James Smith (September 17, 1719 – July 11, 1806), a Founding Father of the United States, was an Irish/American lawyer and a signer to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Pennsylvania. He was born in Ireland; his family immigrated to Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1729. Smith attended the Philadelphia Academy. He studied law at the office of his brother George and was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania, initially practicing near Shippensburg and later near York. He became captain of the militia there. He was appointed to the provincial convention in Philadelphia in 1775, to the state constitutional convention in 1776, and was elected to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence. He was reelected to Congress in 1785 but declined to attend because of his advanced age. Smith died on July 11, 1806, and is buried in York, Pennsylvania, First Presbyterian Churchyard. The University of Delaware has a dormitory on its North Campus bearing his name. See also Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence References Lawyers and Leaders: The Role of Lawyers in the Development of York County, Pennsylvania, 2005, , York County Bar Association by Georg R. Sheets External links http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/JamesSmith.php Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856 1719 births 1806 deaths People from Ulster American Presbyterians Presbyterians from Pennsylvania American people of Scotch-Irish descent Continental Congressmen from Pennsylvania 18th-century American politicians Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence Foundrymen Irish writers University of Pennsylvania alumni Politicians from York, Pennsylvania People from Chester County, Pennsylvania 18th-century Irish people 19th-century Irish people Founding Fathers of the United States