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George Read, Sr. (September 18, 1733 – September 21, 1798) was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, Acting President of Delaware, and a member of the Federalist Party, who served as U.S. Senator from Delaware.
Early life and family
Read was born September 18, 1733 in Cecil County, Maryland, near North East, son of John and Mary Howell Read. John Read was a wealthy English resident of Dublin, Ireland who came to Maryland as a young man and was one of the founders of Charlestown, Maryland in Cecil County. When George Read was an infant the family moved to New Castle County, Delaware, settling near the village of Christiana. As he grew up, Read attended the Rev. Francis Alison's Academy with Thomas McKean at New London, Pennsylvania and studied law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with John Moland. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1753 and a year later he returned home and established a practice at New Castle, Delaware.
In 1763 he married Gertrude Ross Till, daughter of the Rev. George Ross, the Anglican Rector of Immanuel Church in New Castle, and widowed sister of George Ross, also a future signer of the Declaration of Independence. They had five children, John, George Jr., William, John, and Mary, who married Gunning Bedford, Sr., a future Governor of Delaware. They lived on The Strand in New Castle. Their house was in what is now the garden of the present Read House and Gardens, owned by the Delaware Historical Society. They were members of Immanuel Episcopal Church.
In 1763 John Penn, the Proprietary Governor appointed Read Crown Attorney General for the three Delaware counties and he served in that position until leaving for the Continental Congress in 1774. He also served in the Colonial Assembly of the Lower Counties for twelve sessions, from 1765 through 1776.
American Revolution
Eighteenth century Delaware was politically divided into loose factions known as the "Court Party" and the "Country Party." The majority Court Party was generally Anglican, strongest in Kent County and Sussex County, worked well with the colonial Proprietary government, and was in favor of reconciliation with the British government. The minority Country Party was largely Ulster-Scot, centered in New Castle County, and quickly advocated independence from the British. Read was the epitome of the Court party politician and was, as much as anyone, their leader. As such he generally worked in partnership with John Dickinson from Kent County, and in opposition to their friends and respective neighbors, Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney.
Read, therefore, like most people in Delaware, was very much in favor of trying to reconcile differences with Great Britain. He opposed the Stamp Act and like measures of Parliament, and supported anti-importation measures and dignified protests, but was quite reluctant to pursue the option of outright independence. Nevertheless, from 1764 he led the Delaware Committee of Correspondence and was elected to serve along with the more radical Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney in the First and Second Continental Congress from 1774 through 1777. He was irregular in his attendance though, and when the Congress voted on American Independence on July 2, 1776, Read surprised many by voting against it. This meant Caesar Rodney had to ride overnight to Philadelphia to break the deadlock in Delaware's delegation in favor of independence. However, when the Declaration of Independence was finally adopted, Read signed it, joining the cause in spite of his natural caution.
Government of Delaware
Anticipating the Declaration of Independence, the Assembly of the Lower Counties declared its separation from the British government on June 15, 1776. Once the Declaration of Independence was actually adopted, it called for elections to a Delaware constitutional convention to draft a constitution for the new state. Read was elected to this convention, became its President, and guided the passage of the Thomas McKean drafted document, which became the Delaware Constitution of 1776.
Read was then elected to the first Legislative Council or State Senate of the Delaware General Assembly and was selected as the Speaker in both the 1776/77 and 1777/78 sessions. Following the capture of President John McKinly and the brief term of Acting President Thomas McKean, Read became Acting President himself on October 20, 1777 and served until March 31, 1778. These were months of crises in Delaware with the British occupying Philadelphia and in control of the Delaware River. Read and his family narrowly escaped capture themselves while fleeing Philadelphia ahead of the British Army. As Acting President he tried, mostly in vain, to recruit additional soldiers and protect the state from raiders from Philadelphia and off ships in the Delaware River. The Delaware General Assembly session of 1777/78 had to be moved to Dover, Delaware for safety and the Sussex County State House delegation was never seated because disruptions at the polls had negated the election results.
