In 1775, he was appointed chief justice of the colony, was a member of the assembly and member of Congress; holding, simultaneously, a trio of offices. The ensuing year he was one of the immortalized fifty-six by whose exertions a nation was born in a day, and who signed, scaled, and delivered the certificate of legitimacy to their grateful country. The same year he was president of the board of commissioners of the New England states that convened at Providence to consult and devise plans for the promotion of the glorious cause of freedom. The next year he presided over a similar board at Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1778, he was a member of Congress for the last time, and the next year closed his long, useful and arduous public career in the assembly of his native state, and retired covered with the rich foliage of unfading honours, the growth of nearly half a century. The proud escutcheon of his public fame and private worth was without a spot to obscure its brilliant lustre. As a municipal officer, as a judge on the bench, as a legislator in the assembly, as the chief magistrate of the colony and as a member of the Continental Congress, he discharged all his duties ably, honestly, faithfully and with a single eye to the glory of his country. As a public speaker he made no pretensions to elocution, but was listened to with profound attention. His reasoning was strong, always to the point in question, and his speeches short. His was a vigorous, clear, inquiring, analyzing mind, that surmounted every barrier with the same fortitude, energy and determined resolution that carried Bonaparte over the Alps, Sherman to the pinnacle of fame, and Franklin to the summit of science. He was a laborious and extensive reader and a friend to education. He was one of the principal founders of the Providence Library in 1750, and when it was destroyed by fire ten years after, he contributed largely to a new supply of books. He also framed and obtained the passage of an act to establish free schools, and did all in his power to promote the cause of literature. He was a friend to unshackled religion, breathing charity for all whose deportment gave the impress of divine grace—the only genuine touchstone of true piety. He admired most the creed of the society of Friends, which frequently held meetings at his house. All gospel ministers were made welcome to his hospitable mansion, which was not unaptly called by some “the ministers’ tavern.” He was plain in all things and opposed to pomp and show.