In celebration of the 4th of July, it occurred to us that there must have been signers of the Declaration of Independence who were physicians. Indeed, there were – 5 of them.
The information here is from a July 3, 2008, article titled “Strong Medicine: Doctors Who Signed the Declaration of Independence” on Health Blog, The Wall Street Journal’s blog on health and the business of health. The article cites the book Physician Signers of the Declaration of Independence as a key reference source. The book can be found at this link.
The five physicians’ signatures among the 56 names at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence are Benjamin Rush (Pennsylvania, “the father of psychiatry”), Matthew Thornton (New Hampshire), Josiah Bartlett (later governor of New Hampshire), Lyman Hall (later governor of Georgia), and Oliver Wolcott (Connecticut).
To read the full article, please visit the WSG Health Blog.
