Benjamin Franklin was the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence, remembered by America250, at age 70.
Franklin was born in Boston in 1706 and had already lived a long public career by 1776. He was a printer, publisher, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and Pennsylvania politician before joining the Continental Congress.
Franklin served on the Committee of Five that prepared the Declaration, although Thomas Jefferson wrote most of the draft. Franklin also helped revise the wording and was among the delegates who signed the engrossed parchment copy. His age and international reputation made him one of the most prominent members of Congress.
The oldest-versus-youngest comparison is a frequent trivia pairing: Franklin was 70, while South Carolina delegate Edward Rutledge was 26. Franklin remained politically active after independence and later helped negotiate the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.