Edward Rutledge

Overview

Edward Rutledge was a South Carolina lawyer, Patriot leader, and the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence. He served in the Provincial Congresses and the Continental Congress, guided South Carolina’s vote for independence, and later worked in the state legislature. Captured during the Siege of Charleston (1780), he returned to public life after his release and helped shape postwar policies. He served as a Federalist leader, state Senator, and Governor until his death in 1800.

Personal Facts

• Born: November 23, 1749, Christ Church Parish, South Carolina.
• Parents: Dr. John Rutledge (father), Sarah Hext (mother).
• Spouse: Henrietta Middleton (1774), Mary Shubrick Eveleigh (1792).
• Died: January 23, 1800, in Charleston, South Carolina. He was 50.
• Buried: Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina.
• Part of: Signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Significance

Edward Rutledge is important to American History for his role in the Patriot Cause in South Carolina, the American Revolution, and the American Revolutionary War. As a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, he is one of the nation’s Founding Fathers.

Biography

Early Life

Edward Rutledge was born on November 23, 1749, in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the youngest child of Dr. John Rutledge and Sarah Hext. 

AHC Notes

• Some sources indicate Rutledge was born in Christ Church Parish, across the bay from Charleston.
• His brother, John Rutledge, was also a Founding Father. 

Rutledge started his legal training under his brother and then enrolled at the Middle Temple in London, England, in 1767. He was admitted to the English bar in 1772 and returned to South Carolina.

In January 1773, he represented printer Thomas Powell in a well-known habeas corpus case before Assistant Justice Rawlins Lowndes. The case (see Appendix) established that the South Carolina Council could not have someone imprisoned without proper authority.

Service in the Continental Congress

Rutledge’s public career started when he was elected to the First Continental Congress in July 1774, along with his brother, John. Rutledge was known for holding firm in his views and avoiding taking extreme positions on divisive subjects. 

His unwavering support for his brother’s opinions brought criticism from John Adams of Massachusetts, who referred to him as a “perfect Bob-o-Lincoln…inane and puerile.”

• Rutledge signed the Articles of Association, which established the Continental Association.
• Rutledge won election to the First and Second South Carolina Provincial Congresses in 1775 and 1776 and continued to serve in the Continental Congress. 

After his brother and Christopher Gadsden left the Continental Congress, Rutledge became the leader of the South Carolina delegation. 

AHC Notes

• Articles of Association (1774) — The Articles of the Continental Association were agreed to by the First Continental Congress on October 20, 1774. The Articles included 14 resolutions of Non-Importation, Non-Consumption, and Non-Exportation against Britain, Ireland, and other territories in the British Empire.
• Continental Association — The Continental Association was an organization set up by the Articles of Association, which were agreed to by the delegates to the First Continental Congress on October 20, 1774. Under the agreement, Committees of Inspection were to be set up in each colony to ensure the colonists complied. The Committees of Correspondence were also given the power to conduct inspections.
• Christopher Gadsden (1724–1805) — Gadsden was a South Carolina merchant, Patriot leader, and soldier. He organized the Charleston Sons of Liberty, represented South Carolina in the Stamp Act Congress, Continental Congress, and Philadelphia Convention. He designed the famous “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. Gadsden served in the Continental Army, advocated for independence, and later opposed the seizure of Loyalist property.

Declaration of Independence

Guided more by the views of the people he represented than by his own, Rutledge delayed a decision on the Lee Resolution, which called on the colonies to declare independence, for nearly a month. 

On July 2, 1776, he led the South Carolina delegates in supporting independence. Still, he believed the new states should have formed a formal union before declaring independence from Britain, but he did not want support the establishment of a strong central government. 

Rutledge signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776.

Staten Island Peace Conference

During the Battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776), British forces captured General John Sullivan. While in captivity, he was invited to dinner with Admiral Richard Howe and his brother, General William Howe. During the dinner, Admiral Howe proposed discussing a diplomatic resolution to the war with members of the Continental Congress.

• Sullivan was allowed to travel to Philadelphia to present the plan to Congress.
• On September 5, 1776, Congress decided to send three delegates to meet with Howe.
• Rutledge was selected, along with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

On the 11th, the three of them met with Admiral Howe at the home of Christopher Billop, a Loyalist, on Staten Island.

• The meeting lasted for three hours.
• Howe admitted he had no authority to make a peace treaty with Congress or formally recognize the United Colonies as an independent nation.
• Howe said he felt the loss of America was similar to the “loss of a brother.” 
• Franklin responded, “…we will do our utmost…to save your lordship that mortification.”

AHC Notes

• Staten Island Peace Conference (1776) — A meeting between American delegates and British officials that explored the possibility of a diplomatic resolution to the American Revolutionary War. The meeting is known for the British refusing to recognize American independence, leading to a continuation of the war.

American Revolutionary War

Rutledge returned to South Carolina in November 1776 to help defend the state and manage his personal affairs. While the state gained a Captain of artillery through his service, Congress lost a delegate whose leadership would have been valuable in the coming years. 

Voters in Charlestown elected him to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1778, and the legislature chose him for the Continental Congress in 1779; however, he never made it to Philadelphia. 

Rutledge fought in the Battle of Beaufort in February 1779 and was taken prisoner in the aftermath of the Siege of Charleston.

• Rutledge and other prominent prisoners were held at St. Augustine, Florida.
• He was there from September 1780 to July 1781.
• Rutledge was included in a prisoner exchange and returned to Charleston.

Upon his return, he took his seat in the legislature in January 1782. He drafted a bill to confiscate Loyalist property and supported it as a means of funding the state, but he also worked to mitigate its harsh effects.

AHC Notes

• Battle of Beaufort (February 3, 1779) — General William Moultrie led the South Carolina Militia, a small group of Continentals, and several artillery pieces to defend Beaufort against a British force under Major James Gardiner. The Americans formed along the road and opened fire, disabling a British howitzer early in the fight. After about 45 minutes, the British retreated. Although it was a small battle, the victory lifted American morale and discouraged further British attempts in that region.
• Siege of Charleston (April 1–May 12, 1780) — After American and French forces failed to capture Savannah, Georgia, in October 1779, the Americans retreated to Charleston, South Carolina. Under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln, they fortified the city and prepared for a British attack. British forces under the command of General Henry Clinton landed in South Carolina and conducted a six-week siege. Lincoln was forced to submit to harsh terms of surrender, and more than 5,000 American troops were taken as prisoners. It was the most significant defeat suffered by American forces during the American Revolutionary War and a major turning point in the conflict.

Post-War Career

Following the war, Rutledge enjoyed a successful career as a leading politician in South Carolina and on the national stage.

• From 1782 to 1796, Rutledge represented Charleston in the South Carolina House of Representatives and served in the state conventions of 1788 and 1790. 
• As a leading member of the Federalist Party, he served as a Presidential Elector in 1788, 1792, and 1796. In the 1796 Election, he cast his vote for Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican candidate, instead of John Adams, the Federalist candidate.

AHC Notes

• Federalist Party — One of the first political parties in the United States, it was founded by Alexander Hamilton. Federalists supported a strong central government, a loose interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, and close political and economic ties to Great Britain. Federalists dominated early U.S. politics, passing key legislation such as the Alien and Sedition Acts, but declined after the War of 1812. Despite its fall, Federalist principles influenced Chief Justice John Marshall’s Supreme Court decisions, thereby strengthening federal power and shaping constitutional law.
• Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) — Jefferson is a Founding Father and Virginia statesman, diplomat, and political thinker who authored the Declaration of Independence and advanced the principles of natural rights and republican government. He served as Governor of Virginia, Minister to France, the first Secretary of State, and the third President of the United States. His Presidency included the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A strong advocate of religious liberty and public education, he founded the University of Virginia and left a lasting influence on American political and cultural development.
• John Adams (1735–1826) — Adams is a Founding Father and Massachusetts lawyer, Patriot leader, and key diplomat who helped guide the movement toward independence and later negotiated the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War. He served as the first Vice President and became the second President of the United States. His Presidency was marked by foreign tensions with France, internal party conflict, and his decision to pursue peace rather than war, which helped stabilize the young republic.

Later Years

Voters in Charleston elected Ruglege to the South Carolina Senate in 1796 and 1798, and he became Governor in 1798. By this time, his health was failing, and although he carried out his duties with care, he worked in constant physical pain. He died in Charleston on January 23, 1800, nearly a year before his term as Governor was set to end. 

AHC Notes

• Rutledge was married twice. 
• He married Henrietta Middleton on March 1, 1774. They had three children. Henrietta died on April 22, 1792.
• Rutledge married Mary Shubrick Eveleigh on October 28, 1792.

