John Witherspoon (February 15, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Jersey. He was both the only active clergyman and college president to sign the Declaration.

John Witherspoon was born at Gifford, a parish of Yester, in East Lothian, Scotland, as the eldest child of the Reverend James Alexander Witherspoon and Anne Walker,[1] a descendant of John Welsh of Ayr and John Knox.[2] He attended the Haddington Grammar School, and obtained a Master of Arts from the University of Edinburgh in 1739. He remained at the University to study divinity. Witherspoon was opposed to the Jacobite rising of 1745-46 and following the Jacobite victory at the Battle of Falkirk (1746) he was briefly imprisoned at Doune Castle,[3] which had a long-term impact on his health. He became a Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) minister at Beith, Ayrshire (1745-1758), where he married Elizabeth Montgomery. They had ten children, only five surviving to adulthood. From 1758-1768, he was minister of the Laigh kirk, Paisley (Low Kirk). Witherspoon became prominent within the Church as an Evangelical opponent of the Moderate Party.[4] During his two pastorates he wrote three well-known works on theology, notably the satire "Ecclesiastical Characteristics" (1753) opposing the philosophical influence of Francis Hutcheson.[5] He was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity from the University of St Andrews, Fife.