Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 48
By This is the grave of Roger Sherman.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1721, Roger Sherman moved with his family to Connecticut in 1743, where he rapidly rose in the colony’s political scene. He had little formal education but picked up the law in his 30s. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1755-58 and 1760-61. In 1766, he was elected to the General Assembly’s Governor Council, where he remained until 1785. Although not a talkative man, he calm demeanor demanded respect and during the American Revolution, he became one of the new nation’s most important political leaders. He was one of only two people to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. He was on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. At the Constitutional Convention, he was opposed to James Madison and an advocate of protecting the interests of small states like his own. But with the convention deadlocked, Sherman was one of two people to present the compromise that gave the United States its bicameral legislature. He was the second oldest person at the Constitutional Convention, only behind Franklin, so his political career waned soon after. Sherman died in New Haven in 1793 of typhoid fever.
Roger Sherman is buried in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut.