Excerpt from A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence: And of Washington and Patrick Henry; With an Appendix Containing the Constitution of the United States and Other Documents In the order of the names, it seems most appropriate to place the author of the Declaration of Independence first. In some instances, a character of high classic attainments has been placed by the side of one whose literary advantages were extreme} y limited, that the reader, when admiring the dazzling splendour of the former, may contem plate the equal patriotism and substantial usefulness of the latter. The names of Messrs. Gwinnett and Ellery, are placed by the side of each other because of the contrast in their demise. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.