Sherman, Roger, 1721–93, American political leader, b. Newton, Mass. Sherman helped to draft and signed the Declaration of Independence. He was long a member (1774–81, 1783–84) of the Continental Congress, helped to draw up the Articles of Confederation, and after serving as a member of the Constitutional Convention (1787) was one of the strongest proponents of the new Constitution. He was prominent in Connecticut colonial and state politics and was mayor of New Haven and treasurer of Yale College. Sherman was a U.S. Representative (1789–91) and U.S. Senator (1791–93).

Bibliography

See biographies by L. H. Boutell (1896) and R. S. Boardman (1938, repr. 1971); C. Collier, Roger Sherman's Connecticut (1971).

Sherman, Roger

(born April 19, 1721, Newton, Mass.—died July 23, 1793, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) American jurist and politician. Active in trade and law in Connecticut, he served as judge of the superior court (1766–85) and mayor of New Haven (1784–93). A delegate to the Continental Congress, he signed the Declaration of Independence and helped draft the Articles of Confederation. At the Constitutional Convention, he proposed a compromise on congressional representation that combined facets of the two opposing plans by the large and small states. The result, called the Connecticut (or Great) Compromise, which was incorporated into the Constitution, provided for a bicameral legislature with representation based on population in one house (House of Representatives) and on the principle of equality in the other (Senate).

Sherman, Roger (1721–93) statesman, patriot; born in Newton, Mass. He lived in Connecticut from 1743. A tireless legislator, he had the distinction of being the only person to sign all of the following: the Articles of Association (1774), the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Articles of Confederation (1777), and the Constitution (1787). He later served as a senator (1791–93).