Pierce Butler (politician)

Pierce Butler

Pierce Butler (born July 11, 1744 in County Carlow , Ireland , † February 15, 1822 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) was an Irish- American politician . Between 1789 and 1796 and again from 1802 to 1804 he represented the state of South Carolina in the US Senate .

Career

Pierce Butler attended public schools in his Irish homeland. He came to the then British colonies in America in 1758 and became an officer in the British Army. Before the American Revolution, which he joined in the 1770s, he quit British military service. He settled in what would later become Charleston , South Carolina, where he became a very wealthy man as a planter. He worked with slaves and was a slave to slavery all his life . During the American Revolutionary War he was involved in the defense of the state of South Carolina from 1779. During the war his possessions were partially destroyed and he was in the meantime financially ruined. But after the war he soon succeeded in rebuilding. At the same time, his political influence increased. In 1787 he was a delegate to the Continental Congress . In the same year he was a member of the commission in Philadelphia that drafted the United States Constitution. He was also one of the signatories of this document and is thus one of the American founding fathers. He introduced the so-called Fugitive Slave Clause into the constitution, which prescribed the repatriation of escaped slaves from other states. This section was repealed in 1865 with the 13th Amendment .

Politically, Butler was initially a member of the Federalist Party founded in the mid-1790s . He later switched to the Democratic Republican Party . In 1804 he finally declared himself politically independent. He was friends with Aaron Burr , among others . In 1789 Butler was elected to the US Senate as a Class 2 Senator, where he represented the state of South Carolina after being re-elected between March 4, 1789 and his resignation on October 25, 1796. After the death of John E. Colhoun , Butler was re-elected to the US Senate as his successor as Class 3 Senator. He held this office between November 4, 1802 and his resignation on November 21, 1804.

After the end of his political career, Butler returned to his business interests. He mainly operated plantations in Georgia , but also had larger estates in other states. He became one of the richest men in America. He spent much of his later years at his summer residence in Philadelphia. He died there on February 15, 1822.

Web links

• Pierce Butler in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Pierce Butler in the database of Find a Grave (English)