Jacob Read

Jacob Read

Jacob Read (* 1752 in Charleston , Province of South Carolina , †  July 17, 1816 in Charleston) was an American politician ( Federalist Party ) who represented the state of South Carolina in the Continental Congress and in the US Senate .

Jacob Read was born in 1752 on the Hobcaw Plantation near Charleston. After graduating from school, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. He studied in England from 1773 to 1776, where he and other Americans put up a petition in London against the Boston Port Bill , one of the intolerable acts that closed the port of Boston to trade.

After returning to South Carolina, he held several military and administrative posts during the Revolutionary War . He was in British captivity between 1780 and 1781 and was detained in St. Augustine , Florida .

In 1782 Read first moved into the South Carolina House of Representatives ; the following year he was a member of the Privy Council . From 1783 to 1785 he was a member of the Continental Congress; later he moved again into the parliamentary chamber of his state, of which he was also speaker .

Eventually he was elected to the US Senate for federalists in 1794. His term began on March 4, 1795 and ended on March 3, 1801, after he failed to be reelected. During his time in the Senate in 1797 he was its pro tempore President .

Web links

• Jacob Read in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Jacob Read in the database of Find a Grave (English)