Roger Sherman: “A Caveat against Injustice”

Roger Sherman, one of the Founders of the United States of America, was the only person who signed all four of the nation's major foundational documents: the Articles of Association, which created the Continental Association; the Declaration of Independence; the Articles of Confederation, the country's first governing constitution; and, finally, the Constitution. He was born on April 19, 1721, in Newtown (later Newton), Massachusetts. After his father's death, the family moved to New Milford, Connecticut, where in time Sherman, despite his lack of formal education, became the town's leading citizen and a major figure in state and national politics. He first worked as a shoemaker and then entered public life as a county surveyor. Later, he studied law and eventually became a justice of the peace, then a county judge, and then an associate justice of the state's Superior Court. He also served as a representative in the state's General Assembly and was the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut. Meanwhile, Sherman and his brother became prominent merchants, and Sherman's business acumen led him to write “A Caveat against Injustice; or, An Inquiry into the Evils of a Fluctuating Medium of Exchange.” This document helped put currency in the colonies on a somewhat sounder footing than it had been.

In the 1770s Sherman actively supported the American colonies' opposition to Great Britain. As a signatory to the Articles of Association, he helped organize a boycott of British goods in response to the Intolerable Acts of 1774. He was a member of the so-called Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence and was an active member of the Continental Congress. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he forged the Connecticut Compromise, sometimes called the Great Compromise, which was crucial in winning support for the new constitution from both small and large states.

After the Constitution was drafted, the campaign began to urge its ratification by the states—or, in some cases, to oppose it. In support of ratification, Sherman wrote a number of “Letters of a Countryman,” which were printed in the New Haven Gazette. These letters were part of a flurry of letters and pamphlets published in the various states as supporters and opponents debated their views. Sherman's “Letters” played an important role in persuading Connecticut to ratify the Constitution. Sherman's public career ended with two years in the U.S. Senate. He died on July 23, 1793.