Thomas Stone

Thomas Stone (* 1743 on the estate of " Poynton Manor " in Charles County, Maryland, colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain; † October 5, 1787 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA ) was a British- American lawyer and plantation owner. As a signatory of the Declaration of Independence for Maryland, he is one of the founding fathers of the United States. He participated in the drafting of the Articles of Confederation and was then President of the U.S. Congress.

Life

Thomas Stone was born into a prominent family. He was the second son of the great family of David (1709-1773) and Elizabeth Jenifer Stone. His brothers Michael and John Hoskins Stone also had significant political careers. Stone studied law in the office of Thomas Johnson in Annapolis, was admitted to the bar in 1764 and opened a practice in Frederick.

1768 Stone married Margaret Brown ( 1751-1787 ), the youngest daughter of Gustavis Brown, who was considered the richest man in the county. Soon after he bought the first 400 acres (1.6 km ²), he began the construction of his country called " Habredeventure ". The family made ​​it their home and they had three children: Margaret (1771-1809), Mildred (1773-1837) and Fredrik ( 1774-1793 ). His law practice kept him away from home, so he took his younger brother Michael to himself, who managed the development of the plantation.

American Revolution

When the American Revolution began, Stone joined the Correspondence Committee for Charles County. 1775 sent him the Annapolis Convention as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was re-elected and remained for seven years in office. On 5 May 1776, he voted for the draft of the Declaration of Independence, although it the Annapolis Convention prohibited the support of independence. In June, the restriction was lifted, so that the delegates from Maryland were free to vote for independence.

That same year, Stone was appointed to the committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation, and he was affected by a personal tragedy. His wife Margaret visited him in Philadelphia, which was in the midst of a smallpox epidemic. She was vaccinated against smallpox, but a backlash against the disease made ​​her sick. Your health was getting worse and worse for the rest of their lives. After Stone had signed the Declaration of Independence, he took his wife home and refused any further cooperation in Congress. He took part in 1784 working again, when the meetings were held in Annapolis.

Stone took the election to the Senate from Maryland for the period 1779-1785 to, first, to support the Articles of Confederation, which confirmed Maryland last state. But he gave up his office to take care of his wife Margaret and their adolescent children. When her condition became worse, he pulled partially back from public life. He handed over the management of his plantation to his brother. When Margaret died in 1787, he became depressed and died less than four months after her.

Stone was buried on his plantation in Port Tobacco Village, which still exists today. " Habredeventure " is today the center of the Thomas Stone National Historic Site and is operated by the U.S. National Park Service as a museum.

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