James Smith
Smith was a patriot, witty and brave.
Born in Ireland, to America his heart he gave.
James Smith emigrated from Ireland
with his family to
Chester County, Pennsylvania, when he was about ten
years old. His father was
a successful farmer, and he gave James the benefit of a good, simple, classical education.
James studied Greek, Latin, and mathematics from Reverend Doctor Allison, provost of the
college of Philadelphia; and he later studied law at the office of his older
brother George in Lancaster. Smith was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar at age
twenty-six, and he set up
his own office in Cumberland County.
As this
was a frontier area at the time, he spent much of his time engaged in
surveying and was not able to practice law as much as he would have liked. After four or five
years he moved back to more populated York, where he could practice law
exclusively.
During the 1760s Smith became a leader in the area
and was just starting to get involved in politics. Attending a provincial assembly in 1774, he offered a paper he had written,
Essay on the
Constitutional Power of Great Britain over the Colonies in America.
In the essay, he suggested a boycott of British goods and a General Congress of
the Colonies as measures in defense of colonial rights.
Later that year he organized a volunteer militia company in York, which elected him Captain.
He was appointed to the provincial convention in Philadelphia in 1775, the state constitutional convention in 1776, and was elected to the Continental Congress the same year, the year that opportuned his signing of the Declaration. As Congress was meeting in Philadelphia in those days, he provided his office for meetings of the Board of War. The committee to which he was appointed advised and aided Washington in opposing the General Howe's army. Smith declined re-election in 1777 but when Americans were defeated at Brandywine and Germantown, and Philadelphia was captured, he went back to the national council when summoned. After the Americans won the battle of Monmouth in 1778, Smith retired again from Congress to live at home until his death in 1806.
Mr. Smith was quite an eccentric man, and possessed a vein of humor, coupled with sharp wit, which made him a great favorite in the social circle in which he moved. He was always lively in his conversations and manners, except when religious subjects were the topics, when he was very grave and never suffered any in his presence to sneer at or speak with levity of Christianity. Although not a professor of religion, he was a possessor of many of its sublimer virtues, and practised its holiest precepts. Benson J. Lossing, Signers of the Declaration of Independence, George F. Cooledge & Brother: New York (1848) [reprinted in Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, WallBuilder Press: Aledo, Texas (1995)], page 122.
James Smith was a Presbyterian per the Presbyterian Historical Society and the Presbyterian Church, USA. His grave is in the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery and his wife is buried beside him. We don't know what was his age at death as he would never tell anyone when he was born.
Ian Dorion, "Table of the Religious Affiliations of American Founders," 1997. Robert G. Ferris (editor), Signers of the Declaration: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, published by the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service: Washington, D.C. (revised edition 1975), pages 132-133.
Above image by Ole Erekson, Engraver, c1876, Library of Congress
Behold, God is my salvation; I
will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song;
he also is become my salvation.
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of
salvation.
Isaiah 12:2-3
