Francis Hopkinson (October 2,
[Hopkinson was born on September 21, 1737, according to the then-used ]Julian calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
(old style). In 1752, however, Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
(new style) which moved Hopkinson's birthday 11 days forward to October 2, 1737. See George E. Hastings, ''The Life and Works of Francis Hopkinson''. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926), p. 43. 1737 – May 9, 1791) was an American
Founding Father
The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...
, lawyer, jurist, author, and composer. He designed Continental paper money and two early versions of flags,
one for the United States and
one for the United States Navy. He was a signer of the
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...
in July 1776 as a delegate from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
.
Hopkinson served in various roles in the early United States government including as a member of the
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...
and as a member of the Navy Board. He became the first federal judge of the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania on September 30, 1789.
Education and career
Born on October 2, 1737 (
Gregorian), September 21, 1737 (
Julian) in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
,
British America
British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...
,
Hopkinson received an
Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1757 from the College of Philadelphia (now the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
) and an
Artium Magister degree in 1760 from the same institution.
[ He was the first native American composer of a secular song in 1759.][ He was secretary of a commission of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania which made a treaty between the province and certain Indian tribes in 1761.][ He entered private practice in Philadelphia from 1761 to 1766. He was collector of customs in Salem, ]Province of New Jersey
The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the ...
in 1763.[ Hopkinson spent from May 1766 to August 1767 in England in hopes of becoming commissioner of customs for North America.]
Although unsuccessful, he spent time with the future Prime Minister Lord North
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was 12th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most o ...
, Hopkinson's cousin James Johnson James Johnson may refer to:
Artists, actors, authors, and musicians
*James Austin Johnson (born 1989), American comedian & actor, ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member
*James B. Johnson (born 1944), author of science nonfiction novels
*James P. John ...
, and the painter Benjamin West
Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...
.[
Upon his return to Philadelphia in 1768, he sold varieties of fabric and port wine. In 1768 he was elected to the revived ]American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
and served as its curator from 1776 to 1782. He was collector of customs for New Castle, Delaware Colony
Delaware Colony in the North American Middle Colonies consisted of land on the west bank of the Delaware River Bay. In the early 17th century the area was inhabited by Lenape and possibly the Assateague tribes of Native Americans. The first Eur ...
from 1772 to 1773. He resumed private practice in Bordentown, New Jersey from 1773 to 1774. He was a member of the New Jersey Provincial Council
The New Jersey Provincial Council was the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature under colonial rule until it was replaced by the New Jersey Legislative Council under the New Jersey Constitution of 1776.
History
The Provincial Council was est ...
from 1774 to 1776. He was a member of the Executive Council of New Jersey in 1775. He was admitted to practice before the bar of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases ...
on May 8, 1775. He was elected an associate justice of that court in 1776 but declined the office. He was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...
(Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
) from June 21, 1776, to November 18, 1776. He was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, representing New Jersey. He was the Chairman of the Navy Board in Philadelphia from November 18, 1776, to mid-August 1778. He was treasurer for the Continental Loan Office in Philadelphia from 1778 to 1781. He was judge of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania from 1779 to 1789. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Convention which ratified the United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
.
Hopkinson was nominated by President George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
on September 24, 1789, to the United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania
The following are former United States district courts, which ceased to exist because they were subdivided into smaller units. With the exception of California, each of these courts initially covered an entire U.S. state, and was subdivided as the ...
, to a new seat authorized by . He was confirmed by the United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
on September 26, 1789, and received his commission the same day.
Personal life and death
Hopkinson was the son of Thomas Hopkinson
Thomas Hopkinson (April 6, 1709 – November 5, 1751) was a lawyer, public official, and prominent figure in colonial Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Early life
Thomas Hopkinson was born in London, on April 6, 1709, the son of Mary Hopkinson, and T ...
and Mary Johnson Hopkinson. He married Ann Borden on September 1, 1768. They had five children. He was the father of Joseph Hopkinson, who was a member of the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
and also became a federal judge. Hopkinson's sister Mary (1742-1785) was the wife of Dr. John Morgan, surgeon general of the Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
.
On May 9, 1791, Hopkinson died in Philadelphia of a sudden apoplectic seizure. He was interred in Christ Church Burial Ground
Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, ...
in Philadelphia.
Cultural contributions
Hopkinson wrote popular airs and political satires (''jeux d'esprit'') in the form of poems and pamphlets. Some were widely circulated and powerfully assisted in arousing and fostering the spirit of political independence that issued in the American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. His principal writings are ''A Pretty Story . . .'' (1774), a satire about King George; ''The Prophecy'' (1776); and ''The Political Catechism'' (1777). Other notable essays are "Typographical Method of conducting a Quarrel", "Essay on White Washing", and "Modern Learning".
