Mifflin was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and signed the United States Constitution. He then presided over the committee that wrote Pennsylvania's state constitution, becoming the state's first governor after the constitution's ratification in 1790. Mifflin left office as governor in 1799 and died the following year.
Early life and family
Unofficial coat of arms used by family of John Mifflin[2]
Mifflin was born January 10, 1744, in Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsylvania. He was the son of John Mifflin and Elizabeth Bagnall. His great-grandfather John Mifflin Jr. (1662–1714) was born in Warminster, Wiltshire, England and settled in the Province of Pennsylvania.[3]
In 1760, Mifflin graduated from the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) and joined the mercantile business of William Biddle. After returning from a trip to Europe in 1765, he established a commercial business partnership with his brother, George Mifflin.
He married a second cousin, Sarah Morris, on March 4, 1767.[4] Their daughter Emily Mifflin married Joseph Hopkinson, the son of Francis Hopkinson. After Sarah's death in 1790, Emily became her father's hostess[5] and a family source references a total of four daughters in the family, "all beautiful women."[6] A source indicates that Sarah "had no children of her own."[4]
Early in the Revolutionary War, Mifflin left the Continental Congress to serve in the Continental Army. He was commissioned as a major, then became an aide-de-camp of George Washington.
On August 14, 1775, Washington appointed him to become the army's first quartermaster general, under order of Congress.[8] Although it has been said that he was good at the job despite preferring to be on the front lines, questions were raised regarding his failure to properly supply Washington and the troops at Valley Forge, alleging that he had instead warehoused and sold supplies intended for Valley Forge to the highest bidder. Reportedly, after Washington confronted him about this,[9] Mifflin asked to be relieved as quartermaster general but was persuaded to resume those duties because Congress was having difficulty finding a replacement.
Mifflin's leadership in the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton led to a promotion to major general.[10] In Congress, there was debate regarding whether a national army was more efficient or whether the individual states should maintain their own forces. As a result of this debate the Congressional Board of War was created, on which Mifflin served from 1777 to 1778. He then rejoined the army but took little active role, following criticism of his service as quartermaster general. He was accused of embezzlement and welcomed an inquiry; however, one never took place. He resigned his commission, but Congress continued to ask his advice even after accepting his resignation.
Political career
General George Washington Resigning His Commission, painting by John Trumbull (Mifflin standing at left), 23 December 1783.[11]"State of Pennsylvania. An act to explain and amend an act, entitled, 'An act for the gradual abolition of slavery,'" signed by Pennsylvania governor Thomas Mifflin
Prior to American independence, Mifflin was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly (1772–1776). He served two terms in the Continental Congress (1774–1775 and 1782–1784), including seven months (November 1783 to June 1784) as that body's presiding officer.
Mifflin's most important duty as president was to accept on behalf of Congress the resignation of General George Washington on December 23, 1783. After the war, the importance of Congress declined so precipitously that Mifflin found it difficult to convince the states to send enough delegates to Congress to ratify the Treaty of Paris, which finally took place on January 14, 1784, at the Maryland State House in Annapolis.[12][13] He also appointed Thomas Jefferson as a minister to France on May 7, 1784, and he appointed his former aide, Colonel Josiah Harmar, to be the commander of the First American Regiment.
Mifflin later served as a delegate to the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787. He was a signatory to the Continental Association and the Constitution.[14] He served in the house of Pennsylvania General Assembly (1785–1788). He was a member of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and on November 5, 1788, he was elected president of the Council, replacing Benjamin Franklin. He was unanimously reelected to the presidency on November 11, 1789.[15] He presided over the committee that wrote Pennsylvania's 1790 state constitution. That document did away with the Executive Council, replacing it with a single governor.
On December 21, 1790, Mifflin became the last president of Pennsylvania and the first governor of the Commonwealth. He held the latter office until December 17, 1799,[14] when he was succeeded by Thomas McKean. The Whiskey Rebellion and the 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic happened during his term in office. Fries Rebellion also started during his term. He then returned to the state legislature, where he served until his death the following month.
Although Mifflin's family had been Quakers for four generations, he was expelled from the Religious Society of Friends when he joined the Continental Army, because his involvement with the military contradicted that faith's pacifistic doctrines.[16] Mifflin became a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1768 and served for two years as its secretary.[10] He served from 1773 to 1791 as a trustee of the College and Academy of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania), including two years as treasurer (1773–1775).[17]
A Commonwealth of Pennsylvania historical marker outside Holy Trinity, dedicated in 1975, commemorates Thomas Wharton and Mifflin, the first and last Presidents of Pennsylvania under the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776. It reads:
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Founded in 1730. A session for an Indian treaty was held in the original church building in 1762. The present edifice was dedicated in 1766. Here are interred the remains of Thomas Wharton (1778) and Gov. Thomas Mifflin (1800).[19]
Fictional company Dunder Mifflin in The Office TV show.
Footnotes
^"The Governors of Pennsylvania." Mount Union, Pennsylvania: The Mount Union Times, January 27, 1911, p. 1 (subscription required).
^Bolton, Charles Knowles (1927). Bolton's American Armory (2009 reprint ed.). Boston: F.W. Faxon Co. p. 115. ISBN978-0806300443. Note that the following warning about authenticity appears in the introduction: "Readers whose chief interest is in 'authentic' arms... must look elsewhere." (Introduction, p. ix).
^"John Mifflin, II". Geni. September 22, 1661. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
^Risch, Erna (1981). Supplying Washington's Army. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History. pp. 30–31. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
^Unger, Harlow Giles (2010). Patrick Henry, Lion of Liberty. Da Capo Press.
^ ab"Thomas Mifflin". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Archived from the original on November 4, 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, from its organization to the termination of the Revolution. [March 4, 1777 – December 20, 1790]. Harrisburg: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1852–1853.
^"Thomas Mifflin". Adherents.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 1999.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Citing Ferris, Robert G., ed. (1976). Signers of the Constitution: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing of the Constitution (revised ed.). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. pp. 193–94.
