The character, intellectual attainments and patriotism of Francis Hopkinson won him the confidence of his countrymen in the most trying exigencies of their affairs.  He had a well-earned reputation as a moral man and gentleman long before he entered Congress, and was, also, not without some conspicuity as a writer.  The meager records do not indicate that he took any prominent part in the Congressional proceedings, but they are clear that his mind was well stored with the grave and important knowledge necessary to the accomplishment of the act of freedom of which his name and signature are a part.  Above all else he was a patriot and gave the best there was in him to his country and its cause.