While a number of Declaration signers received training as ministers, only a few were actively engaged in ministry at the time of signing. Notable among them was John Witherspoon, who was fulfilling a ministerial role. Robert Treat Paine was a military chaplain, and Lyman Hall had been a minister prior to the War for Independence. However, many other signers should be noted for their ministry work.

Francis Hopkinson, for instance, was a church music director and choir leader, and also compiled a famous American hymnbook. Roger Sherman wrote the doctrinal creed for his denomination in Connecticut. Benjamin Rush started Sunday School in America and helped to found the country’s first Bible Society. James Wilson trained as a clergyman in Scotland but became an attorney, teaching students the Biblical basis of civil law. And there are many others.

In fact, at least 29 of the signers had been trained in schools whose primary purpose was the preparation of ministers (listed below). They attended universities and seminaries of learning such as Harvard, Yale, William and Mary, Princeton, Cambridge, and Westminster. You can read about each of these Declaration signers in WallBuilders’ book Lives of the Signers.

1. John Adams
2. Samuel Adams
3. Carter Braxton
4. Charles Carroll
5. William Ellery
6. Elbridge Gerry
7. Lyman Hall
8. John Hancock
9. Benjamin Harrison
10. Joseph Hewes
11. William Hooper
12. Francis Hopkinson
13. Thomas Jefferson
14. Francis Lewis
15. Philip Livingston
16. Thomas Lynch
17. Arthur Middleton
18. Lewis Morris
19. Thomas Nelson Jr.
20. William Paca
21. Robert Treat Paine
22. Benjamin Rush
23. James Smith
24. Richard Stockton
25. William Williams
26. James Wilson
27. John Witherspoon
28. Oliver Wolcott
29. George Wythe