George Clymer

For other men with the same name, see George Clymer.

George Clymer (March 16, 1739 – January 24, 1813) was an American politician and Founding Father. He was one of the first Patriots to advocate complete independence from Britain. As a Pennsylvania representative, Clymer was, along with only five others, a signatory of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. He attended the Continental Congress and served in political office until the end of his life.

Biography

Clymer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in March 1739. Orphaned when only a year old, he was apprenticed to his paternal uncle, William Coleman, in preparation for becoming a merchant. He was a patriot and leader in the demonstrations in Philadelphia resulting from the Tea Act and the Stamp Act. He became a member of the Philadelphia Committee of Safety in 1773, and was elected to the Continental Congress 1776-1780. He served ably on several committees during his first congressional term and was sent to inspect the northern army on behalf of Congress in the fall of 1776. When Congress fled Philadelphia in the face of Sir Henry Clinton's threatened occupation, Clymer stayed behind with George Walton and Robert Morris. The British made a special point in destroying Clymer's country home in Chester County following the Battle of Brandywine.

He resigned from Congress in 1777, and in 1780 was elected to a seat in the Pennsylvania Legislature. In 1782, he was sent on a tour of the southern states in a vain attempt to get the legislatures to pay up on subscriptions due to the central government. He was reelected to the Pennsylvania legislature in 1784, and represented his state at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He was elected to the first U.S. Congress in 1789. Clymer shared the responsibility of being treasurer of the Continental Congress with Michael Hillegas, the first Treasurer of the United States.

He was the first president of the Philadelphia Bank, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and vice-president of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society. When Congress passed a bill imposing a duty on spirits distilled in the United States in 1791, Clymer was placed as head of the excise department, in the state of Pennsylvania. He was also one of the commissioners to negotiate a treaty with the Creek Indian confederacy at Coleraine, Georgia on June 29, 1796. He is considered the benefactor of Indiana Borough, as it was he who donated the property for a county seat in Indiana County, Pennsylvania.

Clymer died on January 24, 1813, and was buried at the Friends Burying Ground in Trenton, New Jersey.

Legacy

USS George Clymer (APA-27) was named in his honor.[1]

Clymer, Indiana County, Pennsylvania was named in his honor as was Clymer, Chautaqua County, New York. There is a George Clymer Elementary School in the School District of Philadelphia. This school has educated majority children of color following Clymer's legacy of rights for all people.

Clymer's home in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, known as Summerseat, still stands.

Sources

• George Clymer at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Further reading

• Grundfest, Jerry. "George Clymer, Philadelphia Revolutionary, 1739-1813". Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1973.

External links

• George Clymer at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856
• Biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania
• George Clymer at Find a Grave

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by District Created	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's At-large congressional district 1789 - 1791 alongside: Thomas Fitzsimons, Frederick A.C. Muhlenberg, Thomas Hartley, Thomas Scott, Henry Wynkoop, Daniel Hiester and Peter G. Muhlenberg	Succeeded by At large on a general ticket: Thomas Fitzsimons, Frederick A.C. Muhlenberg, Thomas Hartley, Israel Jacobs, John W. Kittera, Daniel Hiester, William Findley, and Andrew Gregg