A final project from Kaplan University. ha! .. funny how I wrote just two years ago..

1. Tanya Hogan – Final Project
March 9, 2007
quot;Humility rather than pride becomes such creatures as we are”
By
Tanya Hogan
March 9, 2007
SS230-02
Timothy Noonan, Professor
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2. Tanya Hogan – Final Project
March 9, 2007
Graduating from Harvard College at the age of 15, a distinct pathway for the son of
Benjamin Ellery began to take shape. Tutoring William most all of his years beforehand,
Benjamin encouraged his son to go to Harvard College, and what William Ellery
eventually became known for, obviously started right there in that home (Vinci, 2004,
William Ellery). This family man learned the values of hard work, love, respect, justice
and humility, albeit working with his country in the midst of the rough, formative years
that would forever define America’s Founding Father generation. As the title of this essay
therefore suggests, William Ellery became known for attending to all he could reasonably
do with his life, yet be able to clearly speak, “humility rather than pride becomes such
creatures as we are.” With what appeared to be a humble attitude towards his fellowman
and himself, how would this fair in the turbulent years the Founding Fathers were in?
What acts of humility would William be remembered for that would actually help pave
those streets of history?
Because historical accuracy of the accounts of the lives of those living in those days
can be difficult to locate and decipher, there is some debate about the personal life of
William Ellery. Most all agree that upon graduating, William first took on the role of legal
student, but soon moved on to husband and father, getting married at 23 years of age and
beginning to raise a large family. According to the data, he either fathered 15 or 17
children during his two marriages. His first wife, Ann Remington, bore him seven before
she died – just six months after his father’s death. But his second wife, Abigail Carey, a
distant cousin, either bore him eight ir ten children, and only two or four of them lived to
maturity. In any event, whether it was his fatherly compassion through the lives and deaths
of his own family, William learned about steadfastness in human relations. Outside of the
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March 9, 2007
rigors of his family life, he eventually settled on the life of a lawyer but became more
closely entwined in selective relationships of political life. Once the Clerk of the Rhode
Island General Assembly, he moved on to the Rhode Island Sons of Liberty, and then was
sent to the First Congressional Congress in 1776 to replace Samuel Ward, who had died.
He was then immediately appointed to the Marine Committee and others. He was also
Rhode Island’s Supreme Court Justice. (Compare: Vinci, J. 2004, ColonialHall.com:
William Ellery; Ann Remington Ellery; Abigail Carey Ellery, with the National Society
Daughters of the American Revolution, Newport, Rhode Island, William Ellery Rhode
Island Co-signer of the Declaration of Independence.) Ellery ended his political life
fulfilling the commission of First [Customs] Collector of Newport by order of George
Washington.
Seemingly in contrast to his family man ways in particular, was his choice to work
as a Sons of Liberty adherent. This group was not out-and-out, favorably looked upon by
the majority of the populace during William’s time. However, it became this and other
grassroots groups of spirited men that became the core cause of the slowing of the Stamp
Act’s success and its subsequent repeal in 1766 (Sons of Liberty, wikipedia.org).
According to u-s-history.com, under Colonial America Stamp Act 1765, the following
misconception about the Stamp Act still looms in minds of Americans today:
The 18th century use of the word stamp is often confusing to modern
readers, whose minds usually conjure images of postage stamps that were
not used until the 19th century. The word originally referred to what today
is called embossing — the use of pressure on a “stamp” to imprint a raised
design on paper, fabric or metal. The use of stamped paper for legal
documents had been common for decades in England and, according to law,
those agreements made on unstamped paper were not enforceable.
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4. Tanya Hogan – Final Project
March 9, 2007
It was the embossing and taxes by virtue of a British law that the people were
outraged over. It was to appear on all “legal documents, diplomas, almanacs,
broadsides, newspapers and playing cards (u-s-history.com)” to raise money for the
economic duress of the militia and government of the U.S. Colonies at that time. It
was unfairly required because the same Act was 1/5 the cost in Britain and was
outrageous to the Colonists who were already under social, economic hardship
(Stamp Act 1765, Wikipedia.org). Watching William Ellery’s involvement with the
Sons of Liberty would have found him actively protesting this Act, but without the
violence Britain was slanderously claiming about the Sons. At the opening of the
Second Congress, he announced boldly: quot;You must exert yourself. To be ruled by
Tories, when we may be ruled by Sons of Liberty – how debasing. You must rouse
up all that is Roman in Providence. There is liberty and fire enough; it only
requires the application of the bellows. Blow, then, a blast that will shake this
country. (Klos, 2006)” These men simply stood against the signs and portents of a
continued monarchial reign that unjustly insisted on viewing America as a rebel
son. The Stamp Act was virtually stamped out just as quickly as it had set foot into
America and only lasted by virtue of its existence for about one year.
