37 - Nicholas Gilman (NH)

#37 - Nicholas Gilman (NH)
Birthplace: Exeter, NH
Age at Convention: 32

1) Religion
-- Congregationlist
-- Unable to find documentation indicating religion had a significant place in his life.

2) Slavery
-- Father may have owned a slave
-- Classifying as partial abolitionist as he was a delegate from the North
-- Unable to find much documentation

3) Upbringing
-- 2nd son of 8 children
-- Educated in local schools
-- Worked in his father's general store

References:
1) http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/gilman.html
2) http://www.myseacoastjob.com/2001news/2_25d.htm

Running tabulation:
1) Religiously Active (13) or Primarily Secular (6)
2) Abolitionist (9), Partial Abolitionist (7) or Non-Abolitionist (3)
3) Wealthy (6) or Middle-Class/Poor (13)

38 - Elbridge Gerry (MA)

#38 - Elbridge Gerry (MA)
Birthplace: Marblehead, MA
Age at Convention: 43
Note: Delegate to the Congress, but did not sign the Constitution

1) Religion
-- Episcopalian
-- Called on the state of Massachusetts to pray that "with one heart and voice we may prostrate ourselves at the throne of heavenly grace and present to our Great Benefactor sincere and unfeigned thanks for His infinite goodness and mercy towards us from our birth to the present moment for having above all things illuminated us by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, presenting to our view the happy prospect of a blessed immortality"
-- As governor, issued a proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, Praise, and Prayer

2) Slavery
-- Favored the abolishment of slavery
-- Sarcastically quoted "Blacks are property, and are used to the southward as horses and cattle to the northward; and why should their representation be increased to the southward on account of the number of slaves, than horses or oxen to the north?"

3) Upbringing
-- 3rd of 12 children
-- Mother was daughter of a Boston merchant
-- Father was a wealthy & politically active merchant-shipper
-- Graduated from Harvard

References:
1) http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/gerry.html
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbridge_Gerry
3) http://www.adherents.com/people/pg/Elbridge_Gerry.html
4) http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=8755
5) http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=18292

Running tabulation:
1) Religiously Active (13) or Primarily Secular (5)
2) Abolitionist (9), Partial Abolitionist (6) or Non-Abolitionist (3)
3) Wealthy (6) or Middle-Class/Poor (12)

39 - Benjamin Franklin (PA)

#39 - Benjamin Franklin (PA)
Birthplace: Boston, MA
Age at Convention: 81

1) Religion
-- Suggested that "hence forth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business" on June 28 while the Constitutional Convention was in disarray.
-- Made a motion at the Convention to bring in a clergyman to pray for their deliberations
-- Said "I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God governs in the affairs of men"

2) Slavery
-- 1st President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery
-- First committed himself to abolishing slavery in 1730s
-- Final public act was signing of a memorial to Congress to recommend the end of the slavery system

3) Upbringing
-- 10th son of a soap & candlemaker
-- Primarily self-taught, did receive some formal education

References:
1) http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/franklin.html
2) http://www.adherents.com/people/pf/Benjamin_Franklin.html

Running tabulation:
1) Religiously Active (12) or Primarily Secular (5)
2) Abolitionist (8), Partial Abolitionist (6) or Non-Abolitionist (3)
3) Wealthy (5) or Middle-Class/Poor (12)

40 - Thomas Fitzsimmons (PA)

#40 - Thomas Fitzsimmons (PA)
Birthplace: Ireland
Age at Convention: 46

1) Religion
-- Outstanding supporter of Philadelphia's St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church
-- Devoted philanthropist

2) Slavery
-- Member of the "39" that opposed slavery in the Northwestern Territory
-- Presented a petition stating "...we cannot doubt must produce the abolition of the slave trade"

3) Upbringing
-- Father provided him and his 4 siblings an adequate education

References:
1) http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/fitzsimons.html
2) http://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Fitzsimmons__Thomas.html
3) http://books.google.com/books?id=YK69cgJMDkwC&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=thomas+fitzsimmons+slavery&source=bl&ots=29-3bAYRxX&sig=W9uxUDKBIWnk1EvUPRmfmyTs-jw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result
4) http://books.google.com/books?id=4oN1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=thomas+fitzsimons+slavery&source=bl&ots=Xuqv8eMAYG&sig=FagqYwFYpxn38mq4Vl6mje9OCU8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA8,M1

