23 of 56 · New Jersey
CLARK
A Poor Man's Guide
28 lessons. 4 chapters. In his own words.
He would not vote his sons out of a British prison if it meant a bad peace. They were not chips. They were the point.
Abraham Clark · 1726–1794 · Surveyor · poor man's counselor
01
Counsel the Poor
1 of 4
Learn the law so the poor do not have to buy it.
“Limited in his circumstances, moderate in his desires, and unambitious of wealth.”
Contemporary description of Abraham Clark · n.d.
Surveyor first, self-taught lawyer after. Elizabethtown. They called him the poor man's counselor because he took the cases that had no fee in them. A republic that only counsels property will be owned by it. Sit with the man who cannot pay.
Do not use the office to fatten the house.
“It is gone so far that we must now be a free independent State, or a Conquered Country.”
July 4, from a Philadelphia lodging, not a mansion. He understood tyranny could grow in American rooms too. He would not use a public chair to slip favors to his own. Counsel the poor. Then refuse to become the kind of counsel they need protection from.
The poor man's lawyer still signs for a country.
“I assure you Sir, Our Congress is An August Assembly — and can they Support the Declaration now on the Anvil, they will be the greatest Assembly on Earth.”
He did not think himself too plain for the anvil. August, from a man who surveyed lots and wrote deeds for people without English. Greatness is not a wig. It is whether the Declaration holds. Support it from the cheap lodging.
Keep the desires moderate on purpose.
“Limited in his circumstances, moderate in his desires, and unambitious of wealth.”
Contemporary description of Abraham Clark · n.d.
Moderate is not a failure of appetite. It is a fence. Men who need a fortune from politics will sell the poor first. Want little. Then the counselor's advice is not a down payment on a manor.
Counsel the poor. The rich already have counsel.
“He was called the poor man's counselor, and took small fees.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Small fees. A republic that cannot afford a lawyer for the small farm will not keep the small farm. Be that lawyer.
A surveyor who reads law is a weapon against the clever grant.
“He had been a surveyor, and knew how land was stolen on paper.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Stolen on paper. The poor lose in ink before they lose in fields. Meet the ink.
Do not get too fine for the kitchen client.
“He remained plain in his dress and manners.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Plain. Finery is a fee the client pays twice. Stay in the cloth they can approach.
02
The Sons in Irons
2 of 4
They will take the children to get the father.
“We are now Sir embarked on a most Tempestuous Sea, Life very uncertain, Seeming dangers Scattered thick Around us.”
Aaron and Thomas, artillery captains. Both taken. The Jersey hulk in the harbor. Thomas in a dungeon, food through a keyhole. The sea he wrote about came for his house in uniform. A signer with sons in the army has already given hostages.
Do not spend the Congress on your blood.
“Let us prepare for the Worst. We can Die here but once.”
He did not rise in the hall to plead a special exchange. He thought no official should. Colleagues found out anyway and threatened retaliation to get Thomas out of the hole — not off the ship. The sons were not chips. They were also not a private bill. Hold that line. It will cost you sleep forever.
Prepare for the worst before they mail it to you.
“This seems now to be a trying season, but that indulgent Father who hath hitherto Preserved us will I trust appear for our help, and prevent our being Crushed; If otherwise, his Will be done.”
July 4, before the sons were cargo. He had already written the theology: help, or crushed, Thy will. Then the Jersey. A man who has not settled that sentence will trade anything in a dungeon corridor. Settle it early.
The ship is the empire's sermon. Do not recant.
“It is gone so far that we must now be a free independent State, or a Conquered Country.”
Conquered looks like this: your boys on a hulk because your name is on a paper. The British offered a door if he would walk back the paper. He did not. The sons came off in a general exchange, late, used up. Recantation would have made the irons honest. He declined to make them honest.
The sons in irons are not chips. They are the point.
“His two sons were captured and treated with great severity.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Severity. The British knew the lever. If you treat children as bargaining counters, you have already lost the argument you signed.
A prison for a child is an argument. Do not answer it with a rotten peace.
“He was urged to use his influence for a peace that would free them. He refused.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Refused. The hardest sentence in the library. Love that sells the country is not love. It is panic with a family name.
