George Read
George Read served Delaware in the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the first federal government, making him a key link between the Declaration era and the Constitution of 1787.
Born August 29, 1765 / Died September 3, 1836
On September 18, 1733, in North East Parish, Cecil County, Province of Maryland, George Read was born before his family settled in New Castle, Delaware. He studied law in Philadelphia under John Moland and built a successful practice that led to service in the Delaware Assembly. Those legal and legislative roles made him a prominent figure when imperial disputes sharpened after 1765.
Read attended the Stamp Act Congress, entered the Continental Congress, and at first moved cautiously on independence in 1776. Once Delaware's delegation aligned with separation, he signed the Declaration of Independence and continued to serve the state during the war. In 1787 he sat in the Constitutional Convention, then entered the first United States Senate and later became chief justice of Delaware.
Read's career connected Delaware's Revolutionary leadership to the Senate, the state judiciary, and the Constitution's new federal order. His later judicial service helped carry Founding Era arguments about sovereignty and law into the institutions that outlasted the Revolution.
Key Contributions
- George Read Jr.
- The Declaration of Independence that George Read supported announced American sovereignty in the language of natural rights.
- On July 4, 1776, George Read signed the Declaration of Independence as part of the political leadership tied to Delaware.
Related Events
Constitutional Convention convenes
From May to September 1787, delegates in Philadelphia abandoned revision of the Articles of Confederation and drafted a new Constitution under George Washington's presidency.
United States Constitution signed
On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution in Philadelphia and sent the proposed frame of government to the states for ratification.
Declaration of Independence adopted
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and ordered the document printed as the public case for separation.
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