Summary
Nathaniel Gorham took an active role in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where he spoke frequently, served on key committees, and firmly supported the new Constitution.
Nathaniel Gorham | Signer of the Constitution
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Biography
Nathaniel Gorham was born in 1738, the eldest child of a Massachusetts packet boat operator. His education was limited and when he was about 15, he was apprenticed to a Connecticut merchant. In 1759, he cut his apprenticeship short and returned to his Massachusetts home. Here he established himself as a merchant, and quickly enjoyed a success that allowed him to embark on a political career. He served in the Massachusetts colonial legislature from 1771 to 1775, and on the eve of independence he was counted among the most reliable supporters of a break from the Mother Country. During the war, Gorham’s property was severely damaged and financial ruin hovered over him, but he recovered most of his lost fortune through privateering and land speculation. He was elected to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and soon was chosen to be its speaker. And in 1782, he began a term in the recently adopted Articles of Confederation congress. Ultimately, in 1786, he became the congress’s president for five months. By that time, despite the complete absence of any legal training, he was made a judge of the Middlesex County court of common pleas.
When the Constitutional Convention was called, 49-year-old Gorham was chosen as one of four men to represent his state. William Pierce found him an agreeable man with a pleasing manner, and, despite his limited education, an eloquent speaker and a man at ease in public debate. Although Gorham supported replacing the Articles, in June 1787 he did not know what direction the convention would take. Writing to Theophilus Parsons, he observed: “In short, the present Federal Government seems near its exit; and whether we shall in the Convention be able to agree upon mending it, or forming and recommending a new one, is not certain.” Gorham played an active role in debating the convention’s direction; he spoke frequently, served on key committees, and stood in firm support for the Constitution as it took shape.
Despite his contributions to the creation of the Constitution, Gorham played no role in the new government he helped to shape. He was distracted from politics by a financial crisis, brought on by the failure of a large and risky land speculation deal. By 1790 Nathaniel Gorham was insolvent, and his membership in Boston’s elite circles dissolved. He died bankrupt in 1796, at the age of 58.
