Francis Dana
A signer of the Articles of Confederation, he was secretary to the diplomatic mission that negotiated the end of the American Revolution, and was appointed Minister to Russia.He returned the following year, convinced that a friendly settlement of the dispute was impossible, and was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777, where he signed the Articles of Confederation in 1778.As a member of the latter body, he became chairman in January 1778 of the committee appointed to visit General George Washington at Valley Forge and confer with him concerning the reorganization of the Continental Army.An earnest advocate of the adoption of the Federal constitution, he was a member of the state convention which ratified it in 1788 and was one of the most influential advisers of the leaders of the Federalist Party, specifically its Essex Junto.His grandson, Richard Henry Dana Jr., was a noted lawyer and author who served as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts and wrote the classic Two Years Before the Mast (1840).
United States Minister to RussiaContinental CongressJohn Quincy AdamsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial CourtJedediah FosterThomas DawesChief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial CourtNathaniel Peaslee SargentTheophilus ParsonsCharlestown, MassachusettsCambridgeAlma materHarvard UniversityFounding FatherMassachusettsArticles of ConfederationSupreme Judicial Court of MassachusettsWilliam ElleryDeclaration of IndependenceWashington AllstonRobert FieldRichard DanaHarvardread lawBostonSons of LibertyRevolutionary WarGeorge WashingtonValley ForgeContinental ArmyLord NorthJohn AdamsRussian EmpireCatherine the GreatSaint PetersburgSupreme Court of MassachusettsFederal constitutionFederalist PartyEssex JuntoCambridgeportCharles RiverLongfellow BridgeAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesRichard Henry Dana Sr.Richard Henry Dana Jr.U.S. AttorneyTwo Years Before the MastBelchertownMartin v. MassachusettsGreat BritainCharles Olivier de Saint-Georges de Véracpublic domainChisholm, HughEncyclopædia BritannicaWilson, J. G.Fiske, J.Appletons' Cyclopædia of American BiographyBiographical Directory of the United States CongressPerpetual UnionFounding Fathers of the United StatesJohn DickinsonJosiah BartlettJohn Wentworth Jr.John HancockSamuel AdamsElbridge GerryJames LovellSamuel HoltenHenry MarchantJohn CollinsRoger ShermanSamuel HuntingtonOliver WolcottTitus HosmerAndrew AdamsJames DuaneFrancis LewisWilliam DuerGouverneur MorrisJohn WitherspoonNathaniel ScudderRobert MorrisDaniel RoberdeauJonathan Bayard SmithWilliam ClinganJoseph ReedThomas McKeanNicholas Van DykeJohn HansonDaniel CarrollRichard Henry LeeJohn BanisterThomas AdamsJohn HarvieFrancis Lightfoot LeeJohn PennCornelius HarnettJohn WilliamsHenry LaurensWilliam Henry DraytonJohn MathewsRichard HutsonThomas Heyward Jr.John WaltonEdward TelfairEdward LangworthyAmerican RevolutionCongress of the ConfederationCharles ThomsonJournals of the Continental CongressNational ArchivesRotunda for the Charters of FreedomStoughtonWinthropAddingtonSamuel SewallLynde Sr.DudleyStephen SewallT. HutchinsonLynde Jr.OliverCushingSargentParsonsSewall