![[Thomas Fitz-Simons]](ncd03298.jpg "19kb jpg detail of a portrait of Thomas Fitz-Simons, date unknown, artist unknown; please do not write to ask about the image")
Statesman, born Ireland, 1741; died Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1811.
He was in America as early as 1758, and took a prominent part in the Revolutionary movement; his election as one of the Provincial Deputies in July, 1774, is the first instance of a Catholic being named for a public office in Pennsylvania.
He was a member of the Continental Congress, assisted in drawing up the Constitution of 1787 of which he was one of the signers, and was elected a member of the first Congress of the United States.
Probably he was the first to suggest a protective tariff to help American industries.
He was one of the founders of Georgetown College.
New Catholic Dictionary
