William Williams (April 8, 1731 – August 2, 1811) 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. ...

, merchant, a delegate for

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

to 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. ...

in 1776, and a signatory to the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...

Early life

Williams was born in

Lebanon, Connecticut Lebanon is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,142 at the 2020 census. The town lies just to the northwest of Norwich, directly south of Willimantic, north of New London, and east of Hartford. The farm ...

, the son of minister Solomon Williams and Mary Porter. He studied theology and law at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1751. He continued preparing for the ministry for a year but then joined the militia to fight in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. After the war, he opened a store in Lebanon,Connecticut which he called The Williams Inc. Williams never owned slaves as he thought it was morally wrong.

Career

On February 14, 1771, at almost 40 he married Mary Trumbull, age 25. She was the daughter of Connecticut Royal Governor

Jonathan Trumbull Jonathan Trumbull Sr. (October 12, 1710August 17, 1785) was an American politician and statesman who served as Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolution. Trumbull and Nicholas Cooke of Rhode Island were the only men to serve as gov ...

, who later served as the second

speaker of the United States House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U. ...

. They had three children: Solomon, born 1772; Faith, 1774; and William Trumbull, 1777. Williams was very active in the protests that preceded 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 ...

. He was a member of the

Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...

and later served on Connecticut's

Committee of Correspondence The committees of correspondence were, prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, a collection of American political organizations that sought to coordinate opposition to British Parliament and, later, support for American independe ...

and

Council of Safety In the American Revolution, committees of correspondence, committees of inspection (also known as committees of observation), and committees of safety were different local committees of Patriots that became a shadow government; they took control ...

. He was a staunch supporter of the non-importation agreements implemented in 1769 to oppose the

Townshend Acts The Townshend Acts () or Townshend Duties, were a series of British acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768 introducing a series of taxes and regulations to fund administration of the British colonies in America. They are named after the ...

and the occupation of Boston by British Regulars. Williams was disappointed when merchants began disregarding the non-importation agreements after the repeal of the Townshend Acts, save for the tax on tea, and he never trusted the intentions of more established merchants, most notably

Silas Deane Silas Deane (September 23, 1789) was an American merchant, politician, and diplomat, and a supporter of American independence. Deane served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and then became the ...

. On July 1, 1774, one month after the enactment of the

Coercive Acts The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure ...

to punish Boston, Williams pseudonymously published an address "To the King" from "America" in the ''Connecticut Gazette''. The document, an angry satire, read in part: "We don't complain that your father made our yoke heavy and afflicted us with grievous service. We only ask that you would govern us upon the same constitutional plan, and with the same justice and moderation that he did, and we will serve you forever. And what is the language of your answer...? Ye Rebels and Traitors...if ye don't yield implicit obedience to all my commands, just and unjust, ye shall be drag'd in chains across the wide ocean, to answer your insolence, and if a mob arises among you to impede my officers in the execution of my orders, I will punish and involve in common ruin whole cities and colonies, with their ten thousand innocents, and ye shan't be heard in your own defense, but shall be murdered and butchered by my

dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat ...

into silence and submission. Ye reptiles! ye are scarce intitled to existence any longer....Your lives, liberties and property are all at the absolute disposal of my parliament." Williams was elected to replace

Oliver Wolcott Oliver Wolcott Sr. (November 20, 1726 December 1, 1797) was an American Founding Father and politician. He was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Connecticut, and t ...

at the Continental Congress on July 11, 1776, the day Connecticut received official word of the independence vote of July 2. Though he arrived at Congress on July 28, much too late to vote for the Declaration of Independence, he signed the formal copy as a representative of Connecticut. Williams represented Lebanon, Connecticut, at the state's Constitutional ratifying convention in January 1788. Though Williams had largely opposed the Confederation government, most notably Congress' 1782 agreement to provide five years of full pay and three months of back pay to army officers but not regular soldiers, he ignored instructions from his constituents to vote against ratification. Williams's sole overt objection to the document was the clause in Article VI that bans religious tests for government officials. The Reverend Charles A. Goodrich writes:Goodrich, Charles A., ''Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence'', New York, 1832.

illiamsmade a profession of religion at an early age, and through the long course of his life, he was distinguished for a humble and consistent conduct and conversations. While yet almost a youth, he was elected to the office of deacon, an office which he retained during the remainder of his life. His latter days were chiefly devoted to reading, meditation, and prayer.

Williams was also pastor of the First Congregational Church in Lebanon, Connecticut, and a successful merchant. Upon his death he was buried in Lebanon's Old Cemetery. Williams' home in Lebanon survives and is a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

Notes

References

*Stark, Bruce P., ''Connecticut Signer: William Williams'', Chester, CT.: Pequot Press, 1975.

External links

*
William Williams
at US History {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, William 1731 births 1811 deaths Harvard University alumni Continental Congressmen from Connecticut 18th-century American politicians Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence American Congregationalists Members of the Connecticut General Assembly Council of Assistants (1662–1818) Speakers of the Connecticut House of Representatives People from Lebanon, Connecticut Colonial American merchants People of colonial Connecticut Burials in Connecticut Founding Fathers of the United States

Early life

Career

See also

Notes

References

External links