He was born in
Philadelphia, Pa on January 10th of 1744. He graduated
from the College of Philadelphia in 1760. He was a member of the
American Philosophical Society. Early in the American Revolution he
left the continental congress to serve in the continental army.
Although his
family had bee Quakers for four generations he was expelled from the
Religious Society of Friends because hie involvement of with a
military force contradicted his his faiths nature.
He became a
general than later became George Washington’s aide-de-camp and than
in August 15th of 1715 he was appointed by Washington to
become the army's first Quartermaster General under order of
congress. He was good at the job but preferred to be on the front
lines.
Prior to
independence he was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly.
He served two terms in the Continental Congress (1774-1775) and then
from ( 1782-1784.) This included a seven month term from November
1783- June 1784) as that body's president. His most important duty as
president was to accept George Washington on behalf of the Congress
the commission of General George Washington who resigned in 1783.
The importance of
the congress declined so precipitously that he found it difficult to
convince the states to send enough delegates to Congress to ratify
the Treaty of Paris, it finally took place on January 14th
of 1784.
He was a delegate
of the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787 as well as a
signer of the constitution. He served in the house of Pennsylvania
General Assembly ( 1785-1788) and was a member of the Supreme
Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and on
November 5th of 1788 he was elected President of Council
replacing Benjamin Franklin.
He was unanimously
reelected to the Presidency on November 11th of 1789 and
presided over the committee that wrote Pennsylvania's 1790 State
Constitution. This document did away with the executive council and
replaced it with a single Governor.
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