Smith, James, 1719-1806

James Smith (September 17, 1719 – July 11, 1806), a Founding Father of the United States, was an Irish-American lawyer and a signer to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Pennsylvania.

Born in Ireland, his family immigrated to Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1729. Smith attended the Philadelphia Academy and worked as a surveyor before studying law at the office of his brother George. Admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, he initially practiced near Shippensburg before moving near York where he became captain of the militia. Smith was appointed to the provincial convention in Philadelphia in 1775, to the state constitutional convention in 1776, and was elected to the Continental Congress. He was reelected to Congress in 1785 but declined to attend because of his advanced age.

Smith died on July 11, 1806, and is buried in York, Pennsylvania, First Presbyterian Churchyard. The University of Delaware has a dorm on its North Campus bearing his name.