The United States Declaration of Independence contained 56 delegate signatures. Of the signers, eight were of Irish descent. Three signers, Matthew Thornton, George Taylor and James Smith, were born in Ireland; the remaining five Irish Americans, George Read, Thomas McKean, Thomas Lynch Jr., Edward Rutledge, and Charles Carroll, were the sons or grandsons of Irish immigrants. Though not a delegate but the secretary at the Congress, Charles Thomson, also Irish American, signed as well. The United States Constitution was created by a convention of 36 delegates. Of these, at least six were of Irish ancestry. George Read and Thomas McKean had already worked on the Declaration, and were joined by John Rutledge, William Paterson, Pierce Butler, Daniel Carroll, and Thomas Fitzsimons. The Carrolls and Fitzsimons were Irish Catholic, while Thomas Lynch Jr, James Smith, Pierce Butler and George Read were Irish Protestants they were descended from Irish Normans Anglo-Irish and native Irish who had intermarried for several centuries not ulster-Scots. The remainder were Scotch-Irish.