Do not vote your children out of a cell by voting the country into a kennel.
“He said he would rather his sons perish than that the cause should perish.”
Attributed to Abraham Clark · n.d.
Attributed, and the correct horror. If it is true, it is the price. If it is not, live as if it were, when the lever is applied.
03
No Rotten Peace
3 of 4
A peace that buys your children and sells the country is not a peace.
“It is gone so far that we must now be a free independent State, or a Conquered Country.”
Two outcomes. Not three. The third — a deal that frees your house and leaves the rest under the Crown — is conquest in a better coat. He would not vote that coat onto New Jersey because two captains named Clark were in the hold.
Do not recant to open a cell.
“I am far from exulting in our imaginary happiness; nothing short of the almighty power of God can save us.”
No exultation. No bargain with Howe. The British offer to the father of prisoners is always the same: be reasonable, and the boys eat. Reasonable meant Tory. He was not. God would save, or not. He would not save himself with a lie.
Die here but once. Do not die twice in a bad treaty.
“Let us prepare for the Worst. We can Die here but once.”
Once. A rotten peace is the second death: you keep breathing and the cause does not. He had already done the arithmetic in July, in a letter, before the personal invoice arrived. When it arrived, the arithmetic did not change. That is what the sentence is for.
Fear American tyranny too. Still refuse the old one.
“Our Congress is An August Assembly — and can they Support the Declaration now on the Anvil, they will be the greatest Assembly on Earth.”
He later fought consolidated power, stayed suspicious of great men, kept to the small republic. That is not a reason to have taken Howe's shilling in '77. You can hate a future Congress and still not buy your sons with the country's hide. No rotten peace. Then no rotten presidency either.
No rotten peace. Especially when it would help you.
“He was inflexible against any accommodation short of independence.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Inflexible when it hurt. Flexibility that saves your house and costs the map is treason with a smile.
A peace that frees your sons and cages your neighbors is not a peace.
“We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
Each other. The sons are in the each. So are the neighbors. You do not get to pick which each you meant.
Sit the ugly vote. Then go home and wait for news of the boys.
“He bore the trial with a firmness that astonished his friends.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Astonished. They thought a poor man's counselor would break. He did not. Firmness is not a class trait. It is a decision.
04
No Silk
4 of 4
Skip the wig. Skip the ruffle.
“Limited in his circumstances, moderate in his desires, and unambitious of wealth.”
Contemporary description of Abraham Clark · n.d.
He would not dress the part. Silk is a dialect. It tells the room you are already bought, or wish to be. A poor man's counselor in lace is a contradiction the poor can read. Be legible.
Write like a surveyor. The line is the point.
“At the Time our Forces in Canada were retreating before a Victorious Army, while Genl. Howe with a Large Armament is Advancing towards N. York, Our Congress Resolved to Declare the United Colonies Free and independent States.”
The situation, then the act. No frosting. Canada retreating, Howe coming, Congress declaring anyway. Plain style is a moral decision. If you need the sentence to shimmer, you may not believe it.
Stay the member from Elizabethtown.
“I assure you Sir, Our Congress is An August Assembly — and can they Support the Declaration now on the Anvil, they will be the greatest Assembly on Earth.”
He went back to the Legislative Council, to Annapolis, to the small work. No silk, no national salon. August is a word he used for a room, not for himself. Be from a place. Vote like it.
Plain is not small. Plain is exact.
“Let us prepare for the Worst. We can Die here but once.”
Eight words, then six. He signed, kept no costume, lost sons to a hulk, refused the buy-back, died 1794 in the same modest weather he had lived. Exact men are the ones you can trust with an anvil. The silk can sit elsewhere.
No silk. The republic is not a costume drama.
“He was remarkable for the plainness of his dress.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
Remarkable plainness. In a room of ruffles that is a vote. Wear the vote.
Silk is a tax the poor can see. Do not collect it on your back.
“He had no pride of appearance.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
No pride of appearance, pride of the cause. Split those prides correctly or the kitchen client will not come in.
Die unfashionable. It is a kind of fidelity.
“He died in 1794, as plain as he had lived.”
Sanderson, Biography of the Signers · 1823
As plain. The sons had been the expensive line. The coat never was. Keep that ratio.