John Morton (politician)
| John Morton | |
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| Born | 1725 Ridley Township, Pennsylvania |
| Died | April 1, 1777 (aged 51–52) |
| Resting place | Saint Paul's Burying Ground, Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | farmer, surveyor, and jurist |
| Known for | signer of the United States Declaration of Independence |
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John Morton (1725 – April 1, 1777) was a farmer, surveyor, and jurist from the Province of Pennsylvania. As a delegate to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution, he provided the swing vote that allowed Pennsylvania to vote in favor of the United States Declaration of Independence. Morton signed the Declaration and chaired the committee that wrote the Articles of Confederation.
Morton was born in Ridley Township, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, now part of Delaware County. His father, John Morton (Senior), was Finnish, who originated from Finland, then a part of the Realm of Sweden, with his great-grandfather, Martti Marttinen, or Måns Mårtensson (name alternated for Swedish military records, later anglicized as Morton), himself a native of Rautalampi, Finland, who had arrived in the Swedish colony of New Sweden in 1654. His mother, Mary Archer, was also of Finnish descent.
His father died before he was born, and when John was about seven years old, his mother married John Sketchley, a farmer of English ancestry, who educated Morton. About 1748, Morton married Ann Justis, the great-granddaughter of Finnish colonists to New Sweden. The couple would have nine children. Morton was an active member of the Anglican Church in Chester County.
Morton was elected to the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly in 1756. The following year he was also appointed justice of the peace, an office he held until 1764. He served as a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress in 1765. He resigned from the Assembly in 1766 to serve as sheriff of Chester County. He returned to the Assembly in 1769 and was elected Speaker in 1775. Meanwhile, his judicial career reached its pinnacle with his appointment as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1774.
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