Abraham Clark (February 15, 1726 – September 15, 1794) was an American Founding Father,

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, and Revolutionary War figure. Clark was a delegate for

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

to the

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where he signed the

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and later served in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

in both the

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and Third United States Congress, from March 4, 1791, until his death in 1794.

Early life

Clark was born in Elizabethtown in the

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial history of the United States, Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherla ...

. His father, Thomas Clark, realized that he had a natural grasp for math so he hired a tutor to teach Abraham surveying. While working as a surveyor, he taught himself law and went into practice. He became quite popular and became known as "the poor man's councilor" as he offered to defend poor men who could not afford a lawyer. He was a slaveholder. Clark married Sarah Hatfield circa 1749, with whom he had 10 children. While she raised the children on their farm, Clark was able to enter politics as a clerk of the Provincial Assembly. Later he became high sheriff of Essex County and in 1775 was elected to the Provincial Congress. He was a member of the

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Political career

Early in 1776, the New Jersey delegation to the

was opposed to independence from Great Britain. As the issue heated up, the state convention replaced all their delegates with those favoring the separation. Because Clark was highly vocal on his opinion that the colonies should have their independence, on June 21, 1776, they appointed him, along with John Hart, Francis Hopkinson, Richard Stockton, and John Witherspoon as new delegates. They arrived in

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on June 28, 1776, and voted for the Declaration of Independence in early July. Clark remained in the Continental Congress through 1778, when he was elected as Essex County's Member of the New Jersey Legislative Council. New Jersey returned him twice more, from 1780 to 1783 and from 1786 to 1788. Clark was one of New Jersey's three representatives at the aborted Annapolis Convention of 1786, along with William C. Houston and

James Schureman James Schureman (February 12, 1756January 22, 1824) was an American merchant and statesman from New Brunswick, New Jersey. He represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress as well as the United States House of Representatives and United Sta ...

. In an October 12, 1804 letter to Noah Webster,

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

recalled that Clark was the delegate who formally motioned for the Constitutional Convention, because New Jersey's instructions allowed for consideration of non-commercial matters. Clark, more than many of his contemporaries, was a proponent of democracy and the common man, supporting especially the societal roles of farmers and mechanics. Because of their emphasis on production, Clark saw these occupations as the lifeblood of a virtuous society, and he decried the creditor status of more elite men, usually lawyers, ministers, physicians, and merchants, as an aristocratic threat to the future of republican government. Unlike many Founding Fathers who demanded deference to elected officials, Clark encouraged constituents to petition their representatives when they deemed change necessary. In May 1786, Clark, aided by thousands of petitions in the preceding months, pushed a pro-debtor paper money bill through the New Jersey legislature. To garner support for the paper money bill and espouse his populist vision for New Jersey's future, Clark, under the pseudonym "A Fellow Citizen," published a forty-page pamphlet entitled ''The True Policy of New-Jersey, Defined; or, Our Great Strength led to Exertion, in the Improvement of Agriculture and Manufactures, by Altering the Mode of Taxation, and by the Emission of Money on Loan, in IX Sections'' in February 1786. Clark unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1788, but was later elected to the House in 1791, where he served until his death.

Death and legacy

Clark retired before the state's Constitutional Convention in 1794. He died from sunstroke at his home. Clark Township in

Union County, New Jersey Union County is a County (United States), county in the northern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the county was the state's List of counties in New Jersey, seventh-most-populous county

, is named for him, as is Abraham Clark High School in Roselle, New Jersey. Clark is buried there at the Rahway Cemetery in Rahway, New Jersey.Dodge, Andrew R. (2005) ''Biographical directory of the United States Congress 1774–2005'', p. 824

Notes

References

* Bogin, Ruth, ''Abraham Clark and the Quest for Equality in the Revolutionary Era, 1774-1794''. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1982. * Brant, Irving. ''James Madison: The Nationalist, 1780-1787'', Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1948.

External links