On the outbreak of the American revolution Witherspoon's varied talents as a preacher, debater, politician, and man of affairs at last found full room for action in the turmoil of the war of independence. He strongly supported the cause of the colonies, and in the spring of 1776 he took his seat in the convention for framing the first constitution for New Jersey. His conduct in this assembly established his capacity for affairs. After serving there during the deposition of William Franklin, the royalist governor, on 21 June 1776, he was elected by the citizens of New Jersey as their representative in the general congress by which the constitution of the United States was framed. All his influence was exerted in favour of the declaration of independence. When a member of congress expressed a fear that they ‘were not yet ripe’ for such a declaration, Witherspoon replied, ‘In my judgment, sir, we are not only ripe but rotting.’ At his instance the Scottish soldiers were omitted from the list of mercenaries whom, according to the declaration of independence, England had employed against the colonists. He was among those who signed the declaration on 4 July, and, with the exception of a brief interval, he remained in congress until the virtual close of the revolution. His erudition gave him weight in an assembly in love with theory, and his training in Scottish ecclesiastical politics prepared him for the secular politics of America. On 7 Oct. he was appointed a member of the secret executive committee. He was a member of the board of war, and on 27 Aug. 1778 was made a member of the committee of the finances. In 1781 he was one of the commissioners who brought about an accommodation between congress and the mutineers from Washington's army at Trenton (Ann. Reg. 1781, i. 7). During the whole of the struggle he continually influenced public opinion by sermons, pamphlets, and addresses, in which, while strenuous for independence, he showed the dangers of excessive decentralisation and urged the necessity of leaving sufficient strength to the executive. He also strongly deprecated an undue resort to a paper currency, and urged the propriety of making loans and establishing funds for the payment of interest.
On the settlement of the question of American independence early in 1783, Witherspoon resumed his academic duties, and two years later he visited Great Britain to obtain subscriptions for the college, which had suffered severely during the war. He found, however, that the feeling against the colonists was too strong to afford him much chance of success, and, after a brief visit, he finally returned to the United States. In 1785 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Yale College. Two years before his death he became blind, but, in spite of this infirmity, he continued to preach and to lecture until the end of his life. He died on 15 Nov. 1794, and was buried at Princeton. He was twice married: first, in 1748, to Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Montgomery of Craighouse; and secondly, in 1791, to Anne, widow of Dr. Dill of York County, New York. By the former he had three sons and two daughters. The eldest son, James, became a major in the American army, and was killed at Germantown. Of his daughters, Anne married Samuel Stanhope Smith, who succeeded him as president of Princeton College; and Frances married David Ramsay, the historian. John Cabell Breckinridge, the confederate leader, was a descendant of Witherspoon (Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. xi. 25). Witherspoon's portrait was engraved from life by Trotter in 1785, and a colossal statue was erected to him on 20 Oct. 1876 in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. He was brilliant in conversation, and was said to have a more imposing presence than any American leader, except Washington.
Witherspoon, both from his attainments and his position, exercised a considerable influence on theological development in the United States, and he has been credited with moulding presbyterian thought in New England (cf. Bibliotheca Sacra, July 1863; Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, October 1863). Besides the works already mentioned, he was the author of: 1. ‘Seven Single Sermons,’ Edinburgh, 1758, 8vo; Philadelphia, 1778, 8vo. 2. ‘A Practical Treatise on Regeneration,’ London, 1764, 12mo; 5th ed. London, 1815, 12mo. 3. ‘Essays on Important Subjects,’ London, 1764, 2 vols. 12mo. This collection included No. 2 as well as ‘Ecclesiastical Characteristics.’ 4. ‘Discourses on Practical Subjects,’ Glasgow, 1768, 12mo; Edinburgh, 1804, 12mo. 5. ‘Practical Discourses on Leading Truths of the Gospel,’ Edinburgh, 1768, 12mo; 1804, 12mo. 6. ‘Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament,’ Philadelphia, 1774, 8vo; erroneously attributed to Benjamin Franklin. 7. ‘The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men,’ a sermon, Philadelphia, 1776, 8vo; this discourse, a defence of revolutionary theories, was republished in Glasgow in 1777, with severe annotations, in which he was styled a rebel and a traitor. To the American edition he added an ‘Address to the Natives of Scot-
