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Stephen Hopkins

Stephen Hopkins (March 7, 1707–July 13, 1785) was an American political leader from Rhode Island who signed the Declaration of Independence. He served as the Chief Justice and Governor of colonial Rhode Island and was a Delegate to the Colonial Congress in Albany in 1754 and to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776.

Hopkins was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of William and Ruth (Wilkinson) Hopkins. Hopkins' younger brother, Esek Hopkins, became the first commander in chief of the Continental Navy. He grew up on a farm in Scituate, Rhode Island and attended a public school. He moved back to Providence in 1742 and worked as a foundryman, merchant, ship owner, and surveyor.

When Scituate Township separated from Providence in 1731, Hopkins plunged into politics. During the next decade, he held the following elective or appointive offices: moderator of the first town meeting of Scituate, town clerk, president of the town council, town solicitor, justice of the peace, justice and clerk of the Providence County Court of Common Pleas (in 1733, he became Chief Justice of that court).

He served in Rhode Island's colonial assembly (1732-1752, 1770-1775) and was its Speaker from 1738 to 1744, and again in 1749. In 1754, he represented Rhode Island at the Albany Congress in New York, where he and others considered Benjamin Franklin's early plan for uniting the colonies and arranging an alliance with the Indians, in view of the impending war with France. He was elected Governor of Rhode Island nine times (1755-1756, 1758-1761, 1763-1764, and 1767).

Hopkins spoke out against British tyranny long before the revolutionary period. In 1764 he published a pamphlet "The Rights of the Colonies Examined" whose broad distribution and criticism of taxation and Parliament built his reputation as a revolutionary leader.

In 1773, he freed his slaves, and the following year, while serving in the Rhode Island Assembly in 1774, he introduced a bill that prohibited the importation of slaves into the colony. This became one of the first anti-slavery laws in the new United States.

John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. Stephen Hopkins clearly visible in the rear, wearing a hat. Hopkins and his hat stand out even more in the painting's depiction on the two-dollar bill.

He led the colony's delegation to the Continental Congress later in 1774, along with Samuel Ward, and was a proud signer of the Declaration of Independence. He recorded his name with a trembling right hand, which he had to guide with his left. Hopkins had cerebral palsy, and was noted to have said, as he signed the Declaration, "My hand trembles, my heart does not." Hopkins is easily distinguishable in John Trumbull's famous painting as the gentleman standing in the back wearing a hat.

Hopkins' knowledge of the shipping business made him particularly useful as a member of the naval committee established by Congress to purchase, outfit, man and operate the first ships of the new Continental Navy. Through his participation on that committee, Hopkins was instrumental in framing naval legislation and drafting the rules and regulations necessary to govern the fledgling organization during the American War for Independence. The first American naval squadron was launched on February 18, 1776. Hopkins used his influence to secure the position of commander in chief of the new navy for his brother Esek Hopkins, an appointment that proved to be unfortunate.

In September 1776, his poor health forced him to resign from the Continental Congress and return to his home in Rhode Island. From 1777 to 1779, Hopkins remained an active member of Rhode Island's general assembly.

Hopkins helped to found a subscription library, the Providence Library Company, in 1753, and was a member of the Philosophical Society of Newport. Although largely self educated, Hopkins served as chancellor of Rhode Island College (now Brown University) from 1764 to 1785. His house is a minor historical site, located just off the main quad at Brown.

Stephen Hopkins died at his home in Providence on July 13, 1785 at the age of 78, and is interred in the North Burial Ground there. The town of Hopkinton, Rhode Island was later named after him.

The SS Stephen Hopkins, a liberty ship named in his honor, was the first U.S. ship to sink a German surface warship in World War II.

In the musical 1776, which tells the story of the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence, Stephen Hopkins is a main character played by veteran character actor Roy Poole. He is depicted as a well-meaning, but cantankerous, maverick politician and drunkard, whose force of personality helps keep the Continental Congress together. When asked for his vote on opening debate on Virginia's resolution on independence, the representative from Rhode Island to the Continential Congress declares: "I’ve never seen, heard, nor smelled an issue that was so dangerous it couldn’t be talked about. Hell yes, I’m for debating anything!"

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

United States Founding Fathers

• Stephen Hopkins' Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich (1856) at ColonialHall.com
• Stephen Hopkins (politician) at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

v • d • e Signatories of the Declaration of Independence

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