Pelatiah WEBSTER, Jr.^[1]

1726 - 1795  (68 years)

• Name	Pelatiah WEBSTER
  Suffix	Jr.
  Birth	24 Nov 1726	Lebanon, Connecticut. British America   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Baptism	26 Nov 1728	Lebanon, Connecticut. British America   [2]
  Death	4 Sep 1795	Philadelphia, British North America   [1]
  Burial	Philadelphia, British North America   [1]
  Notes	"American Patriot, "FORGOTTEN" Founding Father, and US Senate recognized "Architect of our Federal Constitution". ~ Pelatiah was the eldest child of Pelatiah and Joanna Crowfoot (Smith) Webster, and was educated at Yale, graduating there in 1746. He became a minister in Greenwich, MA where he met and married Miss Ruth Kellogg in 1750. By 1755 he had removed to Philadelphia where he became a successful merchant and businessman, amassing a small fortune. He became one of the foremost authorities on all matters of trade, finance, currency and resources of the country and whose council was sought and respected by many in the Continental Congress.  ~ In 1776 he began publishing a series of pamphlets which were all compiled into his 1791 "Political Essays on the Nature and Operation of Money, Public Finances, and other Subjects during the American War", some of which were the cause of his arrest and imprisonment by the British in 1778. The year before he had written a letter to Gen. George Washington, reporting on the generally poor conditions under which American Prisoners were being held in Philadelphia. He was held for over 4 months and had an estimated 500 pounds worth of his goods confiscated.  ~ In 1783 he published his "Dissertation on the Political Union and Constitution of the United States of North America", which in effect was the first call for the replacement of the "Articles of Confederation" with a whole new form of a "Federal Government", which eventually came to fruit with the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788. He was also urged by some to run for President against Washington in the first election for that office. Mr Webster died in Philadelphia in 1795 and is believed to be at rest in the Mt. Vernon Cemetery there. ~ QUOTE:  "The Continental money is to be considered as a debt fastened on the person and estate of every member of the United States, a debt of great honor and justice, of national honor and justice, not barely empty honor, but that essential honor and credit in which the safety of the state is comprised, and therefore by confession of every body must be punctually and honorably paid in due time; otherwise all security arising from public credit must be lost, all confidence of individuals in our public councils must be destroyed, and great injustice must be done to every possessor of our public currency, to the detriment of all, and ruin of many who have placed most confidence in our public administration: and nothing but shame, scandal, and contempt can ensue, for which nothing but most inevitable necessity can be any reasonable excuse."  -Pelatiah Webster, Oct 1776 ~ Long after his death, on May 4, 1908: By Act of Document 461 of the U.S. Senate, in the 1st Session of the 60th Congress, Pelatiah Webster was officially recognized as the "Architect of our Federal Constitution". (JVP)
  Person ID	I14327	Watkins
  Last Modified	11 Jun 2015

  
  

  Father	Pelatiah WEBSTER,   b. 17 Nov 1702, Northampton, Massachusetts Bay, British America d. 15 Feb 1756, Lebanon, Connecticut. British America (Age 53 years)
  Mother	Joanna GILLETT,   b. 1670   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F3668	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S331] Find-A-Grave, Memorial# 51327482. [S461] History and Genealogy of the Gov. John Webster Family of Connecticut, Page 67.