solid financial grounds, to improve its library, and to reform its curriculum. His governing style was resolute but good-natured, and he was well-liked by both the faculty and the students. In addition to his administrative duties, Witherspoon taught courses in literature, history, divinity, and moral philosophy. Although the college was originally focused on producing clergymen, Witherspoon broadened its purpose to include potential political and cultural leaders. Among his students were a host of men who would play important roles in American political and cultural life including James Madison, Aaron Burr, newspaper editor and poet Philip Freneau, and author Hugh Henry Brackenridge. In fact, thirty seven judges, twelve members of the Continental Congress, 28 senators, 49 Congressmen, and ten cabinet officers studied at the College of New Jersey under the watchful eye of the Reverend Witherspoon.
Witherspoon had arrived in America in the midst of growing tensions between Britain and the colonies. As a Presbyterian minister, he was especially disturbed by the Crown’s efforts to appoint an American Anglican bishop. His concern about this and other efforts of the Crown and Parliament to interfere in colonial affairs could be seen in his 1776 sermon “The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men.” When he was elected to serve in the Second Continental Congress he was already convinced that independence was the proper course of action. When objections arose that the country was not ready for such a radical move, he is said to have replied that it “was not only ripe for the measure, but in danger of rotting for the want of it.” He was the only active clergyman and college president to sign the Declaration.
Witherspoon remained in Congress from June of 1777 until November of 1784. He was a member of over one hundred committees, spoke often during debates, and helped draft the nation’s first constitution, the Articles of Confederation.
Witherspoon had married in August of 1748 while he was still in Scotland. He and his wife, Elizabeth Montgomery had ten children, but only five survived to join him when he emigrated to America. Elizabeth died in 1789 and two years later, at the age of 68, John married a 24 year-old widow, Anne Marshall Dill. Soon afterward, Witherspoon suffered several eye injuries and by 1792, he was blind. He died in November of 1794.
