Talk:John Alsop

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A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on November 22, 2021 and November 22, 2022.

Continental Congress

With some trepidation I have added a sentence indicating that Alsop resigned from the Continental Congress rather than sign the Declaration of Independence. This seems to be an established fact. The wikipedia page on the signing of the Declaration says:

Eight delegates never signed the Declaration, out of about 50 who are thought to have been present in Congress during the voting on independence in early July 1776:[16] John Alsop, George Clinton, John Dickinson, Charles Humphreys, Robert R. Livingston, John Rogers, Thomas Willing, and Henry Wisner.[17] Clinton, Livingston, and Wisner were attending to duties away from Congress when the signing took place. Willing and Humphreys voted against the resolution of independence and were replaced in the Pennsylvania delegation before the August 2 signing. Rogers had voted for the resolution of independence but was no longer a delegate on August 2. Alsop favored reconciliation with Great Britain and so resigned rather than add his name to the document.[18] Dickinson refused to sign, believing the Declaration premature, but he remained in Congress. George Read had voted against the resolution of independence, and Robert Morris had abstained—yet they both signed the Declaration.

So of these eight delegates who were non-signers, three were away from Congress (and presumably would have signed), and three voted against the Declaration but were no longer delegates at the date of signing in August. Of the remaining two John Dickinson didn't sign but stayed a delegate to the Congress, leaving - it seems - only Alsop to resign honorably on his own accord (rather than be replaced).

Is there any indication anywhere of the date on which Alsop resigned, or otherwise ceased to be a delegate? Or was it much more informal then and - for example - he simply ceased attending the Congress without any formality being required? Thomas Peardew (talk) 09:04, 13 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Dispute unsourced Founding Father claim

No prominent source can be found to substantiate the claim that John Alsop was a Founding Father. In fact, he refused to sign the Declaration of Independence without which there would not have been a founding. Unless multiple authoritative sources can be found to indicate otherwise, the label will be removed. Allreet (talk) 13:21, 9 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The signers of the other three founding documents are accepted per sources and various talk page discussions as Founding Fathers, and since there is no dispute that the Continental Association is a founding document, site consistency applies. Besides the defining 2017 Werther article "Analyzing the Founders: A Closer Look at the Signers of Four Founding Documents" in the Journal of the American Revolution here are two other sources which, for consistency and per WP:COMMONSENSE, acknowledge that the Founders include the signers of the fourth: The Founder of the Day article "Signers of the Continental Association" clearly states "Below is a list of the Founders who signed the Continental Association" [emphasis mine], followed by the names of the 53 signers (Founder of the Day also names the Association as one of the four founding documents). The worldhistory.edu "Top 10 Founding Fathers of the United States of America" - section "List of Founding Fathers of the United States" asserts "Also, two broader groups of Founding Fathers capture the signers of Articles of Confederation (the initial version of the American Constitution which was adopted in 1777 and ratified in 1781) and the signers of the Continental Association (created on October 20, 1774)" [emphasis mine]. Please add these sources to the pages of the other Association signers you are intent of removing from Founding Father status, thanks. Randy Kryn (talk) 15:38, 9 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@User:Randy Kryn: Au contraire, there's plenty of disagreement on what is considered a founding document. The National Archive and U.S. Congress, for example, don't recognize the Continental Association or Articles of Confederation. And many sources regard the four differently in terms of identifying Founding Fathers. So who should we listen to? The National Archive or worldhistoryedu?

The issue, it turns out is that the four documents are regarded very differently. Many if not most sources/historians accept the Declaration as criteria for "fatherhood" and almost as many the Constitution. But very few (two?) recognize the Articles, and hardly anybody accepts the Continental Convention. Yet you treat all the documents as equals. They're not, and more than just my opinion, that can be backed up by a dozen or so sources.

I like how you accused me before of "sneaking things through." Turns out you haven't exactly been transparent about what you did this past year. I was appalled that you had changed 30 articles. Turns out it's easily twice that. I'll get back to you with a head count. Allreet (talk) 07:22, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@User:Randy Kryn: Please see text and citations I have entered qualifying the assertion that Alsop is a founding father. Allreet (talk) 22:08, 4 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]