“When Heav’n propitious smiled upon our arms,
Or Scenes adverse spread terror and alarms,
Through every change the patriot was the same-
And FAITH and HOPE attended THOMSON’S name.”
– Gazette of the United States, July 25, 1789
EDWIN THOMSON GREINER
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Character of a Nation
"England’s Regret – The Adventures of a Noble Man of Ethics”
Charles Thomson (“The Man Who Tells The Truth”)
The CHARACTER OF A NATION is borne collectively through the individual character of its people, especially those who are entrusted with the enactment, execution and enforcement of its laws. HIS character was steeled at an early age through unparalleled adversity.
Charles was born in November 1729 in County Cork, Ireland. After his mother passed, in order to escape the predations of England, he emigrated from Ireland as part of the Scots-Irish immigration to America, at the age of ten with his father and five siblings, William, Matthew, Alexander, John and Mary.
The English, in seeking to control Ireland, had instituted policies destroying the Irish woolen trade and agriculture and under Charles II extended the Test Acts (regulating religious hegemony towards the Church of England as a condition for holding public office) to Ireland as a furtherance of the colonial policies of James I.
Their twelve week passage to America was so arduous, with disease, filth and wormy food and water, the father passed away within sight of the Delaware at New Castle. Thus began the American odyssey of these children cast into the lot of indentured servitude to redeem their debts of passage. Most became prosperous with William becoming a Revolutionary War hero in South Carolina and Alexander a farmer of note near New Castle.
At first, Charles lived with a blacksmith who considered him for an indentured apprenticeship, but well aware of his inquisitive nature and vigor of mind, he escaped into the night to better seek his fortune. It was his luck that almost immediately, a lady of means inquired into his disposition and upon replying that he should like to be a scholar was taken home and placed into school.
It was his further luck Charles was placed at the New London Academy in Pennsylvania under Dr. Francis Alison who also instructed four governors, eight congressman and four other signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. His ardent zeal for knowledge led Charles to become fluent in Latin and Greek and commence the study of theology. Upon termination of his formal studies Charles at once became a teacher and through the acquaintance of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, secured a position as a Tutor in the Latin and Greek School in the new Academy of Philadelphia in January of 1751. Regarded as one of the best scholars in the province, Charles continued in academics through the Academy and also the William Penn Charter School until October 1760.
Charles tendered his resignation from academics to engage in other business, primarily in mercantile importing from various London firms at the time of the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, in which he complained of the bad effects of the measure upon trade. The Stamp Act imposed taxes on printed materials, having to be paid only in British currency, primarily to pay for troops stationed in America, as a matter of British patronage to surplus British Officers and career soldiers. At the same time, Charles was also concerned in the “Batsto furnace” in Egg Harbor, New Jersey. During the Revolution it was employed in casting cannon-shot and bombshells for the American Army. From these successful business enterprises Charles amassed considerable wealth.
As early as 1755 Charles became a man of great influence, displaying a character so that it was a popular mode of affirming the truth of anything to say, “It is as true as if Charles Thomson’s name were to it.” At this time, a land dispute had arisen between settlers and Indians of the Six Nations, as settlers encroached on their hunting grounds. His reputation proceeding him, Charles was appointed as the Secretary to the Easton Indian Treaty and Ambassador to Tedyuseung, chief of the Delawares, who spoke for the Indian tribes. Thomson determined to prevent any intrigues against the Indians and to have the whole truth appear in the proceedings of the treaty. His continued truthfulness and efforts to secure justice for the Indian tribes led to his adoption into the tribe of the Delawares, who gave him the name “Wegh-wu-law-mo-end,” – “The man who tells the truth.” Just in time for the Revolution, the Indian tribes of the frontier became the friend of the Americans.
By 1764, a spirit of discontent developed and the first seeds of union were sown, when a convention of Presbyterian ministers and elders of Philadelphia, including elder Charles Thomson, organized the first annual Synod at Philadelphia. These Synods included the Southern and New England congregations and consequently committees of correspondence were established. Thomson organized a political society in Philadelphia of which Franklin was a member. Through this society and his involvement with the Sons of Liberty, Thomson and his committee persuaded the Philadelphia Stamp Act collector, John Hughes, to tender his resignation. With the passage of the 1765 Stamp Act, John Adams termed Thomson the “Samuel Adams of Philadelphia.” In correspondence with Franklin of 1769, Thomson wrote “…the colonies see that their property is precarious and their liberty insecure. …The continuation of these policies (Stamp Act) will tend to alienate the affections of the colonies. ….In the meanwhile, the spirit of liberty will be kept awake and the love of freedom deeply rooted; and when strength and liberty combine it is easy to foresee that a people will not long submit to arbitrary sway.”
All of this groundwork served its purpose in
1774, when the Boston Tea Party and the subsequent Boston Port Bill closed the Port of Boston, for the colonies from Pennsylvania to South Carolina to collectively come to the aid of Massachusetts. Paul Revere had arrived in Philadelphia with a letter from Boston seeking help and at a meeting of private Pennsylvania representatives, Thomson pressed for an immediate declaration in favor of Boston.
