SS Richard Henry Lee was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Richard Henry Lee, an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain leading to the United States Declaration of Independence, which he signed. He also served a one-year term as the President of the Continental Congress, was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation, and was a United States senator from Virginia, from 1789 to 1792, serving during part of that time as the second President pro tempore of the upper house.
SS Francis L. Lee was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Francis L. Lee, a member of the House of Burgesses, in the Colony of Virginia. As an active protester regarding issues such as the Stamp Act, Lee helped move the colony in the direction of independence from Britain. Lee was a delegate to the Virginia Conventions and the Continental Congress. He was a signer of the Articles of Confederation and the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Virginia.
SS Thomas Stone was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Thomas Stone, a Founding Father, American planter and lawyer who signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a delegate for Maryland. He later worked on the committee that formed the Articles of Confederation in 1777. He acted as President of Congress for a short time in 1784.
SS Esek Hopkins was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Esek Hopkins, the only Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. He was also an accomplished merchant captain and privateer. He is noted for his successful raid on the British port of Providence, in the Bahamas, and capturing large stores of military supplies.
SS James Gunn was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after James Gunn, a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States senator from Georgia.
SS John Henry was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Henry, the eighth Governor of Maryland and member of the United States Senate.
SS Samuel Johnston was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Samuel Johnston, an American planter, lawyer, and statesman from Chowan County, North Carolina. He represented North Carolina in both the Continental Congress and the United States Senate, and was the sixth Governor of North Carolina.
SS Bernard Carter was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Bernard Carter, a lawyer, professor, and politician from Maryland. Carter was corporate attorney in Baltimore and a professor at the University of Maryland.
SS Benjamin Chew was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Benjamin Chew, a fifth-generation American, a Quaker-born legal scholar, a prominent and successful Philadelphia lawyer, head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Commonwealth, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania. Chew was well known for his precision and brevity in making legal arguments as well as his excellent memory, judgment, and knowledge of statutory law. Chew lived and practiced law in Philadelphia, four blocks from Independence Hall, and provided pro bono his knowledge of substantive law to America's Founding Fathers during the creation of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
SS William Tilghman was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after William Tilghman, the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Third Circuit and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
SS Jared Ingersoll was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Jared Ingersoll, an American Founding Father, lawyer, and statesman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signatory of the Constitution of the United States.
SS William Paca was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after William Paca, a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence from Maryland, a delegate to the First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress from Maryland, Governor of Maryland and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
SS Joseph Stanton was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Joseph Stanton, an American military officer during the American Revolutionary War, raising to the rank of major general, in the Continental Army, in command of the Rhode Island Militia. He was a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention in 1790, which ratified the United States Constitution and enabled Rhode Island, to be the last of the 13 colonies to join the Union. He was elected by the General Assembly to serve as one of the first two US Senators from Rhode Island, and served from 12 June 1790 to 3 March 1793, as a member of the Anti-Administration Party. He was later elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served from 4 March 1801 to 3 March 1807, as a member of the Jeffersonian Democrat-Republican Party.
SS John Walker was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Walker, a representative of the House of Burgesses. He was in the Continental Army, serving in 1777 as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, holding the rank of colonel. In 1780, he was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He then studied law. When William Grayson died in 1790, Walker was appointed to the United States Senate to serve from March 31 to November 9.
SS Jonathan Elmer was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Jonathan Elmer, an American politician and delegate to the Continental Congress three times: 1777 to 1778, 1781 to 1783, and 1787 to 1788. In 1780 and 1784 he represented Cumberland County in the New Jersey Legislative Council. The College of New Jersey made Elmer a trustee in 1782. He served in that position until 1795. The New Jersey Legislature appointed Elmer to the United States Senate for the term of 4 March 1789 to 3 March 1791.
SS Benjamin Hawkins was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Benjamin Hawkins, an American planter, statesman, and US Indian agent. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States senator from North Carolina. Appointed by George Washington as General Superintendent for Indian Affairs (1796–1818), he had responsibility for the Native American tribes south of the Ohio River, and was principal Indian agent to the Creek Indians.
SS Ralph Izard was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Ralph Izard, an American politician. He was appointed commissioner to the Court of Tuscany by the Continental Congress in 1776, but was recalled in 1779. He returned to America in 1780, and pledged his large estate in South Carolina, for the payment of war ships to be used in the American Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1782 and 1783. In 1788, he was elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1795, serving as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the Third Congress.
SS Caesar Rodney was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Founding Father Caesar Rodney, an American lawyer and politician from St. Jones Neck in Dover Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, east of Dover. He was an officer of the Delaware militia during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and President of Delaware during most of the American Revolution.
SS Nicholas Biddle was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Nicholas Biddle, an American financier who served as the third and last president of the Second Bank of the United States. He also served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He is best known for his role in the Bank War.
SS Grace Abbott was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Grace Abbott, an American social worker who specifically worked in improving the rights of immigrants and advancing child welfare, especially the regulation of child labor.
United States