Hopkinson began to play the harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
at age seventeen and, during the 1750s, hand-copied arias, songs, and instrumental pieces by many European composers. He is credited as being the first American-born composer to commit a composition to paper with his 1759 composition "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free". By the 1760s, was playing with professional musicians in concerts.
Some of his more notable songs include "The Treaty", " The Battle of the Kegs", and "The New Roof, a song for Federal Mechanics". He also played organ at Philadelphia's Christ Church and composed or edited a number of hymns and psalms including: "A Collection of Psalm Tunes with a few Anthems and Hymns Some of them Entirely New, for the Use of the United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia" (1763), "A psalm of thanksgiving, Adapted to the Solemnity of Easter: To be performed on Sunday, the 30th of March, 1766, at Christ Church, Philadelphia" (1766), and "The Psalms of David, with the Ten Commandments, Creed, Lord's Prayer, &c. in Metre" (1767). In the 1780s, Hopkinson modified a glass harmonica
The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, glass harmonium, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica or harmonica (derived from , ''harmonia'', the Greek word for harmony), is a type of musical instrument that uses a ...
to be played with a keyboard and invented the Bellarmonic, an instrument that utilized the tones of metal balls.
At his alma mater, University of Pennsylvania, one of the buildings in the Fisher-Hassenfeld College House is named after him.
Bibliography
Books
* ''The Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings of Francis Hopkinson, Esq'' Printed by T. Dobson, 1792. Available via Google Books
Volume I
Volume II
Volume III
* ''Judgments in the Admiralty of Pennsylvania in four suits'' Printed at T. Dobson and T. Lang, 1789
Available via Internet Archive
Essays
* ''A Pretty Story Written in the Year of Our Lord 1774''. Printed by John Dunlap, 1774
Available via Google Books
* "Dissertation IV," in ''Four Dissertations, on the Reciprocal Advantages of a Perpetual Union between Great-Britain and Her American Colonies''. Printed by William & Thomas Bradford, 1766
Available via the U.S. National Library of Medicine, Digital Collections
Musical compositions
* ''Collection of Plain Tunes with a Few from Anthems and Hymns''. Printed by Benjamin Carr, 1763.
* ''Temple of Minerva''. (The First American Opera) Printed by Benjamin Carr, 1781.
* ''Seven Songs for the Harpsichord or Forte Piano''. Printed by T. Dobson, 1788.
** No. 3: "Beneath a weeping willow's shade"
Great Seal of the United States
In 1776. Hopkinson designed the Great Seal of New Jersey with assistance from Pierre Eugene du Simitiere
Pierre Eugene du Simitiere (born Pierre-Eugène Ducimetière, ; 18 September 1737,Helmut Stalder, ''Swiss made – die Dollarnote'', '' Beobachter'' 26/2010 (December 24, 2010). Geneva – October 1784, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a Genevan ...
in 1776. He was thus chosen as a consultant to design the Great Seal of the United States. Fourteen men worked on the Great Seal of the United States, including two other consultants – Simitiere (first Great Seal committee) and William Barton (third committee). The seal was finalized on June 20, 1782.
In the current rendition of the Great Seal of the United States, the 13 stars (constellation) representing the 13 original states have five points. They are arranged in the shape of a larger star with six points. The constellation comprising 13 smaller stars symbolizes the national motto, "E pluribus unum." Originally, the design had individual stars with six points, but this was changed in 1841 when a new die was cast. This seal is now impressed upon the reverse of the United States one-dollar bill
The United States one-dollar bill ($1), sometimes referred to as a single, has been the lowest value denomination of United States paper currency since the discontinuation of U.S. fractional currency notes in 1876. An image of the first U.S. ...
. The reverse of the seal, designed by Barton, contains an unfinished pyramid below a radiant eye. The unfinished pyramid was an image used by Hopkinson when he designed the Continental $50 currency bill.
United States Flag
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the first official national flag of the newly independent United States (later celebrated as Flag Day). The resolution creating the flag came from the Continental Marine Committee. Hopkinson became a member of the committee in 1776. At the time of the flag's adoption, he was the chairman of the Navy Board, which was under the Marine Committee. Today, that office has been transferred to the United States Secretary of the Navy
The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States D ...
.
Hopkinson is recognized as a designer of the Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States, United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rect ...
