Summary
Thomas Mifflin served as president of the Confederation Congress, attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and became Pennsylvania’s first Governor.
Thomas Mifflin | Signer of the Constitution
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Biography
Thomas Mifflin was born in Philadelphia in 1744. The son of a wealthy merchant and political figure and a fourth generation Quaker, he was educated at a Quaker school before attending the College of Philadelphia [now the University of Pennsylvania]. He received his diploma at the age of sixteen before spending four years working at a local counting house. In 1764, Mifflin made a trip to Europe but returned to become a Philadelphia merchant like his father. He grew rich and enjoyed spending lavishly, a habit that would later bring creditors down upon him.
Mifflin discovered an interest in politics, and by 1772, he had made his entry into the Pennsylvania legislature. Here he was known for his support of colonial opposition to Crown and Parliament policies. In 1774, he was a delegate to the Continental Congress. At the Congress he signed the Continental Association, a pledge to support the boycott of British goods until the new taxes and restrictive policies of the Mother Country were revoked. In 1775, seeing the colonies move toward war, Mifflin joined the Continental Army as a major. He was an aide-de-camp for Washington before becoming the Quartermaster General of the Army. Like many young men, he preferred the glory of the battlefield to administrative work, and managed to take part in key battles including the Battles of Long Island, Trenton and Princeton. In 1777, criticism of his performance as quartermaster led him to resign the position, and he soon became involved in the abortive movement to replace Washington with General Horatio Gates. His relationship with Washington was strained from then on.
In 1778, Mifflin returned to local politics, serving in the new state assembly. But in 1783 he became the president of the Confederation Congress which had replaced the Continental Congress. By this time the importance of Congress had declined and so had its attendance. As its presiding officer, Mifflin had difficulty convincing the states to send enough delegates to ratify the Treaty of Paris that ended the war. No doubt this played a role in his belief that a new strong and efficient central government was necessary.
In 1787, Mifflin was one of eight delegates sent to the constitutional convention by Pennsylvania. Although William Pierce declared him a “well informed and a graceful speaker” and Mifflin advocated a new government, he made few if any speeches at the Convention and did not play a leading role. He did however sign the Constitution when it was completed.
Mifflin resumed his role in the Pennsylvania government and by 1788 he had replaced the ailing Benjamin Franklin as president of the Supreme Executive Council of the state. He presided over the committee that wrote the Pennsylvania constitution. He then became the state’s first Governor and held this office until 1799. His two terms were filled with crises, including a rebellion in western Pennsylvania against a federal tax on whiskey, a deadly yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, and an uprising among German settlers in Pennsylvania known as Fries Rebellion.
By the time Mifflin left the governor’s chair in 1799 he had joined Jefferson’s Republican Party. His lavish lifestyle had caught up with him by then and pressure from his creditors had driven him away from Philadelphia to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. From here, he began a term in the state legislature but died a month later in late January 20, 1800. He was 56 years old.
