John Witherspoon was a Scottish-American minister, writer, and college president. His claim to fame was signing the Declaration of Independence.
Witherspoon was born on February 5, 1723, in East Lothian, Scotland, to a ministerial family. He received degrees from the University of St.
Andrews and the University of Edinburgh by the time he turned 18.
He became a minister, first serving in Ayrshire. While in Ayrshire,
he met his wife, Elizabeth Montgomery. Together, they had 10 kids, only five of
whom reached adulthood. Witherspoon continued his ministry in Paisley for 11
years and also wrote about subjects in theology and philosophy. He was a spokesperson for the Popular (conservative) church party and a moderator
of the synod of Glasgow and Ayr.
While working in Paisley, Witherspoon was offered the
position of president of the Presbyterian College of New Jersey. He relocated
to America, and under his leadership, the struggling institution continued to
grow and eventually became Princeton University. Witherspoon was called to repair
the divide within the institution as well as improve the educational aspects.
Witherspoon became politically active after he began to view
the British Crown as encroaching on America’s colonies. Early on, he was
involved in the New Jersey committees of correspondence. He signed the
Declaration of Independence, and according to the University of Edinburgh’s
website, he was the only clergyman and only college president to do so.
Later on, he went on to serve on 100 congressional
committees, including the Board of War and the Committee on Secret
Correspondence, or Foreign Affairs. He was actively involved in the debates
over the Articles of Confederation, helped organize the executive branch, and
created instructions for peace commissioners.
While he was involved in politics, his son-in-law was in
charge of the college. Witherspoon returned to teaching full-time in 1782. The college
was in good condition when he returned, but it never recovered to where it was
before the war.
Witherspoon died in 1794 in New Jersey at the age of 71. Actress
Reese Witherspoon claims that she is a direct descendant of John Witherspoon, but
the genealogists at the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the
Declaration of Independence have not verified this claim.
Sources:
-Celtic Life International
-"John Witherspoon." Encyclopedia of World
Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: Biography,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631007039/BIC?u=philly_free&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=af07a52d.
Accessed 4 July 2026.