A committee was composed to draft the letter and also petitioned the Governor to convene the Assembly. Upon refusal by the Governor to convene the Assembly a further meeting was held on June 18th, attended by 8,000 citizens, in which a General Congress of the colonies was recommended to be established. Later, Thomas Jefferson wrote about the June 18th meeting that “This perilous engine became necessary to precede the Revolution.” Thomson, along with the other patriots had succeeded in nationalizing the spirit of resistance to British Tyranny and to make the cause of Massachusetts common to all the colonies.
At the subsequent general convention on July 15th, Thomson was elected Secretary and at the opening at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, Thomson was unanimously elected Secretary, a post he never relinquished. According to William Pitt, this First Congress was composed of men that no other nation in history or body of men could stand in preference to the General Congress at Philadelphia. John Adams continued, stating “There is in the Congress, a collection of the greatest men upon the continent in point of abilities, virtues and fortunes.” Thomson was gratified when in their first debates, the representatives of the colonies, in claiming their rights as founded on the immutable laws of nature, were but expressing the views of the committees of correspondence in which Thomson labored.
On July 4, 1776, the first fair copy of the Declaration of Independence was published, called the Dunlap Broadside. This first Declaration was signed by only two founders, John Hancock, as President of the Continental Congress and Charles Thomson, as Secretary. All fifty-six delegates did not sign the Declaration of Independence until August 2, 1776. On July 8th, 1776, Deborah Logan recounts how it was first given to the People, “Of those few who first heard it read, I am one. I was present in Chestnut Street a little after twelve at noon and I distinctly heard the words of this instrument read by Charles Thomson from the State house steps.”
Additionally, on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress named the first committee to design a Great Seal for the United States. It took six years, three committees, and the contributions of fourteen men before the Congress finally accepted a design by Charles Thomson (which included elements proposed by each of the three committees) in 1782.
The first committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. On August 20, the committee presented their report to Congress, who was not impressed and ordered that the report "lie on the table", ending the work of the committee. For three and a half years no further action was taken. On March 25, 1780 a second committee was formed. As with the first design, several elements were eventually used in the final seal. After two more years, Congress formed a third committee on May 4, 1782. After five days, they came up with another design, which was submitted. Congress again took no action on the submitted design. On June 13, 1782, Congress turned to its Secretary Charles Thomson, and provided all material submitted by the first three committees. Thomson took elements from all three previous committees, coming up with a new design for the final seal. Charles Thomson, as the Secretary of Congress, remained the keeper of the seal until the federal government was formed in 1789. On September 15, 1789, the United States Congress ordered "that the seal heretofore used by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be, and hereby is declared to be, the seal of the United States."
While the three Continental Congresses operated through the American Revolution, they had sixteen Presidents before George Washington but only one Secretary. This most important position, forgotten to history, provided continuity until a stronger federal republic could be established in 1789. The importance of the character of the man holding this position cannot be overstated. Frequently, during debates in Congress, when a Congressional paper appeared containing his signature the expression was often heard, “Here comes the Truth.” Thomson not only gave of his time to the cause of independence but also subscribed of his means. During Valley Forge, he and other patriotic gentlemen gave their bonds amounting to $1,300,000 to prevent dissolution of the Army.
One hundred years later, Theodore Dwight, Chief of Bureau of Rolls and Library in Washington wrote after researching the minutes of the Continental Congress, that Thomson was a man of the strictest probity and was most conscientious in the discharge of his duties. He was present at every session as The Journals of Congress are entirely in his handwriting. As perpetual Secretary, he became the soul of Congress and exerted much influence over its’ councils for fifteen years until March 2, 1789.
His political career drew to a close with the death of the Continental Congress, and his mission to Mount Vernon in April, 1789. Congress appointed Charles Thomson to notify George Washington of his election to the office of President. George Washington then accompanied Charles to New York to embark upon his new position. The adoption of the Constitution brought other men into prominence, while many of the leading figures of the Revolutionary period retired from the cares of public life.
Thomson’s character and contributions were succinctly summed up in the following poem:
HERE COMES THE TRUTH
When Heav’n propitious smiled upon our arms,
Or scenes adverse spread terror and alarms,
Through every change the Patriot was the same---
And FAITH and HOPE attended THOMSON’S name.
Gazette of the United States, July 25, 1789
His Epitaph Reads
CHARLES THOMSON
The first, and long
The Confidential Secretary of the
Continental Congress,
And the
Enlightened benefactor of his country
In its day of peril and need
Born November 29, 1729,
Died August 16, 1824.
Full of honours and of years.
As a Patriot,
His memorial and just honours
Are inscribed on the pages
Of his country’s history.
As a Christian,
His piety was sincere and enduring,
His Biblical learning was profound,
As is shown by his translation of the Septuagint,
As a man,
He was honoured, loved and wept.
