Sherman, Roger (1721-1793), was the only person who signed all four of these documents: the Articles of Association (1774), the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Articles of Confederation (1777), and the Constitution of the United States (1787). Sherman was born on April 19, 1721, in Newton, Massachusetts. In 1743, he moved to Connecticut, where he became prominent in business, law, and politics. Sherman served as judge of the Connecticut Superior Court from 1766 to 1789.
When the American independence movement began, Sherman was among the first to deny the supremacy of the British Parliament over the American Colonies. He was influential in the Second Continental Congress, where Massachusetts patriot leader John Adams said he was “as firm in the cause of American Independence as Mount Atlas.” During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Sherman presented the Great Compromise, sometimes called the Connecticut Compromise. It resolved the differences between the large and small states on representation in the national legislature (see Constitution of the United States (The compromises) ). He served his state in the U.S. Congress as a representative from 1789 to 1791 and as a senator from 1791 to 1793. He died on July 23, 1793. A statue of Sherman represents Connecticut in the U.S. Capitol.
