New Jersey, now Princeton University. He said he had "become an
American the moment he landed." He took an active part in the public
affairs of the colony of New Jersey, and in the convention which met
to frame a constitution he displayed great knowledge of legal
questions and urged the abolition of religious tests. In June, 1776,
he was elected to the Continental Congress, and in the course of the
debates he displayed little patience with those who urged half
measures. When John Dickinson of Pennsylvania said the country was not
ripe for independence, Witherspoon broke in upon the speaker
exclaiming, "Not ripe, Sir! In my judgment we are not only ripe, but
rotting. Almost every colony has dropped from its parent stem and your
own province needs no more sunshine to mature it." He further declared
that he would rather be hanged than desert his country's cause. One of
his sons was killed at the battle of Germantown.

SCOTS IN THE PRESIDENCY

Of the twenty-nine Presidents of the United States five (Monroe,
Grant, Hayes, Roosevelt, and Wilson) are of Scottish descent, and four
(omitting Jackson who has been also claimed as Scottish by some
writers) are of Ulster Scot descent, namely, Polk, Buchanan, Arthur,
and McKinley. Jackson may possibly have been of Ulster Scot descent as
his father belonged to Carrickfergus while his, mother's maiden name,
Elizabeth Hutchins, or Hutchinson, is Scottish. She came of a family
of linen weavers. Benjamin Harrison might also have been included as
he had some Scottish (Gordon) blood. His wife, Caroline Scott
Harrison, was of Scottish descent.

James Monroe, fifth President, was descended from Andrew Monroe, who
emigrated from Scotland in the middle of the seventeenth century.
President Grant was a descendant of Matthew Grant, who came from
Scotland to Dorchester, Mass., in 1630. George Hayes, ancestor of
Rutherford B. Hayes, nineteenth President, was a Scot who settled in
Windsor prior to 1680. Theodore Roosevelt was Dutch on his father's
side and Scottish on his mother's. His mother was descended from James
Bulloch, born in Scotland about 1701, who emigrated to Charleston, c.
1728, and founded a family which became prominent in the annals of
Georgia. Woodrow Wilson's paternal grandfather, James Wilson, came
from county Down in 1807. His mother, Janet (or Jessie) Woodrow, was a
daughter of Rev. Thomas Woodrow, a native of Paisley, Scotland. James
Knox Polk, eleventh President, w