5 February 1723 A.D. John Witherspoon Born—Presbyterian Clergyman, President of Princeton College, & Signer of Declaration of Independence

5 February 1723 A.D.  John Witherspoon Born—Presbyterian Clergyman, President of Princeton College, & Signer of Declaration of Independence

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John Witherspoon (1723 to 1794)

Presbyterian

Educator to America

John Witherspoon was born at Yester, Scotland. He matriculated to the University of Scotland at age 13, received his M.A. in 1739, and 1743 graduated in divinity. A leader in the Popular Party of the Scottish church, he advocated purity of doctrine, the rights of the local church to choose their own pastors, and he opposed the liberalizing tendencies of the Moderates. He emigrated to America in 1768 to become president of the College of New Jersey (later, Princeton). Though the school suffered great losses during the Revolution, Witherspoon revitalized it, adding new courses with new teachers, all the while strengthening the financial strucure of the institution. Politically, he arrived as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia just in time to support the Declaration of Independence, the only clergyman to sign it.