John Morton

McKenna Snow
Class of 2024

(7/2022) One thing I love about Mount Saint Mary’s is that it is about twenty minutes from Pennsylvania. I like Pennsylvania because it is a "northern" state that reminds me of my home state, Kentucky; they share rolling, green hills and farmland. I gravitated to picking John Morton because I saw that he was from Pennsylvania and was a farmer. The majority of the signers were lawyers and merchants, so I was surprised to read about John Morton. I found that he was a rather simple man, less "distinguished" as it were, but still very active in early American politics according to what stature he was given.

John Morton was born in 1725 in Pennsylvania. He was a representative for Pennsylvania as the colonies cast their vote for declaring their independence from England, finding himself in the tie-breaking position to see if Pennsylvania would vote for independence. Morton built his way up to a position of this gravity through simple, humble beginnings; whether he intended to rise to such a place or if he simply became so as a result of love for his neighbor is a more ambiguous question.

Before life in the public eye, Morton was a farmer. Unlike most of the other signers, he was not extensively educated. Rather, it is speculated that he received around three months of formal education in his life and was instructed personally throughout his childhood by his stepfather. That is quite the comparison to the average, modern-day college student: thirteen years of primary and secondary school, and then four years of college. The difference between the beginning years of America and life two hundred years later is astounding: I imagine Morton would be surprised to see how accessible formal education has become.

However, his lack of formal education did not define him, and he found ways to become involved with his local community and politics on a small scale, eventually growing to a state-wide scale. The website "Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence" wrote that "Morton assisted neighbors by overseeing their books and maps as well as surveying their property. He also acted as an advocate and advisor for them when necessary." This helped those around him to get to know his character and build trust. He was voted into varying positions of local political power by those whom he had once helped simply because they were his neighbors: Justice of the Peace, High Sheriff of the County of Chester, Judge of the Court of General Quarters Session, and more. He was the presiding officer as Justice of Orphan’s Court from 1770 until March 25, 1774. Despite his lack of education, the common sense he used in legal matters garnered him enough respect to qualify for these positions.

In his private life, Morton was twenty-three when he married Anne Justis; their family grew significantly over the years, as they had nine children. One of their daughters married a man who fought in the American Revolution, and one of their sons was a surgeon who was a prisoner of war on a British ship.

How did this farmer and local politician become one of the men to sign the Declaration? The "Descendants of the Signers" website writes, "In 1774, while serving as Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, he was voted to be a delegate to the First Continental Congress held in Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. On November 4, 1775 he was elected to the Second Continental Congress which was held in the State House, later renamed Independence Hall." Being a part of this congress gave Morton a role in voting on behalf of Pennsylvania to declare whether the state would vote for independence or for loyalty to England. Morton was the last of the Pennsylvanian representatives to vote, and his vote was the tiebreaker; had he voted no, Pennsylvania would not have sided with the patriots, and the war might have looked much different. Pennsylvania has the nickname "the Keystone State," and it may be because of Morton’s vote which cemented Pennsylvania into the patriots’ cause. Tara Ross online wrote, "As a keystone is critical to holding an arch together, many believed that Pennsylvania was critical to holding the American colonies together at that moment in time."

Thus, in 1776, Morton voted for independence, recognizing the needs of the new country, and turned the tide. This was no impulsive vote, but rather was a cause he supported far before the open war. In 1775, Morton wrote a letter to Thomas Powell that records strong words in favor of America’s cause for independence. Morton wrote, "I hope Time will manifest to the World that a steady Perseverance in the Cause of Freedom will triumph over all the deep lay’d Schemes of Tyranny, & that Britain & America will again be united on the solid Foundation of Commerce & the Constitution… You have declared the New England People Rebels, & the other Provinces Aiders & Abettors, this is putting the Halter about our Necks, & we may as well die by the Sword as be hang’d like Rebels, this has made the People desperate."

Morton was the first of the signers to pass away after the Declaration, as he died of tuberculosis at the age of 53, in April of 1777. That same year, as the war for independence blazed on, Morton’s wife Anne was forced to flee across the Delaware River to Billingsport, New Jersey, during which many of Morton’s papers and household possessions were destroyed. It can be difficult due to circumstances such as these, to know much about people of the past, since so much of what we know is dependent upon what evidence we have of their legacy. But at least for this one man, if nothing else about him was left behind, he left one indelible mark of evidence that says what all people passing through like to write: "John Morton was here." How neat it is that a farmer from old Pennsylvania got to write that on the Declaration of Independence!