David Ramsay (historian)

David Ramsay (born April 2, 1749 in Lancaster County , Province of Pennsylvania , †  May 8, 1815 in Charleston , South Carolina ) was an American historian and politician . In 1782 and 1783 and between 1785 and 1786 he was a delegate for South Carolina in the Continental Congress . He is one of the most important historians of the American Revolution .

David Ramsay

Life

David Ramsay was, despite the different spelling of the surname, a brother of Nathaniel Ramsey (1741-1817), who also took part as a delegate at the Continental Congress. He attended the public schools in his home country and graduated from the College of New Jersey , later Princeton University . After a subsequent medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and his approval as a doctor in 1773, he began to work in Cecil County in Maryland in this profession. Soon after, he moved to Charleston, South Carolina. In the 1770s he joined the revolutionary movement. Between 1776 and 1783 he was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives . At the same time he was a military doctor for the militia stationed in Charleston. After the city was captured by the British in 1780, he was captured and imprisoned in St. Augustine , East Florida , for eleven months . On his return home he represented the State of South Carolina in the Continental Congress between 1782 and 1783 and from 1785 to 1786. In 1786 he was President Pro Tempore chairman of that body. In 1788 he ran unsuccessfully for the first congress . He went down in history because he was the first to question an election result for Congress and to contest the election, albeit unsuccessful.

Ramsay was an opponent of slavery , which is remarkable for a South Carolina politician at the time. Between 1801 and 1815 he was a member of the South Carolina Senate , of which he was president for seven years. In the meantime he was employed by the state government as a historian. In this capacity he wrote several historical treatises. David Ramsay died in dramatic circumstances. He had been appointed as a medical expert by a court to assess the mental health of an accused tailor named William Linnen. Ramsay concluded that Linnen was insane. He threatened Ramsay with death for it. Linnen was later declared healed and released. On May 6, 1815, Linnen and Ramsay met in Charleston. Linnen shot him twice. Two days later, Ramsay died from his wounds.

Web links

• David Ramsay in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• David Ramsay in the database of Find a Grave (English)