Edward Rutledge - Signer of the Declartion of Independence Biography by
Appleton's edited by Stanley L. Klos
Edward Rutledge
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Signer of the Declaration of Independence
EDWARD RUTLEDGE was
born in Charleston, South Carolina on November 23, 1749. He was the youngest of
the seven children of Dr. John Rutledge who came to South Carolina from the
north of Ireland about 1735. After acquiring a classical education, young Ned as
he was called, read law with his older brother John, ten years his senior who
guided him in his career as a lawyer. He was entered as a student at the Temple,
a prestigious school in London England in 1769. He attended the courts of law
and the houses of parliament for four years, and on being called to the bar,
returned to Charleston and entered into practice.
Rutledge married the wealthy daughter of
Henry Middleton,
Henrietta, and subsequently built a home across the street from the house of his
brothers John and Hugh. Ned was nearly bald despite his age and "inclining
toward corpulency", entered into public life in 1774, when he was elected to the
First Continental Congress, with the help of his brother John and his
father-in-law, who were both respected politicians. Members of the plantation
aristocracy entered prominently into public life at an amazingly early age, and
young Rutledge was a member of congress before he was twenty-five. However, he
did not make too favorable an impression at this first meeting. He excited the
scorn of John Adams, never an admirer of the South Carolinians, who wrote in his
diary "Young Ned Rutledge is a perfect Bob-o-Lincoln—a swallow, a sparrow, a
peacock; excessively vain, excessively weak, and excessively variable and
unsteady; jejeune, inane, and puerile."
By June 1776 at the Second Congress, Rutledge,
although opposed to independence, gained strength and recognition as one of the
more influential members of congress and was selected to sit on the important
War and Ordinance Committee. His motions against independence were
endless. While he did his best to delay the vote for independence, he is
generally held responsible for the postponement of the vote on the resolution of
independence, he is also given the major credit for the decision of the South
Carolina delegation to go along with the others on July 2 for the sake on
unanimity. Edward Rutledge holds the distinction of being the youngest signer of
the
Declaration.
Rutledge left Congress six months later, in the
autumn of 1776 and returned to the low country. He distinguished himself as an
officer in the militia and as a representative in the state
legislature. Although he was re-elected to Congress, he did not get back to
Philadelphia. Along with his brother-in-law Arthur Middleton, Rutledge was
captured when Charleston fell and was imprisoned in St. Augustine.
After the war Rutledge was active in the
legislature and in state conventions. In his home country he had always been
thought a genial and charming gentleman, and no doubt he mellowed with the
years. In 1798 he became governor of his state, but he died on January 23, 1800
before completing his term. He was only a few months past fifty. His first wife,
Henrietta, bore him three children, but his second marriage, to Mrs. Mary
Shubrick Eveleigh, was childless.
RUTLEDGE, John, statesman, born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1739;
died there, 23 July, 1800. He was the eldest son of Dr. John Rutledge, who came
to South Carolina from the north of Ireland about 1735, practiced medicine in
Charleston, and married a lady of fortune, leaving her a widow with seven
children at the age of twenty-seven. The son, who was sent to England to study
law at the Temple, returned to Charleston in 1761, and acquired a high
reputation as an advocate. He was an earnest opponent of the stamp-act when it
was discussed in the provincial assembly, was sent to the congress at New York
in October, 1765, and with his colleague, Christopher Gadsden, boldly advocated
colonial union and resistance to oppression. He was a member of the South
Carolina convention of 1774, in which he argued in favor of making common cause
with Massachusetts, and carried a resolution that South Carolina should take
part in the proposed congress, and that her delegates should go unhampered by
instructions.
He was one of those that were
chosen by the planters to represent them in the first Continental congress at
Philadelphia. Patrick
Henry pronounced him "by far the greatest orator" in that assembly. In 1775
he was again chosen a delegate to congress. He was chairman of the committee
that framed a constitution for South Carolina in 1776, and on 27 March was
elected president of the new government, and commander-in-chief of the military
forces. When the British fleet arrived in Cape Fear river he fortified
Charleston, and insisted on retaining the post on Sullivan's island when General
Charles Lee proposed its evacuation. During the battle he sent 500 pounds of
powder, and directed Colonel William Moultrie not to retreat without an order
from him, adding that he would " sooner cut off his right hand than write one."
