Dr john rutledge biography

In , he attended the Constitutional Convention. In , he was appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Delegate to the Stamp Act Congress On March 22, , Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which required a stamp to be placed on all legal documents and many printed materials in the colonies. Four of them were intended to punish Boston and Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party and opposition to British policy.

The Virginia Committee of Correspondence called for another Congress to discuss how the colonies would respond. Rutledge was in favor of finding a peaceful resolution to the issues with Britain but insisted on defending the rights of the colonies. Before adjourning, Congress agreed to meet again in the spring of if Great Britain had not adequately addressed their complaints.

Later on, Georgia sent delegates, so all 13 colonies were represented. Rutledge was the Chairman of a committee that recommended the colonies set up their own governments, based on the argument that any governments that were conducting war on the citizens were violating the royal charters. His brother, Edward, convinced the other South Carolina delegates to vote for independence.

Declaration of Independence Rutledge returned to South Carolina before the Declaration of Independence was passed, so he did not sign it. Christopher Gadsden was also on the committee. Rutledge represented the moderate side of the government, while Gadsden represented the radical side that favored independence. On March 26, South Carolina passed its own Constitution.

It was the second colony and the first southern colony to pass its own Constitution. In March , he resigned as Governor, because he was unhappy with changes that were made to the Constitution. On February 5, , he was re-elected as Governor by an almost unanimous vote of the legislature. American Revolutionary War Rutledge served as Governor in some capacity through most of the war.

General Charles Lee wanted to abandon the fort, but Rutledge argued against it. That year, the South Carolina legislature proposed a new constitution. Rutledge vetoed it, stating that it moved the state dangerously close to a direct democracy , which Rutledge believed was only a step away from total anarchy. When the legislature overrode his veto, Rutledge resigned.

A few months after Rutledge's resignation, the British, having suffered several defeats in the North, decided to try to retake the South. Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell landed in Georgia with 3, men and quickly took control of the entire state. The new South Carolina state constitution was revised, and in Rutledge was elected governor.

While the first governor independent from Great Britain, Rutledge is considered by historians and the government of South Carolina to be the 31st governor, counting from the colonial governors. The new British commander in the south, General Jacques Prevost , responded by marching on Charleston with 2, troops. When Rutledge heard about this threat, he hurried to Charleston and worked furiously to build up defenses.

In spite of Rutledge's efforts, when General Prevost arrived outside Charleston, the British force had been greatly increased by the addition of Loyalists, and the Americans were vastly outnumbered. Rutledge privately asked Prevost for surrender terms. Prevost made an offer, but when Rutledge submitted it to the council of war, the council instructed Rutledge to ask if the British would accept a declaration of South Carolina's neutrality in the Revolution.

They forbade Rutledge from surrendering mainly because General Moultrie believed that the Americans had at least as many troops as the British force, which consisted largely of untrained civilians. Prevost replied that as he was faced with such a large military force, he would have to take some of them prisoner before he could accept. Moultrie advised the council that he would never stand by and allow the British to take Americans prisoner without fighting, so the council decided to fight it out.

The city braced itself for an attack, but the next morning, the British had disappeared. Prevost had intercepted a letter from General Lincoln to Moultrie saying that he was marching to the aid of Charleston, and Prevost decided that he could not hold out if the Americans received reinforcements. The legislature adjourned upon learning of the British.

Their last action was to give Rutledge power to do anything short of execution without trial. Rutledge did his best to raise militia forces, but Charleston was in the midst of a smallpox epidemic, and few dared to enter the city. In February, Clinton landed near Charleston with 5, troops. By May he had 9, troops against less than 2, Americans in the area.

The siege of Charleston ensued. On May 10, Charleston surrendered. He remained governor of the unconquered part of South Carolina. Though the Americans defeated the British at the Battle of Cowpens in January , they could not drive the British back to Charleston until June , when General Nathanael Greene arrived with more troops. Rutledge's term of office had already ended, and he did not run again because of term limits.

In , he was appointed to the South Carolina Court of Chancery , where he served until In , Rutledge was selected to represent South Carolina in the Philadelphia Convention which was called to revise the Articles of Confederation but instead produced the United States Constitution. After the Convention had debated the Virginia Plan and settled some major points of controversy, the Committee of Detail assembled during the convention's July 4 recess.

Much of what was included in this draft consisted of details, such as powers given to Congress, that had not been debated by the Convention. Most of them were uncontroversial and unchallenged, and as such, much of what Rutledge's committee included in this first draft made it into the final version of the Constitution without debate.

