Abraham Clark

Abraham Clark

Abraham Clark (born February 15, 1725 in Elizabethtown , Province of New Jersey , colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain , today United States , † September 15, 1794 in Rahway , New Jersey , USA) was an American politician and founding father of the USA . He took part in the Revolutionary War, sat as a delegate for New Jersey in the Continental Congress , where he signed the Declaration of Independence , and was a member of the US House of Representatives .

Clark was a land surveyor, attorney, and clerk in the provincial parliament. He was later elected Sheriff Chief of Essex County, New Jersey and in 1775 to the Provincial Congress. He was a member of the security committee.

In early 1776 the New Jersey delegation opposed independence from Great Britain. When the struggle for independence became the most important issue, the State Congress replaced all of its delegates with men who stood for independence. On June 21, Clark was named new delegate along with John Hart , Francis Hopkinson , Richard Stockton and John Witherspoon . They arrived in Philadelphia on June 28th and signed the Declaration of Independence there in early July.

Clark stayed on the Continental Congress for 1778. New Jersey reelected him twice, from 1780 to 1783 and from 1786 to 1788. Clark abdicated before his state's constitutional assembly in 1794.

Clark had been married to Sarah Hatfield since 1748 and had ten children with her. The city of Clark in northeast New Jersey is named after Abraham Clark. He was buried in the Rahway cemetery.

Web links

• Abraham Clark in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)