VI. SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE N.H. SUPREME COURT
Amazing though it may be, all three signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 from New Hampshire were to
serve on the New Hampshire Supreme Court: Josiah Bartlett, Matthew Thornton, and William Whipple.23
They were among the twenty-five out of fifty-six signers who had legal ties.24 None of the three were trained
lawyers, but rather lay judges.25 Two were physicians and one was a sea merchant. A summary of the three follows:
Josiah Bartlett was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in November, 1729. He studied the science of medicine,
and practiced as a physician at Kingston, in New Hampshire. In 1775, he was elected to represent New Hampshire in the
Continental Congress. He voted for independence, and was the first to sign the Declaration after John Hancock.
He served on the New Hampshire Supreme Court in the year 1790 as Chief Justice.
Matthew Thornton was born in Ireland in 1714. His parents emigrated to America when he was three.
They first settled in Wiscasset, Maine, but soon moved to Worcester, Massachusetts. He became a physician, and in 1745 was
appointed surgeon to the New Hampshire troops. As a member of a local committee of Safety in 1775, he was asked to draft a
plan of government for New Hampshire after dissolution of the royal government. His plan was adopted immediately and became
the first Constitution for our State (and was in fact the first new state Constitution after the start of hostilities with
Britain). He served on the New Hampshire Supreme Court from 1776 to 1782.
William Whipple was born at Kittery Maine, in 1730. He was educated at a common school until his early teens,
when he went off to sea to find his fortune. He was an able seaman, earning the position of Ship’s Master by the age of 21.
He was a member of the Committee of Safety, and was promptly elected to the Continental Congress.
He served there through 1779, though he took much leave for military affairs. In 1777 he was made Brigadier General of the
New Hampshire Militia. His Supreme Court service was from 1783 to 1785.
23 Richard F. Upton, The Contributions of the New Hampshire Bar and Bench to the American Revolution, 18:2 NH BAR JOURNAL 56 (1976).
24 Id. at 53.
25 Id. at 56.