Appendix

The Thomas Powell Case

AHC Note — The following is adapted from “Thomas Knox Gordon (1728–1796) Last Royal Chief Justice of South Carolina by Thomas M. Stubbs. It was originally published in the South Carolina Law Review: Vol. 5: Iss. 2, Article 4. Although it does not mention Rutledge, it provides key details about Thomas Powell’s arrest and court case.

As early as April 1772, William Henry Drayton had been appointed a member of the Governor’s Council, the majority of whom were the King’s placemen from Britain. A minority of the Council, or upper chamber, consisted of Provincials. Among this minority were not only Drayton but his father, John Drayton. 

In August 1773, the Council refused to take action on a bill against counterfeiting paper money. This bill had previously passed the Lower House. The Draytons entered a protest in the Council Journal. On August 30, at the instance of the Draytons, a copy of this protest was printed in The South Carolina Gazette by Thomas Powell. 

The majority of the Council, including Chief Justice Gordon, took exception to this publication. Thereupon, Sir Edgerton Leigh, then President of the Council, issued a warrant for the arrest of Powell, charging him with contempt of the Council. Powell was arrested and jailed in Charles Town.

A habeas corpus for his release was presented to Rawlins Lowndes and George Gabriel Powell, two of the King’s Magistrates. They ordered Powell’s release from jail on the theory that the Council, or Upper House, was merely a Privy Council, or advisory body to the Governor, and had no such authority and immunity from criticism as the House of Lords did in England.

In September, the Council denounced the decision, while the Lower House unanimously approved it and requested that the Lieutenant Governor suspend from the Council those members who had ordered that Powell be jailed. By then, the whole matter was so involved that the Lieutenant Governor washed his hands of it by referring it for action to the King and his ministers in England.

Thomas Powell then brought a damage suit against Sir Edgerton Leigh for false imprisonment. This matter came before the Chief Justice and his associates in the Common Pleas. The Court dismissed Powell’s complaint, “Declaring in express terms that the Council was an Upper House of Assembly and hence had no right to commit for contempt.” Thus, the issue was clearly drawn: Royal Placemen from Britain against Provincials.

In August 1774, William Henry Drayton, by then both a member of the Council and of the Court of Common Pleas, sent a letter to Philadelphia “To the Deputies of North America, assembled in the High Court of Congress.” This letter was merely signed, Freeman, but in it was set forth at considerable length “The American Claim of Rights.”

Among the colonists’ grievances was the arbitrary and unjudicial conduct of certain of the King’s appointees to the Bench. The following month, the Chief Justice, joined by Mr. Justice Coslett, filed a complaint with the Lieutenant Governor and Council to the effect that Mr. Drayton had “Impugned their honor and questioned their fitness as judges.” They questioned further whether Mr. Drayton himself should no longer serve as a member of the Council.

In October, Mr. Drayton replied at great length, and circuitously, as was his custom. He justified the views of the Freeman letter, but failed to admit he had written it. Indeed, throughout the controversy, which culminated in March 1775 with Drayton’s removal from the Council, he refused to admit that he had written the Freeman Letter. Still, his authorship seems to have been an “open secret,” because Henry Laurens, writing from London in October 1774, attributes the letter to Mr. Drayton. On March 1, 1775, even before his removal from Council, the Lieutenant Governor had removed Drayton from the Bench.

Drayton’s attack on the Chief Justice had pointed out what was perhaps the latter’s most questionable conduct as an official — his role in the case of Thomas Powell, the printer. Drayton accused Gordon of acting with Sir Edgerton Leigh, as a member of the Council, in forcing the arrest of Powell, and later, as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of sitting in judgment on Powell’s action for damages against Leigh for false arrest. Indeed, the Chief Justice should have disqualified himself in this case, and, even if it were not his own cause, because of his prejudice in the matter.

By this time, however, the questions involved had degenerated from strictly legal issues to purely partisan politics. It cannot be denied that the Chief Justice could have picked no two more ardent Patriots in the American Cause than Rawlins Lowndes and William Henry Drayton. It is never safe to wound a “King,” it is said, but Justice Gordon wounded two directly, and indirectly a number of their associates, who were soon to become leaders in freeing the Colony from Great Britain. 

By this time, it had become clearly foreseeable that the days of usefulness of the Chief Justice would soon terminate. He remained in the Province until sometime in 1775. In August 1775, the names of Chief Justice Gordon and his associates of the bench were ordered published by the General Committee as enemies. Events were moving rapidly by now. Sir Edgerton Leigh, with his family, left for England as early as June 1774.