Running tabulation:
1) Religiously Active (11) or Primarily Secular (5)
2) Abolitionist (7), Partial Abolitionist (6) or Non-Abolitionist (3)
3) Wealthy (5) or Middle-Class/Poor (11)

41 - William Few (GA)

#41 - William Few (GA)
Birthplace: Baltimore, MD
Age at Convention: 39

1) Religion
-- Devote Methodist
-- Donated generously to philanthropic causes

2) Slavery
-- Member of societies for the abolition of slavery
-- Voted to abolish slavery in the Northwestern Territory

3) Upbringing
-- Born on a farm
-- Encountered much hardship and minimal schooling
-- Self taught lawyer

References:
1) http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/few.html
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_abolitionists
3) http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081117184842AAHmT6n
4) http://books.google.com/books?id=YK69cgJMDkwC&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=%22William+Few%22+slavery&source=bl&ots=29-3aB_RAU&sig=n9gqfdCnl6nJSdX38aunCOuiLYA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result
5) http://books.google.com/books?id=8_1CCrRVRWUC&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=%22William+Few%22+slavery&source=web&ots=7TIn0qaM8Z&sig=G2WnAXCX7GFAxZTMPi0ntcyBBQk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA101,M1
6) http://www.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/american_civil_war_retired/38227/265142

Running tabulation:
1) Religiously Active (10) or Primarily Secular (5)
2) Abolitionist (6), Partial Abolitionist (6) or Non-Abolitionist (3)
3) Wealthy (5) or Middle-Class/Poor (10)

42 - Oliver Ellsworth (CT)

#42 - Oliver Ellsworth (CT)
Birthplace: Windsor, CT
Age at Convention: 42

1) Religion
-- Studied theology at Yale and College of New Jersey (Princeton)
-- Active member of the Congregational First Church of Windsor
-- "If I demean myself as a good citizen, I am accountable, not to man, but to God, for the religious opinions which I embrace, and the manner in which I worship the supreme being"
-- "A test in favour of any one denomination of Christians would be to the last degree absurd in the United States. If it were in favour of either congregationalists, presbyterians, episcopalions, baptists, or quakers, it would incapacitate more than three-fourths of the American citizens for any publick office; and thus degrade them from the rank of freemen. There need no argument to prove that the majority of our citizens would never submit to this indignity."
-- "We are almost the only people in the world, who have a full enjoyment of this important right of human nature. In our country every man has a right to worship God in that way which is most agreeable to his conscience"

2) Slavery
-- Did not own slaves
-- Opposed abolition of foreign slave trade
-- Favored slavery being subject to state authority, likely to ensure the support of Southern States to prevent a breakdown at the Convention

3) Upbringing
-- Born to Capt. David and Jemima Leavitt

References:
1) http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/ellsworth.html
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Ellsworth
3) http://www.geocities.com/peterroberts.geo/Relig-Politics/OEllsworth.html

Running tabulation:
1) Religiously Active (9) or Primarily Secular (5)
2) Abolitionist (5), Partial Abolitionist (6) or Non-Abolitionist (3)
3) Wealthy (5) or Middle-Class/Poor (9)

43 - John Dickinson (DE)

#43 - John Dickinson (DE)
Birthplace: Talbot County, MD
Age at Convention: 54

1) Religion
-- "Kings or parliaments could not give the rights essential to happiness... We claim them from a higher source -- from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth. They are not annexed to us by parchments and seals. They are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature. They are born with us; exist with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power, without taking our lives."
-- "As Congress is now to legislate for our extensive territory lately acquired, I pray to Heaven that they ...[c]urse not the inhabitants of those regions, and of the United States in general, with a permission to introduce bondage [slavery]."

2) Slavery
-- Freed his own slaves

3) Upbringing
-- Son of a prosperous farmer
-- Raised by private tutors

References:
1) http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates/dickinson.html
2) http://history.delaware.gov/museums/jdp/jdpslave.pdf
3) http://www.christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g003.html
4) http://www.nhinet.org/ahern.htm
5) http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote/john_dickinson_quote_9d75

Running tabulation:
1) Religiously Active (8) or Primarily Secular (5)
2) Abolitionist (5), Partial Abolitionist (5) or Non-Abolitionist (3)
3) Wealthy (5) or Middle-Class/Poor (8)