A Biographical Report On Thomas Fitzsimons Essay, Research Paper

A Biographical Report on

Thomas Fitzsimons

Thomas Fitzsimons, or Fitzsimmons as his last name was

sometimes spelled, was born during 1741 and died on August 26, 1811.

Originally from Ireland, as young man he immigrated to Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania to start a career as a merchant. On November 23, 1761,

he married Catharine Meade. A few months later, with his brother-in-

law, he formed an extensive mercantile and commercial business which

traded chiefly with the West India Islands. In 1782 Fitzsimons was

elected to the congress created by the Articles of Confederation.

In 1787, Fitzsimons served as a member to the Constitutional

Convention, where he took an active role. While there he argued for a

strong national government, stiff restrictions on voting qualifications

and office-holding, against slavery, giving Congress the power to tax

imports and exports, and granting the House of Representatives and

the Senate equal power in making treaties. He was elected, in 1789, to

the first national House of Representatives for the state of

Pennsylvania. Fitzsimons is counted among the ranks of Alexander

Hamilton’s Federalists. Fitzsimons was a congress man until his defeat in

1794, after which he returned to private life.