He was dissatisfied with changes in the constitution, and in March, 1778,
resigned his office, but in the following year he was chosen governor again by
an almost unanimous vote of the legislature, superseding Rawlins Lowndes.
He was clothed with dictatorial
powers, and prepared to repel the British invasion. When General Augustine
Prevost advanced upon Charleston in May, 1779, the city was defenseless. General
Benjamin Lincoln
with the Continental troops being 150 miles away. The latter hastened to the
succor of Charleston by forced marches, and state troops were gathered for the
same object. It was proposed by the governor's council that the British should
retire, on condition that South Carolina should remain neutral during the rest
of the war, and that her fate should be determined by the issue of the conflict.
This measure, which the historian Ramsay thinks was a ruse, devised for the
purpose of gaining time, was favored by Rutledge, but opposed by Gadsden, the
younger Laurens, and Noultrie. On Lincoln's approach, the enemy retreated, and
Rutledge, at the head of the militia, took the field against the invaders.
When Charleston was captured by
Sir Henry Clinton in
1780, Governor Rutledge retired into North Carolina, and until the close of
hostilities accompanied the army of
General Nathanael Greene,
and participated in its operations. When South Carolina was partly redeemed from
the conquerors, he resumed the duties of governor, summoning the assembly at
Jacksonborough in January, 1782. He retired from the governorship in that year,
and was elected to the Continental congress. In that body he opposed a general
impost, except for the purpose of paying the army. He was returned to congress
in 1783, and in March, 1784, after declining the mission to the Hague, he was
appointed chancellor of South Carolina.
He was a member of the convention
that framed the Federal
constitution, in which he was one of a committee of five that reported a
ratio of representation more favorable to the south than that which was finally
adopted, and was chairman of the committee of detail. He advocated the
assumption of all the state debts by the Federal government, threatened a
secession of the south if the slave-trade were prohibited, proposed that
congress should elect the president, and in the discussion of the powers and
constitution of the judiciary exercised an influential voice. When the
constitution went into operation he was nominated a justice of the United States
supreme court, but de-dined in order to accept the chief justiceship of his
native state. On 1 July, 1795, he was appointed chief justice of the United
States supreme court. He presided at the August term. but when the senate met in
December his mind had become diseased, and the nomination was rejected.
His brother,
Hugh Rutledge, jurist, born in Charleston,
South Carolina, about 1741; died there in January, 1811, acquired his legal
education in London, returned after completing his term at the Temple, and took
high rank at the bar of South Carolina. He was appointed judge of admiralty at
Charleston in 1776, and was speaker of the legislative council in 1777-'8. After
Charleston surrendered, he was sent with his brother Edward and other patriots
to St. Augustine. In 1782-'5 he was speaker of the state house of
representatives. In 1791 he was chosen by the legislature one of the three
judges of the court of equity as reconstituted by a lately enacted law, which
office he filled till his death.
Another brother,
Edward Rutledge, statesman, born in
Charleston, South Carolina, 23 November, 1749 ; died there, 23 January, 1800,
was the youngest of the family. After acquiring a classical education and
reading law with his brother, he was entered as a student at the Temple, London,
in 1769. He attended the courts of law and the houses of parliament for four
years, and, on being called to the bar, returned to entered into practice. He
married Harriet, a daughter of Henry Middleton,
soon after his arrival.
In 1774 he was sent to the
Continental congress. He took an active part in the discussion that preceded the
Declaration of Independence, of which he was one of the signers, and remained a
member of congress till 1777. On 12 June, 1776, he was appointed on the first
board of war. He was delegated, with
John Adams and
Benjamin Franklin,
to confer with Lord Howe
with reference to Howe's proposals for a reconciliation. The representatives of
congress met the British admiral on Staten island, 11 September, 1776, but
refused to treat with him except on the basis of a recognition of American
independence.
In 1779 he was again elected to
congress, but he was unable to attend on account of sickness. As captain in the
Charleston artillery, of which he afterward became lieutenant-colonel, he
assisted in dislodging British regulars from the island of Port Royal in 1779.
