Read, George, 1733-1798

George Read (September 18, 1733 – September 21, 1798) was a politician from New Castle in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a Founding Father of the United States who signed the Declaration of Independence, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, President of Delaware, and a member of the Federalist Party, who served as U.S. Senator from Delaware and Chief Justice of Delaware. Read was one of only two statesmen who signed four of the great State papers on which the country's history is based: the original Petition to the King of the Congress of 1774, the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States.

Born in Cecil County, Maryland, his family moved to New Castle County, Delaware when he was an infant. As he grew up, George Read joined Thomas McKean at the Rev. Francis Allison's Academy at New London, Pennsylvania and then studied law in Philadelphia. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1753 and a year later he returned home to establish a practice at New Castle, Delaware. In 1763 John Penn, the Proprietary Governor, appointed George Read Crown Attorney General for the three Delaware counties and he served in that position until leaving for the Continental Congress in 1774. He also served in the Colonial Assembly of the Lower Counties for twelve sessions, from 1764/65 through 1775/76. Read was elected to serve along with the more radical McKean and Caesar Rodney in the First and Second Continental Congress from 1774 to 1777. He was frequently absent, and when the Congress voted on American Independence on July 2, 1776, Read surprised many by voting against it. However, when the Declaration of Independence was finally adopted, Read signed it despite his natural caution.

Read was then elected to the first Legislative Council of the Delaware General Assembly and was selected as the Speaker in both the 1776/77 and 1777/78 sessions. At the time of the capture of President John McKinly, Read was in Philadelphia attending Congress; after narrowly escaping capture himself while he was returning home, he became President on October 20, 1777, serving until March 31, 1778. After Rodney was elected to replace him as President, Read continued to serve in the Legislative Council until the 1778–79 session. After a one-year rest nursing ill health, he was elected to the House of Assembly for the 1780/81 and 1781/82 sessions. He returned to the Legislative Council in the 1782/83 session and served two terms until the 1787/88 session. On December 5, 1782, he was elected Judge of the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture. Read was again called to national service in 1786 when he represented Delaware at the Annapolis Convention. At what became the Constitutional Convention, Read again represented Delaware, signing the US Constitution.

Following the adoption of the Constitution, the Delaware General Assembly elected Read as one of its two US Senators. His term began on March 4, 1789, and he was reelected in 1791 but resigned on September 18, 1793. Read served with the Pro-Administration Party majority in the 1st and 2nd Congress, under President Washington. He resigned to accept an appointment as Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court and served in that capacity until his death. Read died at New Castle on September 21, 1798, due to heart problems, and is buried there in the Immanuel Episcopal Church Cemetery.