After Caesar Rodney was elected to replace him as President, Read continued to serve in the Legislative Council or State Senate through the 1778/79 session. After a one year rest nursing ill health, he was elected to the House of Assembly or State House of Representatives for the 1780/81 and 1781/82 sessions. He returned to the Legislative Council or State Senate in the 1782/83 session and served two terms, through the 1787/88 session. In 1782 he was appointed Judge of the Court of Appeals in admiralty cases.
Constitutional Convention and U.S. Senator
Read was again called to national service in 1786 when he represented Delaware at the Annapolis Convention. Because so few states were represented, this meeting only produced a report calling for a broader convention to be held in Philadelphia the next year.
At what became the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Read again represented Delaware. Quoting from Wright & Morris in their Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution, "Read immediately argued for a new national government under a new Constitution, saying 'to amend the Articles was simply putting old cloth on a new garment.' He was a leader in the fight for a strong central government, advocating, at one time, the abolition of the states altogether and the consolidation of the country under one powerful national government. 'Let no one fear the states, the people are with us;' he declared to a Convention shocked by this radical proposal. With no one to support his motion, he settled for protecting the rights of the small states against the infringements of their larger, more populous neighbors who, he feared, would 'probably combine to swallow up the smaller ones by addition, division or impoverishment.' He warned that Delaware 'would become at once a cipher in the union' if the principle of equal representation embodied in the New Jersey (small-state) Plan was not adopted and if the method of amendment in the Articles was not retained. He favored giving Congress the right to veto state laws, making the federal legislature immune to popular whims by having senators hold office for nine years or during good behavior, and granting the President broad appointive powers. Outspoken, he threatened to lead the Delaware delegation out of the Convention if the rights of the small states were not specifically guaranteed in the new Constitution." Once those rights were assured, he led the ratification movement in Delaware which, partly as a result of his efforts, became the first state to ratify.
Following the adoption of the Federal Constitution of 1787, the Delaware General Assembly elected him as one of the two U.S. Senators from Delaware. His term began March 4, 1789, and he was reelected in 1790. As Senator he supported the assumption of state debts, establishment of a national bank, and the imposition of excise taxes. He resigned as Senator to accept an appointment as Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court and served in that capacity until his death.
Read's resignation from the U.S. Senate on September 18, 1793 was before the first session of the 3rd Congress assembled, but it was not until February 7, 1795, 4 weeks before it adjourned, that Henry Latimer was elected to replace him. Delaware's class 1 U.S. Senate seat was, therefore, vacant from September 18, 1793 until February 7, 1795.
Death and legacy
Read died September 21, 1798 at New Castle, Delaware and was buried at the Immanuel Episcopal Church Cemetery, New Castle.
William T. Reid in his Life and Correspondence described Read as "tall, slightly and gracefully formed, with pleasing features and lustrous brown eyes. His manners were dignified, bordering upon austerity, but courteous, and at times captivating. He commanded entire confidence, not only from his profound legal knowledge, sound judgment, and impartial decisions, but from his severe integrity and the purity of his private character." However, a fellow delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 noted that "his legal abilities are said to be very great, but his powers of oratory are fatiguing and tiresome to the last degree; his voice is feeble and his articulation so bad that few can have patience to attend him." Historians like John Munroe have generally recognized that all in all, Read was the dominating figure in Delaware politics during his career, directly or indirectly providing consistent and reliable leadership to the new state in its most difficult times.
On The Strand in New Castle, Delaware is the house built by his son, George Read, II. It is owned by the Delaware Historical Society, restored and open to the public. New Castle also has a school named for him.
Public offices
At this time Delaware elections were held the first of October. Members of the House of Assembly took office on the twentieth day of October for a term of one year. Before 1776, six Assemblymen were elected, at large, from each county. After 1776 the number increased to seven and an upper house was created, the Legislative Council, which had three State Councilmen elected, at large, from each county for a term of three years.
The General Assembly chose the Continental Congressmen for a term of one year and the State President for a term of three years. They also chose the U.S. Senators, who took office March 4, and served for a six year term. However, Read's first term was only two years to establish a rotation.
Continental Congressmen | Signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence | Signers of the United States Constitution | United States Senators from Delaware | Governors of Delaware | Delaware State Representatives | Delaware State Senators | American Episcopalians | American Freemasons | 1733 births | 1798 deaths
"George Read (signer)"