Feebleness, brought on by Parkinson’s disease, could not keep Stephen Hopkins from affixing his name to the one of the most important political documents in history. As he signed the paper on August 2nd, using his left hand to steady his right, he declared, “My hand trembles, but my heart does not.” Such was the strength of a man who helped build his home state and his country.

Born on March 7, 1707, in Providence, Rhode Island, Stephen Hopkins was not afforded the educational opportunities of many of the signers of the Declaration. He was taught minimally by his mother. His grandfather and uncle schooled him in beginning math and his grandfather’s small, but well-curated, library taught him literature. Early on, he made his living surveying and farming. He married Sarah Scott when they were both 19 years of age. They had five sons and two daughters.

In 1731, when Mr. Hopkins’s township of residence, Scituate, separated from Providence, he entered the political arena and embarked on a long civic life. At first, he was a town clerk and then president of the town council. He would move onto the General Assembly and eventually become its speaker. Around this time, he partnered with his brother, Esek Hopkins, and established a mercantile and shipping business. The monies he amassed from his ventures funded civic enterprises and his political activities. 

At Stephen Hopkins’ hand, Providence emerged from a village to an established center of commerce with educational opportunities. He instrumental in the formation of the town’s public library and Rhode Island College, which would become Brown University. Mr. Hopkins was also a strong opponent of slavery and authored a law, in 1754, that prohibited the slave trade in the state. 

In the same year, he attended the Albany Congress and met Benjamin Franklin. At the time, Dr. Franklin was advocating for passage of The Albany Plan. The plan was intended to improve colonial relations with the crown. The plan failed, but the occasion bonded two men in friendship. Ten years later, Mr. Hopkins wrote in protest of the Stamp Act, The Rights of Colonies Examined. In it, he stated, “British subjects are to be governed only agreeable to laws which they themselves have in some way consented.”  

Stephen Hopkins also began to challenge the British government legally. As chief justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court, he refused to arrest fellow colonists who burned a ship owned by John Hancock, because the British had seized it and docked it in the Newport harbor. In 1774, during the First Continental Congress, Mr. Hopkins saw the end of the growing conflict between the two sides. During session, he declared, “…. powder and ball will decide this question. The gun and bayonet alone will finish the contest in which we are engaged, and any of you who cannot bring your minds to this mode of adjusting this question had better retire in time.”

Mr. Hopkins did, however, hold out hope that the situation could be resolved. In 1775, he joined others in hoping to mend the divisions between the colonies and the crown by signing the Olive Branch Petition. King George III refused to accommodate the petition. And in the summer of 1776, the Second Continental Congress began debating the measure to declare independence from the grip of Parliament and king. 

On July 1st, in the midst of a thunderstorm, delegate John Dickinson was delivering an impassioned, lengthy address against independence from Great Britain. In the second hour of his argument, a significant thunderclap shook the building. In response, Mr. Hopkins dropped the cane his head was resting on. Thinking he was fearful of the storm, John Penn of North Carolina leaned forward and assured him the building was safe. “There is a rod atop the State House, one of Dr. Franklin’s inventions, … If by chance a bolt of lightning should strike the belfry, that same rod would run the bolt into the ground.” In reply, Mr. Hopkins said, “I don’t give a damn about any rod or lightning bolt. I’m just of Dickinson’s long-winded harangue.”

As is well known, Mr. Dickinson’s efforts to persuade a vote against independence failed. On July 2nd, the resolution for independence passed and its formal declaration was approved on July 4th. On August 2nd, Mr. Hopkins and Dr. Franklin were the two oldest delegates to sign the Declaration. In June of the same year, he was also honored in being selected as Rhode Island’s representative to the 13-member committee to draft The Articles of Confederation, the country’s first constitution.

After this appointment, Stephen Hopkins returned to his beloved home state and never served again at the national level. He did serve in the state legislature and participated in several regional political conventions. 

Stephen Hopkins died on July 13, 1785. He is buried in the North Burying Ground in Providence. He lived to be 78 years of age.