Rutledge recommended that the executive power should consist of a single person, rather than several, because he felt that one person would feel the responsibility of the office more acutely. Because the president would not be able to defer a decision to another "co-president," Rutledge concluded that a single person would be more likely to make a good choice.

Being a judge himself, he strongly believed that a judge's sole purpose was to resolve legal conflicts; he held that judges should hand down an opinion only when they rule on an actual case. He also thought that the legal community was the higher tier of society. Rutledge argued that if either house of the legislature was to have the sole authority to introduce appropriation bills , it should be the Senate.

He noted that the Senate, by nature of its lengthier terms of office, would tend to be more leisurely in its actions. That made Rutledge feel that the Senate could better think clearly about what the consequences of a bill would be. Also, since the bills could not become law without the consent of the House of Representatives , he concluded that there would be no danger of the Senate ruling the country.

When the proposal was made that only landowners should have the right to vote, Rutledge opposed it perhaps more strongly than any other motion in the entire convention. He stated that making such a rule would divide the people into "haves" and "have nots," would create an undying resentment against landowners and could do nothing but cause discord.

He was supported by Benjamin Franklin , and the rule was not adopted. In the debate on slavery in the new country, Rutledge took the side of the slaveholders since he was a Southerner and a slaveholder. Rutledge said that if the Constitution forbade slavery, the Southern states would never agree to the Constitution. He received six electoral votes during the first U.

On September 24, , George Washington nominated Rutledge for one of the five associate justice positions on the newly established Supreme Court. His appointment along with those of: John Blair Jr. Washington selected Rutledge to succeed Jay as chief justice, and, as the Senate would not be meeting again until December, gave Rutledge a recess appointment so that he could serve as chief justice during the upcoming August session.

He was commissioned as chief justice on June 30, , [ 38 ] and took the judicial oath on August War at this time would give a serious wound to our growth and prosperity. Can we escape it for ten or twelve years or more we may then meet it without much inquietude, and may advance and support with energy and effect any just pretensions to greater commercial advantages than we may now enjoy.

He reportedly said in the speech "that he had rather the President should die than sign that puerile instrument"— and that he "preferred war to an adoption of it. Two cases were decided while Rutledge was chief justice. Peters , the Court ruled that federal district courts had no jurisdiction over crimes committed against Americans in international waters.

In Talbot v. Janson , the Court held that a citizen of the United States did not waive all claims to U. The Rutledge Court thus established an important precedent for multiple citizenship in the United States. By the time of his formal nomination to the Court on December 10, , Rutledge's reputation was in tatters, and support for his nomination had faded.

Rumors of mental illness and alcohol abuse swirled around him, concocted largely by the Federalist press. His words and actions in response to the Jay Treaty were used as evidence of his continued mental decline. As of ; it remains the only U. Supreme Court recess appointment to be subsequently rejected by the Senate. He served the briefest tenure of any Chief Justice of the United States days.

On December 26, , Rutledge attempted suicide by jumping off a wharf into Charleston Harbor. He would remain private, outside of serving a single term in the South Carolina House of Representatives. He died on June 21, , at age Michael's Episcopal Church in Charleston. Like the majority of wealthy men who lived in Southern states at the time, Rutledge held slaves.

During the Revolutionary War, Rutledge ordered Continental Army officer Francis Marion to execute all Black people suspected of carrying provisions or gathering intelligence for the British "agreeable to the laws of this State". The people of those states will never be such fools as to give up so important an interest. The compromise between the Northern and Southern states was that the international slave trade would not be prohibited before Although Rutledge claimed that he disliked slavery, as an attorney he twice defended individuals who abused slaves.

Before the American Revolution, Rutledge owned sixty slaves; afterward, he possessed twenty-eight. When Rutledge died in , he only owned one slave. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In Rutledge became politically active.

Dr john rutledge biography

That year, on behalf of Christ Church Parish, he was elected to the provincial assembly and held his seat until the War for Independence. For 10 months in he temporarily held the post of provincial attorney general. When the troubles with Great Britain intensified about the time of the Stamp Act in , Rutledge, who hoped to ensure continued self-government for the colonies, sought to avoid severance from the British and maintained a restrained stance.

He did, however, chair a committee of the Stamp Act Congress that drew up a petition to the House of Lords. In Rutledge was sent to the First Continental Congress, where he pursued a moderate course. After spending the next year in the Second Continental Congress, he returned to South Carolina and helped reorganize its government. In he served on the committee of safety and took part in the writing of the state constitution.

That year, he also became president of the lower house of the legislature, a post he held until During this period, the new government met many stern tests. Retrieve it. John Rutledge Author — 6 Views. Who is John Rutledge? We need you! Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!