, and the journals of the Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
support this. On May 25, 1780, Hopkinson wrote a letter to the Continental Board of Admiralty mentioning several patriotic designs he had completed during the previous three years. One was his Board of Admiralty seal, which contained a shield of seven red and six white stripes on a blue field. Others included the Treasury Board seal, "7 devices for the Continental Currency," and "the Flag of the United States of America." Hopkinson noted that he had not asked for any compensation for the designs but was seeking a reward: "a Quarter Cask of the public Wine." The board sent that letter on to Congress.
Hopkinson submitted another bill on June 24 for his "drawings and devices." In this second letter, Hopkinson did not mention designing the flag of the United States. Instead, the first item listed was "the great Naval Flag of the United States" along with the other contributions.[Williams (2012), pp. 7–9.] This flag with its red outer stripes was designed to show up well on ships at sea. A parallel flag for the national flag was most likely intended by Hopkinson with white outer stripes as on the Great Seal of the United States and on the Bennington flag
Bennington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 15,333. Bennington is the most populous to ...
, which commemorated 50th anniversary of the founding of the United States in 1826. Ironically, the Navy flag was preferred as the national flag.
For the various designs, Hopkinson asked for cash in the amount of £2,700. Auditor General James Milligan commissioned an evaluation of the request for payment. The report from the commissioner of the Chamber of Accounts said that the bill was reasonable and ought to be paid. Congress asked for an itemized bill for payment in cash. Hopkinson requested £9 for the naval flag. A committee investigated Hopkinson's charges that his payment was being delayed for arbitrary reasons. The Treasury Board turned down the request in an October 27, 1780, report to Congress. The Board cited several reasons for its action, including the fact that Hopkinson "was not the only person consulted on those exhibitions of Fancy hat were incidental to the Board (among them, the U.S. flag, the Navy flag, the Admiralty seal, and the Great Seal with a reverse) and therefore cannot claim the sole merit of them and not entitled in this respect to the full sum charged." The reference to the work of others is most probably a reference to his work on the Great Seal. Therefore, he would not be eligible to be paid for the Great Seal. Furthermore, the Great Seal project was still a work in progress. No known committee of the Continental Congress was documented with the assignment to design the national flag or naval flag. Hence, there was no evidence of collaboration with others on Hopkinson's flag design.
There is no known sketch of a Hopkinson flag—either U.S. or naval—in existence today. However, he incorporated elements of the two flags he designed in his rough sketches of the Great Seal of the United States and his design for the Admiralty Board Seal. The rough sketch of his second Great Seal proposal has 7 white stripes and 6 red stripes. The impression of Hopkinson's Admiralty Board Seal has a chevron with 7 red stripes and 6 white stripes. The Great Seal reflects Hopkinson's design for a governmental flag, and the Admiralty Board Seal reflects Hopkinson's design for a naval flag. Both flags were intended to have 13 stripes. Because the original stars used in the Great Seal had six points, Hopkinson's U.S. flag might also have intended the use of 6-pointed stars. This is bolstered by his original sketch for the Great Seal that featured a U.S. flag with six-pointed asterisks for stars.
See also
* Francis Hopkinson House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Burlington County, New Jersey
* Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
The Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence is a memorial depicting the signatures of the 56 signatories to the United States Declaration of Independence. It is located in the Constitution Gardens on the National Mall in W ...
Note
References
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Sources
Francis Hopkinson holdings at
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Online Public Access Catalog.
*
*
*
External links
* Th
Hopkinson Family Papers
including correspondence, documents and printed materials, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Center for the Book on Hopkinson and his writings
*
Francis Hopkinson: Jurist, Wit, and Dilettante
Marble, Annie Russell. ''Heralds of American Literature: A Group of Patriot Writers of the Revolutionary and National Periods.'' 1907, University of Chicago Press, hosted by Google Book Search
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
image
of stamp with Hopkinson's flag, stars in a circle, from the University of Georgia
*
"AN ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND FEDERAL PROCESSION. PERFORMED AT PHILADELPHIA ON FRIDAY THE 4TH OF JULY 1788" by Francis Hopkinson
– Hopkinson's review of a Philadelphia Fourth of July
Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...
parade of 1788; celebrating the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkinson, Francis
1737 births
1791 deaths
Members of the New Jersey Provincial Council
Continental Congressmen from New Jersey
18th-century American politicians
Flags of the American Revolution
Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence
Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania
Flag designers
University of Pennsylvania alumni
University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni
American people of English descent
Musicians from Philadelphia
United States federal judges appointed by George Washington
18th-century American musicians
18th-century American Episcopalians
Burials at Christ Church, Philadelphia
People from Bordentown, New Jersey
American male composers
Musicians from New Jersey
Neurological disease deaths in Pennsylvania
Deaths from epilepsy
18th-century American composers
18th-century male musicians
People of colonial Pennsylvania
18th-century American judges