John Morton (1725 – April 1, 1777) was an American farmer, surveyor, and jurist from the Province of Pennsylvania and a Founding Father of the United States.

[2] Morton's great-grandfather Martti Marttinen (Swedish: Mårten Mårtensson, or Morten Morteninpoika) was a Finn with roots in Rautalampi, Finland.

When the final vote was taken on July 2, Dickinson and Morris abstained, allowing the Pennsylvania delegation to support the resolution of independence.

Morton's grave remained unmarked until October 1845, when the present-day 11-foot marble obelisk was erected by his descendants.

The tie continued until the vote of the last member, John Morton, decided the promulgation of the Glorious Diploma of American Freedom.

[12]The inscription on the south side of the memorial reads: In 1775, while speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, John Morton was elected a Member of Congress, and in the ever memorable session of 1776, he attended that august body for the last time, establishing his name in the grateful remembrance of the American People by signing the Declaration of Independence.

[13]The inscription on the north side of the memorial reads: John Morton being censured by his friends for his boldness in giving his casting vote for the Declaration of Independence, his prophetic spirit dictated from his death bed the following message to them: 'Tell them they shall live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it to have been the most glorious service I ever rendered to my country.

[14]John Morton's participation in the signing of the Declaration of Independence has been important in terms of the identity of Finnish Americans.

[18] Morton's second son, Sketchley, was a major in the Pennsylvania Militia of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.