Changes

==Early life==

==Early life==

Roger Sherman was born to William and Mehetabel Sherman at Newton, Massachusetts on April 19, 1721.<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Roger_Sherman_and_the_Creation_of_the_Am/dISJoojLszUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA9 Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic]</ref> His great grandfather, Captain John Sherman, came from Dedham, in England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, about the year 1635. His grandfather, William Sherman, was a farmer, in moderate circumstances. In 1723, the family removed from Newton to Stoughton. Of the childhood and early youth of Sherman, little is known. He was neither assisted by a public education nor by private tuition, but did have a limited mentorship with Reverend Samuel Dunbar.<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Women_of_the_Constitution/VL5wUgW0RssC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA171]</ref> All the valuable attainments, which he exhibited in his future career, were the result of his own vigorous efforts. By his ardent thirst for knowledge, and his indefatigable industry, he attained a very commendable acquaintance with general science, the system of logic, geography, mathematics, the general principles of history, philosophy, theology, and particularly law, and politics. He was early apprenticed to a shoemaker,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=5yE6AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA304 Cyclopedia of American Government, Volume 3]</ref> and he continued to pursue that occupation for some time after he was twenty-two years of age. It is recorded of him, that he was accustomed to sit at his work with a book before him, devoting to study every moment that his eyes could be spared from the occupation in which he was engaged.

Roger Sherman was born to William and Mehetabel Sherman at Newton, Massachusetts on April 19, 1721.<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Roger_Sherman_and_the_Creation_of_the_Am/dISJoojLszUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA9 Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic]</ref> His great grandfather, Captain John Sherman, came from Dedham, in England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, about the year 1635. His grandfather, William Sherman, was a farmer, in moderate circumstances. In 1723, the family removed from Newton to Stoughton. Of the childhood and early youth of Sherman, little is known. He was neither assisted by a public education nor by private tuition, but did have a limited mentorship with Reverend Samuel Dunbar.<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Women_of_the_Constitution/VL5wUgW0RssC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA171 Women of the Constitution]</ref> All the valuable attainments, which he exhibited in his future career, were the result of his own vigorous efforts. By his ardent thirst for knowledge, and his indefatigable industry, he attained a very commendable acquaintance with general science, the system of logic, geography, mathematics, the general principles of history, philosophy, theology, and particularly law, and politics. He was early apprenticed to a shoemaker,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=5yE6AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA304 Cyclopedia of American Government, Volume 3]</ref> and he continued to pursue that occupation for some time after he was twenty-two years of age. It is recorded of him, that he was accustomed to sit at his work with a book before him, devoting to study every moment that his eyes could be spared from the occupation in which he was engaged.

When he was nineteen years of age, his father died. His eldest brother having previously removed to New Milford, in Connecticut, the principal charge of the family devolved on him. At this early period of life, the care of a mother, who lived to a great age, and the education of a numerous family of brothers and sisters, brought into grateful exercise his warm, filial, and fraternal affections. The assistance subsequently afforded by him, to two of his younger brothers, enabled them to obtain the inestimable advantages of a public education. He continued to reside at Stoughton, about three years after the death of his father, principally employed in the cultivation of the farm, and in otherwise providing for the maintenance of the family. Before he was twenty-one, he made a public profession of religion. He thus laid the foundation of his character in piety. That unbending integrity, which has almost made his name synonymous with virtue itself, was acquired in the school of Christ and his apostles. Mr. Sherman used to remark to his family, that before he had attained the age of twenty-one years, he had learned to control and govern his passions. His success in these efforts, he attributed, in a considerable degree to Dr. Watts's excellent treatise on this subject. His passions were naturally strong, but he had brought them under subjection to such a degree, that he appeared to be habitually calm and sedate, mild and agreeable. All his actions seem to have been preceded by a rigorous self-examination, and the answering of the secret interrogatories, What is right? What course ought I to pursue? He never propounded to himself the questions, Will it be popular? How will it affect my interest? Hence his reputation for integrity was never questioned.

When he was nineteen years of age, his father died. His eldest brother having previously removed to New Milford, in Connecticut, the principal charge of the family devolved on him. At this early period of life, the care of a mother, who lived to a great age, and the education of a numerous family of brothers and sisters, brought into grateful exercise his warm, filial, and fraternal affections. The assistance subsequently afforded by him, to two of his younger brothers, enabled them to obtain the inestimable advantages of a public education. He continued to reside at Stoughton, about three years after the death of his father, principally employed in the cultivation of the farm, and in otherwise providing for the maintenance of the family. Before he was twenty-one, he made a public profession of religion. He thus laid the foundation of his character in piety. That unbending integrity, which has almost made his name synonymous with virtue itself, was acquired in the school of Christ and his apostles. Mr. Sherman used to remark to his family, that before he had attained the age of twenty-one years, he had learned to control and govern his passions. His success in these efforts, he attributed, in a considerable degree to Dr. Watts's excellent treatise on this subject. His passions were naturally strong, but he had brought them under subjection to such a degree, that he appeared to be habitually calm and sedate, mild and agreeable. All his actions seem to have been preceded by a rigorous self-examination, and the answering of the secret interrogatories, What is right? What course ought I to pursue? He never propounded to himself the questions, Will it be popular? How will it affect my interest? Hence his reputation for integrity was never questioned.