biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1737–91)
|
| biography:
| Public official, writer, musician, and judge, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The first graduate of what is now the University of Pennsylvania, he became a lawyer, operated a dry goods store, then moved to New Jersey and returned to practising law. He represented New Jersey at the First Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. He helped design the first national flag (1777) and published many political satires and pamphlets, most aimed against the British. A minor poet, he was also an accomplished harpsichordist and wrote music for the instrument, and is arguably the first native-born American composer of classical music. After serving on the Pennsylvania admiralty court (1779–89), he was a US district judge in Pennsylvania from 1789 until his death. |
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