John Rutledge

John Rutledge (born September 17, 1739 near Charleston , Province of South Carolina , † July 18, 1800 ibid) was an American lawyer and politician . He was the first Governor of South Carolina and the second Supreme Justice of the United States and was a member of the Federalist Party .

Early years

John Rutledge came from a wealthy family and received a private education. He then studied law in London . After his return to what was then the British colony of South Carolina, he settled in Charleston as a lawyer. He was politically active from a young age. He became a member of the colonial parliament of South Carolina.

Political advancement and President of South Carolina

In 1765 he was president of a commission that drafted a petition against the so-called stamp law to the upper house of the British Parliament. As a result, he became a delegate at the first and second continental congresses of the 13 colonies that sought independence from the motherland. Before the United States officially declared independence on July 4, 1776, Rutledge began building a new system of government in South Carolina. He was also involved in the creation of the first constitution of this state. This was adopted on March 26, 1776. The newly elected South Carolina House of Representatives named Rutledge as the state's first president and Henry Laurens became its vice president. The title of governor was not introduced until 1779. Rutledge served as president until March 1778. Because of a dispute over a planned constitutional amendment, he resigned on March 7th. Rawlins Lowndes became the new and last president of South Carolina . After him, the title of president was abolished because this office was to be reserved for the joint head of state of the United States.

Governor of south carolina

During this time, South Carolina was ravaged by the turmoil of the Revolutionary War . The British advanced into South Carolina and occupied large parts of the country. In this turmoil, Rutledge has now been elected the first official governor. He took office on January 9, 1779 and held it until January 31, 1782. Rutledge and his government had to flee temporarily from the British to North Carolina . His possessions were partly destroyed by the British. In doing so, he suffered enormous economic losses from which he could never really recover. In 1781 the Continental Army succeeded in partially retaking South Carolina and Rutledge began to establish a new administration. In January 1782 he resigned as governor and became a member of the parliament of his state.

Legal career

John Rutledge was also a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1783. There he mainly represented the interests of the southern states . Following the adoption of the Constitution, he was of US President George Washington as a judge at the Supreme Court ( Supreme Court appointed). There he served from 1789 to 1791. He resigned from this office in 1791 to become Chief Justice in South Carolina. He held this office until 1795.

That year, President Washington appointed him outside the session of Congress by recess appointment to succeed John Jay as Chief Justice . Since the appointment was provisionally effective on the basis of the absence of Congress, the approval of the Senate had to be made up for in the following session. After four months in office, however, the vote in the Senate on December 26, 1795 was 10 to 14 votes against him; to date it is the only time that a Recess Appointment for the Supreme Court has not been confirmed or an incumbent judge has been removed from office by the Senate. After all, he is listed (by far the shortest term in office) as the second Supreme Justice of the United States in the history of the Supreme Court. His temporary appointment would have been in effect until the end of that session in June of the following year, but Rutledge resigned on December 28th. The reason for the loss of confidence in the Senate was Rutledge's disapproval of the Jay Treaty with England, which laid down the terms and conditions for the transfer of English military facilities in the Great Lakes area , which he made known in a radical speech shortly after his appointment. The treaty was generally controversial, but it was mainly supported by federalists and approved by more than two thirds in the Senate. In addition, doubts about Rutledge's mental stability have been cast by the federal press, as he had not fully recovered from his wife's death in 1792. A suicide attempt on the day of his rejection, December 26th, fueled these doubts.

John Rutledge died on July 18, 1800 and was buried in Charleston. He was married to Elizabeth Grimle and the couple had ten children. His brother Edward was also governor of South Carolina from 1798 to 1800, his son John sat for South Carolina in the US House of Representatives from 1797 to 1803 .

literature

• James Haw: John and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina. University of Georgia Press, Athens 1997, ISBN 978-0-8203-1859-2 .

Web links

Commons : John Rutledge  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• John Rutledge in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• John Rutledge in the National Governors Association (English)
• South Carolina Information Highway (English)
• John Rutledge in the database of Find a Grave (English)