Of the more noteworthy tasks Ellery is remembered for, the stance he took
while the delegates were signing he Declaration of Independence as they were
readying themselves, both amused and intrigued Ellery. He was able to later report
that he noted them all with “undaunted resolution” as they took their turns. Several
accounts relate that Benjamin Harrison [delegate from Virginia], a large man, said
to Ellery, a small man, “I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Ellery, when
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March 9, 2007
we are all hung for what we are now doing. From the size and weight of my body,
I shall die in a few minutes, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in
the air for an hour or two before you are dead. (Klos, 2006)”
Ellery was highly regarded by his townsfolk and countrymen, being very
loyally interested in their needs as an accountable person before them. When the
British came into Newport, Rhode Island in 1777, and took up fortifying
themselves there, Ellery was among many property owners forced to succumb to
the counterproductive, destructive crusade of the British troops. Though his, like so
many others’, home was burned and property severely damaged, he did not give up
his Congressional fight for his countrymen, their supporters and the cause for
liberty from Great Britain. Having lost so much of his own, it was no wonder that
he was able to keep going; he had earned the fortitude to do so. (Vinci, 2004)
During and after this time, William vocally advocated the abolition of
slavery. This was another seeming contradiction in his life because Rhode Island
was one of the smallest of the Colonies, yet it had the greatest share of the Atlantic
slave trade, and industries that contributed to it. The distilling of molasses into rum
and the sale thereof reaped no less than “5,767,020 gallons,” from about 30
distilleries, sent to Africa between 1784-1807 (Rawley, J. A., Behrendt, S. D.,
2005). This became a tremendous argument in favor of the economic stability of
Rhode Island. Rhode Island’s distilleries employed forces that could not otherwise
have been afforded so lucratively. It also paid import and trading costs between
Britain that helped strengthen the naval powers of Great Britain, something a
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March 9, 2007
contentious country should have appreciated. Still, and continuing on, the slavery
became a sore spot and was one that Ellery was not afraid to affront. Though he
was not one of the most notable players in the war on slavery in his day, he did live
with the people that had to live that life and, again, his family life and its workings
had to have had an impact on his judgments in this regard.
When looking at the history of William Ellery, he is not one of the most
written about Founding Fathers. His role seems less “important” than that of
George Washington, for instance. He was never a President, but he did stand up for
the work the presiding men did aspire to in favor of peace, prosperity and longevity.
His family was well-reputed and wealthy, though torn by sorrow and destruction.
When a person discovers the life of one that comes from that type of background, it
should elicit respect and admiration for the success of that person’s endeavors.
William Ellery had several discussed herein. The most he could do with his
circumstances was the most he could do, but it was expected of him as well. He
had to have done just so because there does not seem to be much – if any –
discussion of him in a negative light.
When William Ellery was finally through with his work and thought to be
dead at the age of 92, a “draught of wine and water quickened [him] into life, [but]
the lamp of life, in a moment of which his friends were ignorant, was extinguished.
(Vinci, 2004)” Thus a humble servant was laid to rest with the rest of the
“creatures” he associated with.
References:
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7. Tanya Hogan – Final Project
March 9, 2007
Colonial America stamp act 1765. u-s-history.com. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from Online
Highways, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h642.html
Klos, S. (2006). William Ellery: Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Museum of
history: Hall of USA: Declaration of independence: William Ellery. Retrieved
March 5, 2007 from http://declarationofindependence.info/WilliamEllery.com/
Rawley, J. A., Behrendt, S. D. (2005). The trans-Atlantic slave trade: A history, revised
edition. University of Nebraska Press. Online source retrieved March 5, 2007 from
http://libsys.uah.edu:3059/Reader/
Sons of Liberty. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved March 5, 2007 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Liberty
Stamp Act 1765. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved March 8, 2007 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765
Vinci, J (2004). Biography of Abigail Carey Ellery 1742-1793, wife of William Ellery
ColonialHall.com. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from
http://www.colonialhall.com/ellery/elleryAbigail.php
Vinci, J (2004). Colonial hall: Biography of Ann Remington Ellery 1724-1764, wife of
William Ellery. ColonialHall.com. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from
http://www.colonialhall.com/ellery/elleryAnn.php
Vinci, J. (2004). Colonial hall: Biography of William Ellery - 1727-1820.
ColonialHallcom.. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from
http://www.colonialhall.com/ellery/ellery.php
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8. Tanya Hogan – Final Project
March 9, 2007
William Eller y: Rhode Island co-signer of the Declaration of Independence. National
society daughters of the American revolution, Newport, Rhode Island. Retrieved
from http://members.cox.net/aquidneckdar/ellery.htm
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