Five men served on the Continental Congress’s Declaration Committee. We know three of them well: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. But who were the other two?
In this episode, we explore the lives and contributions of Robert R. Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut.
Historians Geoff Benton and Michael Morand join us as we uncover the stories of the other Committee members.
This episode was made possible with support from Massachusetts Historical Society, the first historical society in the United States.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Episode Summary
Geoff Benton is the author of three books about the American Revolution. He’s currently the Historic Site Manager at the Clermont State Historic Site in Germantown, New York.
Michael Morand is the Director of Community Engagement for the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, and has held several municipal appointments in the city of New Haven. He currently serves as the New Haven City Historian, in which role he is co-chair of the local America 250 commemorations.
In the episode, our guests reveal:
- How Robert Livingston grew from the heir to one of the most significant fortunes in the colony of New York into a Patriot writer and political leader
- How Roger Sherman developed an unimpeachable moral character and standing in every community he lived in during his adulthood in Connecticut
- What they each contributed during the debates about independence in June and July of 1776
- Why we should remember Livingston and Sherman as part of the founding generation
What You’ll Discover
- Robert R. Livingston’s early life and education at King’s College
- How the Livingston-DeLancey factional rivalry defined colonial New York politics
- Why Livingston sided with the patriot cause
- How Livingston came to be appointed to the Second Continental Congress
- The 1775 “Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain” that Livingston drafted for Congress
- Why Livingston was placed on the Committee of Five
- How Livingston just missed being the man who personally persuaded the New York Provincial Congress to vote for independence in July 1776
- Why Livingston left Philadelphia before the August 2nd signing and never put his name on the Declaration of Independence
- Roger Sherman’s origins as a self-made, self-taught man who identified as a cordwainer before becoming a merchant, lawyer, and public servant
- How Sherman became treasurer of Yale, a superior court judge, and one of Connecticut’s leading political figures before the Revolution
- What Thomas Jefferson meant when he called Sherman “a man who never said a foolish thing in his life”
- Sherman’s role on the Committee of Five
- Sherman’s work at the Constitutional Convention of 1787
- How Sherman engineered the Connecticut Compromise (also called the Great Compromise) in 1787
- What it means that two men from such different generations—Sherman at 55, Livingston at 29—both chose independence in 1776
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Geoff Benton
- Clermont State Historic Site
- Benton, The Livingston Lion
- Benton, The Fight for Tom Cod
- Michael Morand
- Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University
- Robert Livingston portrait
- Roger Sherman portrait
- Yale & Slavery Research Project
- Yale and Slavery: A History
- New Haven 250
- Petition to the King authored by Robert Livingston, July 8, 1775
- Christopher Collier (1930-2020), former Connecticut State Historian
- John Adams to Timothy Pickering, August 6, 1822
- John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
- Ezra Stiles diary entry on Sherman’s death, July 23, 1793
- Transcript
Complementary Episodes
🎧 Episode 018: Our Declaration
🎧 Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft
🎧 Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship and Rivalry of Adams & Jefferson
🎧 Episode 415: The Many Declarations of Independence
🎧 Episode 439: When the Declaration of Independence Was News in 1776
Support Our Work
Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World?
Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.
Request a Topic
📨 Topic Request Form
📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.com
When You’re Ready
🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter
👩💻 BFW Listener Community
🌍 The History Explorers Club
Take the Quiz
🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
👉https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quiz
Connect
🦋 Liz on Bluesky
👩💻 Liz on LinkedIn
🛜 Liz’s Website
Listen!
Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!
| 
Say Thanks
💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
💚 Leave a rating on Spotify
* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.
Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin’s World contact sales@advertisecast.com.
More from this show