Of all the signatures to the Declaration, that of Stephen Hopkins shows the most sign of tremulousness.  Yet to his glory, let it be said, the hand that wrote was afflicted with palsy and not with fear.  Hopkins was the first Abolitionist of his country.  Long before the Revolution he expressed himself vigorously against slavery and carried his protests into the halls of Congress.  The more important cause of freedom for the nation, however, offered him scant opportunity to force the question, and it was abandoned, to be resurrected by that other great patriot, Lincoln.  Hopkins was Chief Justice of Rhode Island and Governor of the same State before he went to Congress.  He was one of the fighting Quakers of his time and was a zealous friend of his country.