Delegates to the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 56 delegates who signed the formal break from Britain are all considered Founding Fathers.
North Carolina was represented by three delegates: Joseph Hewes, William Hooper and John Penn. All North Carolina signatures are grouped at the top of the second column from left.
Hewes and Penn are two of 16 who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, the first governing document of the United States, which established a unified government while preserving states' rights.
Joseph Hewes
Hewes was born Jan. 23, 1730, at Maybury Hill, a family estate near Princeton, New Jersey. His parents, Aaron and Providence Worth Hewes, were Quakers and successful farmers. He had three brothers and two sisters.
He had a strict Quaker upbringing, worked on the family farm and attended the Quaker-run Kingston Friends Grammar School located near Princeton.
Hewes was engaged to Isabella Johnson, who died suddenly in 1766, just days before their wedding. Her death remained a personal sorrow for Hewes, and he never married. Instead, he devoted himself to his country and public service.
In 1749, he moved to Philadelphia to apprentice under a successful merchant to gain experience in trade and shipping. His apprenticeship took him to many ports, including Boston, New York and Edenton, North Carolina, where he moved in 1754 and launched a prosperous mercantile company. Hewes served as the justice of the peace, and in 1760, he was elected to the North Carolina Assembly, where he served until 1775. During this time, he was a member of the Committee of Correspondence, a political organization established in the colonies to coordinate resistance against British rule and promote colonial unity, which led to the American Revolution. He represented North Carolina in the First and Second Continental Congress.
During the Revolutionary War, Hewes played a pivotal role in establishing the Continental Navy by offering his own ships for use and serving on the naval committee of the Second Continental Congress. John Adams credited Hewes with laying "the foundation, cornerstone of the American Navy."
Hewes' heavy workload and stress of wartime service caused his health to decline; he died Nov. 10, 1779, in Philadelphia while still serving in Congress. Hewes is the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to die in office. His funeral at Christ Church in Philadelphia was attended by his colleagues and many prominent figures, including Gen. George Washington. He was buried at the Christ Church Burial Ground.
William Hooper
Hooper was born June 17, 1742, in Boston. He was the eldest child of Scottish immigrants, the Rev. William Hooper Sr., a Protestant minister, and Mary Dennie Hooper. He had two brothers and two sisters.
His father hoped his son would follow him into the ministry and enrolled Hooper in the Boston Latin School when he was 7. At the age of 16, he enrolled in Harvard College and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1760. Despite his father's wishes, Hooper went on to study law under James Otis, a lawyer, political activist and patriot leader who shaped the ideology for the American Revolution.
After passing the bar, Hooper moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1764 and built a successful legal practice.
On Aug. 16, 1767, he married Anne Clark. They had two boys and a girl.
Hooper was appointed deputy attorney for the Salisbury District in 1769 and deputy attorney general of North Carolina in 1770.
As a result of Hooper's support for the North Carolina colonial governor's attempt to quash the Regulator Movement, he became a target. An angry mob dragged Hooper through the streets of Hillsborough, North Carolina, in September 1770.
Hooper's views shifted after the Boston Tea Party, Dec. 16, 1773, and he became a founding member of the Committee of Correspondence and played a key role in organizing North Carolina's first Provincial Congress in 1774, where he advocated for independence. He went on to represent North Carolina in the First and Second Continental Congress, where his work earned the nickname "Prophet of Independence."
Following the war, Hooper resumed his law practice and remained active in politics, urging forgiveness and compassion for loyalists who remained in the United States.
He died on Oct. 14, 1790, and was buried in the churchyard of Old Town Cemetery in Hillsborough. In 1894, his remains were disinterred and reburied at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, North Carolina, as part of a monument to the North Carolina signers of the Declaration of Independence.
John Penn
Penn was born on May 17, 1741, near Port Royal, Virginia. He was the only child of Moses and Catherine Taylor Penn.
After his father's death, Penn studied law under his uncle, Edmund Pendleton, and became a lawyer in 1762.
He married Susannah Lyne in 1763. They had a boy and a girl.
In 1774, Penn moved to Williamsborough (present-day Stovall), North Carolina, where he became involved in politics and aligned with the cause of resisting British taxation and pursuing independence.
Penn was elected to the North Carolina Provincial Congress in 1775. Later in the year, he was also elected to the Second Continental Congress, served multiple terms and was one of the first delegates to advocate for separation from Britain.
During the American Revolution, Penn served on the North Carolina Board of War, where he ensured troops were supplied, managed state finances and coordinated military efforts against the British.
After the war, Penn returned to Williamsborough, North Carolina, and was appointed receiver of taxes, but he resigned and resumed his law practice until his death Sept. 14, 1788.
He was buried near his home. Like Hopper's, Penn's remains were disinterred and reburied at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro.
This is the 11th installment in a series of articles about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence. The 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, representing the 13 colonies, are all considered Founding Fathers.