While Charleston was invested, in May, 1780, he was sent out by General
Benjamin Lincoln to
hasten the march of re-enforcements, but fell into the hands of the enemy. With
others who were called dangerous rebels, he was sent to St. Augustine after the
capitulation, and confined there for a year. After he was exchanged he resided
in Philadelphia until the British withdrew from South Carolina.
He was a member of the legislature
that assembled at Jacksonborough in 1782, and assented to the bill of penalties
against the Tories that was subsequently rescinded. On the evacuation of
Charleston he returned to his home and resumed professional practice, which he
continued with success for seventeen years. During that time he was an active
member of the legislature. He effectually resisted the efforts that were made to
revive the slave-trade as long as he had a voice in the public business of the
state. He was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1790, and the
author of the law abolishing the rights of primogeniture that was enacted in
1791. He declined the office of associate justice of the United States supreme
court in 1794, and was elected governor of South Carolina in 1798, but did not
live to complete his term.
--John's son,
John
Rutledge, member of congress, born in Charleston, South Carolina, in
1766; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1 September, 1819, studied law with
his father. He was elected to congress as a Federalist, and twice re-elected,
serving from 15 May, 1797, till 3 March, 1803.--The first John's grandson,
Edward Rutledge, clergyman, born in
Charleston, South Carolina, in 1797; died in Savannah, Georgia, 13 March, 1832,
was graduated at Yale in 1817, and was admitted to orders in Christ church,
Middletown, Connecticut, 17 November, 1819, by Bishop Brownell. Several years
afterward he became professor of moral philosophy in the University of
Pennsylvania, and he was president-elect of Transylvania university at the time
of his death. Mr. Rutledge published "The Family Altar" (New Haven, 1822), and a
"'History of the Church of England" (Middletown, Connecticut, 1825).
--Hugh's son,
Francis Huger Rutledge, P. E. bishop, born
in Charleston, South Carolina, 11 April, 1799; died in Tallahassee, Florida, 6
November, 1866, was graduated at Yale in 1821, studied at the General
theological seminary, New York city, and was ordained deacon in 1823 and priest
on 20 November, 1825. He had charge of a church on Sullivan's island in
1827-'39, was rector of Trinity church, St. Augustine, Florida, in 1839-'45,
then became rector of St. John's church, Tallahassee, and was consecrated bishop
of Florida on 15 October, 1851. The degree of D.D. was conferred on him by
Hobart in 1844. He published occasional sermons.
Declaration of Independence
A Brief History and early record of
the printings
Edward Rutledge (November 23, 1749 – January 23, 1800), was an American
politician and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He
later served as governor of South Carolina.
Like his eldest brother
John Rutledge, Edward was born in
Charleston. He studied law at
Oxford University, was admitted to the
English bar
(Middle
Temple), and returned to Charleston to practice. He married and had three
children with Henrietta Middleton, daughter of
Henry Middleton. Rutledge had a successful law practice with his partner,
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. He became a leading citizen of Charleston,
and owned more than 50 slaves.[1]
American Revolution
Along with his brother John, Rutledge represented South Carolina in the
Continental Congress. Although a firm supporter of colonial rights, he was
initially reluctant to support independence from Great Britain, hoping instead
for reconciliation with the mother country. Like other Southern planters,
Rutledge did not want the
American Revolution to change the basic social structure of the South. He
worked to have
African Americans expelled from the
Continental Army, and led the successful effort to have wording removed
from the Declaration of Independence that condemned slavery and the slave
trade.[1]
Nevertheless, he signed the Declaration for the sake of unanimity, and at age
26 was the youngest to sign.
He returned home in November 1776 to take a seat in the South Carolina
Assembly. He served as a captain of
artillery
in the South Carolina militia, and fought at the
Battle of Beaufort in 1779. The next year he was captured by the British
in the
fall of Charleston, and held prisoner until July 1781.
After his release he returned to the state assembly, where he served until
1796. He was known as an active member and an advocate for the confiscation of
Loyalist property. He served in the state senate for two years, then was
elected governor in 1798. He had to go to an important meeting in Columbia.
While there he had to be sent home because of his
gout. He died in
Charleston before the end of his term. Some said at the time that he died
from apoplexy
resulting from hearing the news of
George Washington's death.[1]
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