Note 17 — Chapter IV

It may be noted that five of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence were Middle Temple barristers: Thomas McKean, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Lynch, Thomas Heyward and Arthur Midleton. With the exception of the first-named, all of these gentlemen were Representatives of South Carolina. Thomas McKean, by the way, wrote the Constitution of Delaware in a night, while Edward Rutledge drafted the greater part of the Constitution of South Carolina. The latter was chairman of the Committee of Five who drafted the first Constitution of the United States.