The above words were written by Thomas Mifflin as a student. Mifflin was a delegate from Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention. He was born January 10, 1744 in Philadelphia; he died January 20, 1800 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania."There can be no Right to Power, except what is either founded upon, or speedily obtains the hearty Consent of the Body of the People."
Thomas Mifflin was born as a fourth generation Pennsylvania Quaker. He graduated from the College of Philadelphia in 1760. Mifflin apprenticed as a merchant and later started a business of imports and exports with a younger brother. In 1768 Mifflin joined the American Philosophical Society. He also was a delegate in Pennsylvania's colonial legislature and he was especially concerned with Parliament's taxation policies.
In 1774 he was elected to the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia. His second term was cut short, however, when he was commissioned as the senior major in Philadelphia's Third Battalion. Because of this he was kicked out of his Quaker church. Mifflin went on to serve as one of Washington's aides in the Continental Army. In 1775 he was appointed to be Quartermaster General of the Continental Army were he served for quite some time getting supplies and figuring out logistics for General Washington. After the victories at Trenton and Princeton he was promoted as Major General.
He went back to the Continental Congress and served as its president in 1780. When time came for the Constitutional Convention, Thomas Mifflin was prepared for his job as delegate. From his military experience he knew that a country needed to have a strong government in order to survive. However, at the convention he pushed for a balance between the state and federal government. When he went back to convince his state to ratify the Constitution he was a great influence. A man who served as a soldier and as a statesman, Thomas Mufflin was a key figure in the forming of America.
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