New book restores Maghera born Charles Thomson to the heart of America’s story

A new book exploring the life and legacy of Charles Thomson – one of the most overlooked figures of the American founding – will be launched at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace on Thursday, February 12, at 7.30 pm.

Written by Courtney McKinney-Whitaker, Charles Thomson: Irish Emigrant, American Founder is a carefully crafted introductory study that restores visibility to the Derry-born Presbyterian who served for fifteen years as Secretary of the Continental Congress.

In that role, Thomson formally recorded the Declaration of Independence, ensured the continuity of Congress through war and crisis, and played a decisive role in shaping the final design of the Great Seal of the United States.

It was Thomson who selected the enduring national motto E Pluribus Unum – “Out of Many, One” – a phrase that articulated a moral aspiration for unity amid difference at the birth of the American republic.

That ideal remains both foundational and unfinished. Concise yet substantial, the book offers an authoritative and engaging account of Thomson’s life, ideas, and influence.

Designed as an entry point rather than a definitive biography, it invites readers to look again at a neglected founder whose relevance feels newly urgent in the lead-up to US250, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The book includes a Foreword by retired Presbyterian Minister, Rev. David Latimer, and an Epilogue by John Hume Jr, bringing together historical insight, ethical reflection, and contemporary resonance.

The choice of venue is especially fitting. The Seamus Heaney HomePlace lies just minutes from the outskirts of Maghera, County Derry, where Charles Thomson was born – symbolically returning this forgotten founder to the cultural and geographical landscape that shaped him.

The story also carries a powerful transatlantic echo. John Hume Sr famously encountered E Pluribus Unum for the first time at the grave of President Abraham Lincoln, an experience that left a deep impression and came to symbolise how American founding ideals travelled back across the Atlantic to inform Irish thinking on unity, reconciliation, and shared humanity.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Courtney McKinney-Whitaker, whose husband, Stephen, is Minister at Derry Presbyterian Church, Hershey, Pennsylvania, said: “Charles Thomson was at the centre of the creation of the United States. Through the power of his pen – and through the honesty and integrity for which he was known – he helped hold together 13 very different colonies with frequently conflicting goals, loyalties, and priorities. His story deserves to be better known.”

The Irish launch will be followed by a U.S. launch in April 2026, with events planned in Philadelphia and at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on April 9 and 10, aligning with commemorations marking US250.

At a time when societies on both sides of the Atlantic are grappling with division, memory, and belonging, Charles Thomson: Irish Emigrant, American Founder offers a timely reminder that the ideals at the heart of democracy were never intended as settled slogans, but as living moral commitments.