Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1829-12-29
From the Journal of the american Educa.
ton Society.
SELF-MADE MEN

I ton Society.
SELF-MADE MEN.
I No inconslderable proportion Of the men
who have been distinguished blessings to
the church and the world, in every age, are
from the number of those who are express
lively termed se!fn,ade men. They have
arisen from obscurity to the highest posts of
honour and respect, by powerful and perse-
vering effort.
| We have recently met with some con-
splcuous instances, in the profession of law,
IN Great Britain, which are taken from
London paper.
The account referred to here has already
appeared in our paper.
10 these illustrlous examples we subioin
few from American history. BENJAMIN
Franklin was the son of tallow-chandler
and soap-boller, in Boston. After engaging
for time in the same business, he was
bound to his brother, who was a printer.
Afterwards at Philadelphia and London he
worked at the same trade. He filled some
OF the most important Offices in the gift of
his country, and was one of the most dis
tlnguished Philosophers of any country.
Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, was the
son OF poor parents, and was employed in
his early life as shoemaker. He became
distinguished lawyer, and member of
Congress. In that ilustrious body he had
hardly his superior. Jefferson declared of
him, that he neuer sad foolish thing IN
his lye.'
Nathaniel Smith, of Woodbury., Conn.
was destitute of the means of an early edu-
cation, and without the advantages of lib
eral course of study became, by the force
OF his own exertions, an eminent iurist and
lawyer. He was many years member of
the General Assembly of Connecticut, four
years Representative in Congress, and for
thirteen years Judge of the Supreme Court
of the State.
Charles Chauncy, L. L. D. of New Ha-
ven, Connecticut, was striking instance of
the self-made men. His native powers
were such that without the advantages of a
publlck education he soon came forward to
a commanding eminence in his profession.
In l176 he was appointed Attorney for the
State Ct Connecticut, and in 1889 Judge
of the Supreme Court
Eli P. Ashmun, of Northampton, Mass.
an eminent lawyer and Senatorin Congress,
never enjoyed the benefits of liberal edu-
( cation.
John Sullivan, Major General in the
Revolutionary Army, was the son of an Irish
schoolmaster, of Berwick, Me. He possess
ed talents which, united with uncommon in
dustry, enabled him to emerge from his OBJ
scure condition, and without the benefits of
a college education, to enjoy the highest
honours in the gift of his country. He was
President of the first Council of New-Hamp-
shire, and member of the first Congress.
| Samuel Huntington, Of Connecticut, one
of the Signers of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, Yves q mere ploughman, till his
I'D year. He was an eminent lawyer, Pres
ident of Congress, GOVERNOR and Chief JUS
tice of Connecticut.
George Walton, also one of the Signers,
was, in early life, an apprentice to a carpen-
ter. He was afterwards Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of Georgia, Governour
of the State. and Senator in Congress.
( William Whipple, of New Hampshire, an
officer in the Revolutionary army, and one
of the Signers of the Declaration of indie
pendence, was in early life cabn-boy and
sailor. He was Judge of the Supreme
Court, and u States Senator. He framed
the Articles of Capitulation at the taking of
burgoyne.
Stephen Hopkins, of Rhode Island, who
belonged to the same ilustrious band that
signed the declaration of our liberties was
bred plain farmer. He became Speaker
of the State Legislature, Chief Justice,
Member of the American Philosophical So
ciety, &c.
Our limits compel us to close the list of
illustrious men, who are emphatically styled
the architects of their own fortunes" We
shall resume the subject in future number,
and shall exhibit all the marked instances
which may come to our knowledge, in all
the learned professions. We regard it as
a subject highly interesting, and one which
holds out the strong voice of successful ex-
ample to the young men of our country who
are aspiring to posts of usefulness, and who
have no patrimony but indulgence and the
genius which the God of ature has given
them