Jacob Broom (October 17, 1752-April 25, 1810) was an American banker, entrepreneur, farmer, merchant and surveyor. He was a signer of the Constitution of the United States of America. Jacob Broom was described in the Official Papers of Delaware, written in 1909, as follows:
<A fair example of the product of a sturdy, energetic, sagacious ancestry and evangelical Swedish orthodoxy, co-operating amid the trying environments of a struggling colony in an undeveloped land....
He lived in one of the potential crises of history, in which and for which the sublime visions and words of prophets and apostles had developed and inspired a stalwart manhood....
As it is an accepted fact that "the foundation of all permanent prosperity is a right regard for the Divine Being", it is proper to say that Jacob Broom was a God-fearing man.> 1752JB001
As a delegate from the State of Delaware, Jacob Broom would have complied with the requirements for office as stipulated by his state's constitution, which included:
<Article XXII. Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust...shall...make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: "I, , do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration."> 1752JB002
In a letter to his son, then a senior at Princeton University, Jacob Broom wrote in 1794:
<Do not be so much flattered as to relax in your application; do not forget to be a Christian. I have said much to you on this head, and I hope an indelible impression is made.> 1752JB003
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1752JB001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Jacob Broom. Rev. William Campbell, Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware (Wilmington, Del.: Historical Society of Delaware, 1909), pp. 27, 35. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 153.
1752JB002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Jacob Broom, 1776, Constitution of the State of Delaware, Article XXII. Thomas McKean and George Read wrote the Oath of Office in use until 1792. The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America-Published by Order of Congress (Boston: Norman & Bowen, 1785), pp. 99-100. Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S. 143 US 457, 469-470 (1892). Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968), Vol. I, p. 142. M.E. Bradford, A Worthy Company (NH: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1982), p. x. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 180- 181. Gary DeMar, "Censoring America's Christian History" (Atlanta, GA: The Biblical Worldview, An American Vision Publication-American Vision, Inc., July 1990), p. 7. "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 3. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 67-68.
1752JB003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Jacob Broom, 1794, in a letter to his son who was a senior at Princeton. Rev. William Campbell, Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware (Wilmington: Historical Society of Delaware, 1909), p. 27. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 153.