SCOTT, Gustavus, lawyer, born in Prince William county, Virginia ; died in Washington, D. C., in 1801. His father, Reverend James Scott, a Scotchman, became a minister of the Episcopal church and came to this country about 1730. Gustavus was educated at King's college, Aberdeen, Scotland, and after his friend, Sir Robert Eden, was made governor of Maryland, removed to that province and practised law successfully in Somerset county. When the people of Maryland decided to send deputies from all the counties to a convention to be held in Annapolis, 22 June, 1774, he was sent as a delegate from Somerset, and participated in all its subsequent deliberations down to the adoption of the first constitution and the organization of the state government in 1777. He was a member of the Association of the freemen of Maryland, which decided in July, 1775, to throw off the proprietary power and assume a provisional government, and his signature is attached to the original pledge that now (1888) hangs in the state-house at Annapolis. He was a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Maryland. After the formation of the state government he removed to Dorchester county, and represented it in the assembly in 1780 and again in 1784, when he was elected a delegate to the Continental congress and served till 1785. He was one of the originators of the Potomac canal company in 1784, and one of the committee of the Maryland legislature, to whom was referred the claim of James Rumsey (q. v.), for the exclusive privilege of making and selling his boats in Maryland. He reported in favor of Rumsey's claim, and the bill was passed. He was also one of the original commissioners appointed to superintend the erection of the capitol buildings at Washington, and when the state of Maryland lent the government several thousand dollars for the purpose, the credit of the general government was so low that the state required Scott and two others to give to it their individual bonds as security.