Jacob Shallus

In 1787, Shallus handwrote the original presentation of the United States Constitution.

Jacob Shallus or Shalus (1750–April 18, 1796) was an American calligrapher who was the engrosser or penman of the original copy of the United States Constitution. The handwritten document that Shallus engrossed is on display in the Rotunda of the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.

Early life Shallus was the son of German immigrants. His father was an innkeeper named Valentine Schallus who immigrated from Palatine region in 1747 and his mother was Frederica Catherina.

His brother Thomas Shallus was a mapmaker.

He was born a year after his father Valentine immigrated to Pennsylvania and was a volunteer in the Revolutionary War. During the Revolutionary War, Shallus fought in Canada after becoming a quartermaster of Pennsylvania's 1st Battalion on January 19, 1776.

Career At the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Shallus served as Assistant Clerk to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, which met at the Pennsylvania State House, today known as Independence Hall. The convention's desire for speedy drafting and Shallus' convenience to the convention's meeting may have influenced his choice as engrosser. Shallus engrossed the entire document except for the list of states at the end of the document, which are in Alexander Hamilton's handwriting. Her obituary from the Democratic Press in Pennsylvania from August 3, 1818 notes she was "one of those patriotic Ladies of Philadelphia who first associated together and supplied the suffering soldiers with shirts, stockings, &c. in that eventful period of the revolution, which tried and apalled [sic] even men's souls."

Jacob and Elizabeth had at least one child that survived to adulthood, their eldest son, Francis Shallus who was born in 1774. Francis Shallus became an engraver after apprenticing under Robert Scot, the 1st Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint. This library became one of the earliest of such establishments to encourage both men and women to congregate.