Roger Sherman

Roger Sherman. America 250. , Connecticut’s Roger Sherman was the only person to sign all four of the founding documents of the United States. Ralph Earl painted this portrait in 1775., Sherman was born in Massachusetts in 1721 and moved to New Milford, CT, at the age of 22. He ran a store, became a surveyor, then a lawyer. In 1761, he moved to New Haven, his prominence rose, and in 1766 he was elected to the general Assembly’s Council of Assistants. In 1774, Sherman represented Connecticut at the First Continental Congress and, in 1775, at the Second. , Known for both his Puritan values and his shrewd political instincts, Sherman became the only person to sign the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and in 1787, the Constitution., Ralph Earl painted this portrait shortly after he arrive in New Haven from England, depicting Sherman in a simple, homespun suit that suggests an American rejection of European culture. Earl, a Loyalist, fled for England soon after, returning to settle in Bolton, CT once the war ended. , The portrait is in the Yale University Art Gallery.