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Thomas Fitzsimons (October 1741August 26, 1811) was an Irish-born
American Founding Father The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...
, merchant, banker, and politician. A resident of
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, Fitzsimons represented
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
in the
Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
, was a delegate to Constitutional Convention, and served in U.S. Congress. He was a signatory of the
Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nati ...
. A slave owner, Fitzsimons was an early proponent of abolishing the
slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
in the newly formed nation.


Biography

Fitzsimons was born in the
Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label= Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...
in 1741. In the mid-1750s his family immigrated to Philadelphia, and his father soon afterward. Fitzsimons had enough education that he could begin work as a clerk in a mercantile house. He married Catherine Meade on November 23, 1761, and formed a business partnership with her brother George. Their firm, which specialized in the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
trade, successfully operated for over 41 years.


Revolutionary bent

The firm was soon hit by the new revenue measures created to help support the finances of the
Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, wh ...
, including the much-reviled
Stamp Act of 1765 The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 (5 Geo. III c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials ...
. Concerned with these ideas, Fitzsimons became active in the Irish merchant community in Philadelphia. He was a founding member of the
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, officially The Society of The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland, is an American charitable and social organization for Irish-Americans founded in 1771. Organizational history ...
in 1771 and later, in 1774, a steering committee organized to protest the
Coercive Acts The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure ...
. When Pennsylvania began mobilizing and organizing a militia to fight the British, Fitzsimons became involved. He served as captain of a company of home guards, which he raised under the command of Colonel John Cadwalader. Initially, his company served as part of the soldiers who manned posts along the New Jersey coast to defend against invasion. His unit later served as part of the reserve at the 1776
Battle of Trenton The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal American Revolutionary War battle on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton the previous night, ...
. Later in the war, he served on the Pennsylvania Council of Safety and headed a board to oversee the newly formed Pennsylvania Navy. Under this role, he helped organize the strategic resources of Pennsylvania and later provided supplies, ships, and money in support of Pennsylvanian and French forces.


Politics

Thomas Fitzsimons entered politics as a delegate to the
Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
in 1782 and 1783. He was a member of
Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...
from 1786 until 1795. He was also a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787. Although not a leading member of that convention, he supported a strong national government, the end of slavery, the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
's powers to impose a
tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and p ...
on imports and exports, the granting of the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, and power in equal to the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
in making treaties. Based on debates had during the convention, he was not a supporter of
universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...
. He was one of two
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
signers of the United States Constitution, the other being
Daniel Carroll Daniel Carroll (July 22, 1730May 7, 1796) was an American politician and plantation owner from Maryland and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He supported the American Revolution, served in the Confederation Congress, was a del ...
of Maryland. Fitzsimons was a supporter of the military, and he was not shy on sharing his opinion. He is known to have been open about his agreement on not dissolving the army until absolutely necessary.Flanders, Henry. "Thomas Fitzsimmons." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 2, no. 3, 1878, pp. 306–314. After the Constitution was established, he served in the first three sessions of the House of Representatives as a Federalist, where he favored protective tariffs and a strong navy, co-drafting the 1794 law authorizing the
original six frigates of the United States Navy The United States Congress authorized the original six frigates of the United States Navy with the Naval Act of 1794 on March 27, 1794, at a total cost of $688,888.82 (). These ships were built during the formative years of the United States N ...
.Frederick C. Leiner, ''Millions for Defense: The Subscription Warships of 1798'' (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000), 55. Fitzsimons failed to win re-election in 1794, being defeated by
John Swanwick John Swanwick (1760August 1, 1798) was an American merchant, poet and politician. He served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and from 1795 to 1798 served in the United States representative from Pennsylvania in the 4th and 5th congresses. E ...
, who carried seven of Philadelphia's twelve districts with 57% of the vote. This was partially attributed to public opinion turning against the
Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. Defeated by the Jeffersonian Repu ...
over the forceful suppression of the
Whiskey Rebellion The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...
. Although he never held elective office again, Fitzsimons served in 1798 as head of the committee of merchants overseeing the subscription-loan to build a warship at private expense for use in the
Quasi-War The Quasi-War (french: Quasi-guerre) was an undeclared naval war fought from 1798 to 1800 between the United States and the French First Republic, primarily in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the United States. The ability of Congress ...
. In 1796, FitzSimons, along with James Innes of Virginia, was appointed by President
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
to serve as one of two American members on the five-man debt commission charged under Article VI of the
Jay Treaty The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay's Treaty, was a 1794 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted ...
with examining the claims of British subjects unable to collect debts incurred by Americans prior to the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
. FitzSimons, Innes, and,
Samuel Sitgreaves Samuel Sitgreaves (March 16, 1764April 4, 1827) was a United States representative from Pennsylvania. Early life and education Sitgreaves was born in Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania. He pursued classical studies, studied law, ...
, who replaced Innes upon the latter's death, became annoyed with the arguments used by their three British counterparts, Thomas Macdonald, Henry Pye Rich, and John Guillemard, to inflate the claims total, and FitzSimons and Sitgreaves angrily and permanently seceded from the board in July 1799. The claims were eventually disposed of by a lump-sum payment, agreed upon by United States Minister to Britain
Rufus King Rufus King (March 24, 1755April 29, 1827) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and the Philadelphia Convention and was one of the signers of the Uni ...
with British Foreign Secretary Robert Banks Jenkinson and approved by President
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
and the Senate in 1802. After withdrawing from politics, Fitzsimons remained active in civic and business affairs. He served as president of Philadelphia's
Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ...
, as a trustee of the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
, director of the Delaware Insurance Company, and a director of the
Bank of North America The Bank of North America was the first chartered bank in the United States, and served as the country's first ''de facto'' central bank. Chartered by the Congress of the Confederation on May 26, 1781, and opened in Philadelphia on January 7, 17 ...
from 1781 to 1803. He was a founder of the bank and supported efforts to found the College of Georgetown. Fitzsimons had also helped found the
Insurance Company of North America Insurance Company of North America (INA) is the oldest stock insurance company in the United States, founded in Philadelphia in 1792. It was one of the largest American insurance companies of the 19th and 20th centuries before merging with Connec ...
. Fitzsimons died on August 26, 1811, in Philadelphia, where he was buried in the cemetery of St. Mary's Catholic Church.''National Aegis Newspaper'' (Worcester, MA), Vol. X, Issue 502, p. 3: Died, also, at an advanced age, Thomas Fitzsimmons, Esq, an old inhabitant of Philadelphia, and formerly a member of Congress, and a member of the Federal Convention of 1787.


References


External links


Biography
at the
United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Ar ...

Biography
at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
Archives * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzsimons, Thomas 1741 births 1811 deaths People from County Wexford Kingdom of Ireland emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies People of colonial Pennsylvania American people of Irish descent Catholics from Pennsylvania Continental Congressmen from Pennsylvania Signers of the United States Constitution Pro-Administration Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania American slave owners Politicians from Philadelphia American militia officers Pennsylvania militiamen in the American Revolution