Early political career Despite the fact that Sherman had no formal legal training, he was urged to
read for the bar exam by a local lawyer and was admitted to the bar of
Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1754, during which he wrote "A Caveat Against Injustice" and was chosen to represent New Milford in the
Connecticut House of Representatives from 1755 to 1758 and from 1760 to 1761. Sherman was appointed justice of the peace in 1762 and judge of the court of common pleas in 1765. During 1766, Sherman was first elected to the
Governor's Council of the
Connecticut General Assembly, where he served until 1785. From 1784 to 1785, he also served as a judge of the
Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors. Sherman served as Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1766 to 1789. Sherman was also appointed treasurer of
Yale College, and awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree. He was a professor of religion for many years, and engaged in lengthy correspondences with some of the theologians of the time. During February 1776, Sherman,
George Wythe, and
John Adams were members of a committee responsible for establishing guidelines for U.S. Embassy officials in Canada with the committee instructions that included, "You are to declare that we hold sacred the rights of conscience, and may promise to the whole people, solemnly in our name, the free and undisturbed exercise of their religion. And ... that all civil rights and the rights to hold office were to be extended to persons of any Christian denomination." In 1784, Sherman was elected mayor of New Haven, which office he held until his death. Sherman was also a member of the committee of 13 that was responsible for preparing a draft constitution for the new nation. During debate, Sherman proposed a
bicameral national legislature where states would be represented equally. As a member of the
Confederation Congress, Sherman was a signatory of the
Treaty of Paris which ended the
Revolutionary War.
Constitutional Convention Sherman came into the Convention without the intention of creating a new constitution. He saw the convention as a means to modify the already existing government. Part of his stance was concerned with the public appeal. He defended amending the articles declaring that it was in the best interest of the people and the most probable way the people would accept changes to a constitution. Sherman advanced the idea that the national government simply needed a way to raise revenue and regulate commerce. to trade with the
West Indies instead of utilizing ports in
Boston, and feared that "...the mass of people lacked sufficient wisdom to govern themselves and thus wished no branch of the federal government to be elected directly by the people". His views were also influenced by his personal beliefs and
Puritan views. He believed that these amendments would diminish the role and power of the states over the people. Mr. Wilson & Mr. Sherman moved to insert after the words "coin money" the words "nor emit bills of credit, nor make any thing but gold & silver coin a tender in payment of debts" making these prohibitions absolute, instead of making the measures allowable (as in the XIII art) with the consent of the Legislature of the U.S. ... Mr. Sherman thought this a favorable crisis for crushing paper money. If the consent of the Legislature could authorize emissions of it, the friends of paper money would make every exertion to get into the Legislature in order to license it." Sherman also had very little interest in creating an executive branch with much authority. He suggested that no constitutional provision needed be made for the executive because it was "nothing more than an institution for carrying the will of the Legislature into effect". Had Sherman's views prevailed, the United States would have become a
parliamentary republic with an executive presidency, where the president is elected by the legislature and must maintain
its confidence to remain in office. Two proposed options for the formation of the legislative branch emerged in the deliberations. While Sherman was a devout supporter of a unicameral legislature, he recognized that this goal was unattainable because it would not receive the support of the more populous states. With the aid of
Oliver Ellsworth, Sherman repeatedly proposed a bicameral compromise where one house had representation proportional to the population, and the other had equal representation for the states. ==Death and burial site==