Biographies
Meet the people who shaped the American founding. Explore the delegates who signed the Declaration of Independence, those who served without signing, and the writers whose arguments influenced the new republic.
Signers of the Declaration of Independence
The delegates whose names appear on the Declaration of Independence.
Abraham ClarkArthur MiddletonBenjamin FranklinBenjamin HarrisonBenjamin RushButton GwinnettCaesar RodneyCarter BraxtonCharles Carroll of CarrolltonEdward RutledgeElbridge GerryFrancis HopkinsonFrancis LewisFrancis Lightfoot LeeGeorge ClymerGeorge ReadGeorge RossGeorge TaylorGeorge WaltonGeorge WytheJames SmithJames WilsonJohn AdamsJohn HancockJohn HartJohn MortonJohn PennJohn WitherspoonJoseph HewesJosiah BartlettLewis MorrisLyman HallMatthew ThorntonOliver WolcottPhilip LivingstonRichard Henry LeeRichard StocktonRobert MorrisRobert Treat PaineRoger ShermanSamuel AdamsSamuel ChaseSamuel HuntingtonStephen HopkinsThomas Heyward, Jr.Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Lynch, Jr.Thomas McKeanThomas Nelson, Jr.Thomas StoneWilliam ElleryWilliam FloydWilliam HooperWilliam PacaWilliam WhippleWilliam Williams
Delegates Who Did Not Sign
Men who participated in the Continental Congress and the independence debate but did not sign the Declaration.
Federalist Papers and the Constitution
Explore the authors who explained and defended the proposed Constitution.