John Rutledge Totally Explained

Everything about John Rutledge totally explained

John Rutledge (September 17, 1739 – July 18, 1800) was an American statesman and judge. He was the first Governor of South Carolina following the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For a time, he held dictatorial powers in that state. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and he signed the United States Constitution. He served as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, and was the second Chief Justice of the Court from August to December 1795. He was the elder brother of Edward Rutledge, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.

Early life and family

Rutledge was born into a large family in Charleston. His father was Scots-Irish immigrant John Rutledge (Sr.), a physician. His mother, South Carolina-born Sarah (nee Hext), was of English descent. She was only 15 years old when John was born. John’s early education was provided by his father until 1749, when John Sr. died. The rest of Rutledge's primary education was provided by an Anglican priest.
   John took an early interest in law and often "played lawyer" with his brothers and sisters. When he was 17 years old, Rutledge began studying law under a man named James Parsons. Two years later, he sailed to England to further his studies at London's Middle Temple. In the course of his studies, he won several cases in English courts.
   After finishing his studies, Rutledge sailed back to Charleston to begin a fruitful legal career. At the time, it wasn't uncommon for a new lawyer to come out of law school and barely scrape together enough business to earn a living. Most could only hope that they'd win a well-known case to ensure their success. Rutledge, however, emerged almost immediately as one of the most prominent lawyers in Charleston. He had a gift for quickly seeing what parts of a case were the most important. Once he seized on one of these points, he was very effective at arguing his client’s side of the event. He also frequently put his opponent’s version of a particular event in such a ludicrous light as to overwhelmingly convince, and often amuse, the jury.
   With his successful legal career, he was able to build on his mother's fortune. In 1763, Rutledge married Elizabeth Grimke, who eventually bore him 10 children. Rutledge was very devoted to his wife, and Elizabeth's death in 1792 was a major cause of the illness that affected Rutledge in his later years.

Political Career

Pre-Revolutionary War

In 1761, Rutledge was elected to the provincial assembly. Before Rutledge took office, the Royal Governor of South Carolina, Thomas Boone, had refused allow a newly elected Assemblyman named Christopher Gadsden to take his seat. This led to a political impasse between the Governor and the legislature. Ultimately, the legislature refused to conduct any business until the governor relented. Rutledge was instrumental in uniting the assembly against the Governor.
In mid 1765, to which Rutledge was appointed a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress. This congress produced a resolution that stated that it was "the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives". Rutledge chaired a committee that drew up a petition to the House of Lords, and he was responsible for the removal of a concession that acknowledged the British Parliament’s right to impose taxes on trade.
   When the delegates returned to South Carolina after the Congress adjourned, they found the state in turmoil. The people had destroyed all of the stamps they could get their hands on and they even broke into some suspected Loyalists’ houses to search for stamps. When the Stamp Act went into effect on November 1, 1765, there were no stamps in the entire colony. Dougal Campbell, the Charleston court clerk, refused to issue any papers without the stamps. Because of this, all legal processes in the entire state came to a standstill until news that the Stamp Act had been repealed reached South Carolina in early May of the next year.
   After the Stamp Act conflict ended, Rutledge went back into private life, and to his law practice. Besides serving in the colonial legislature, he didn't involve himself in politics. His law practice continued to expand and he became fairly wealthy as a result.
   In 1774, Rutledge was sent to the First Continental Congress. It isn't known for certain exactly what John Rutledge contributed during the First Continental Congress. In the notes we've of the actions of this Congress, the name is given simply as "Rutledge", despite the fact that John's brother Edward Rutledge was also present. In any case, the most important contribution made by "Rutledge" to the Congress was during the debate of how to appropriate votes in the Congress. Some wanted it to be determined by the population of the colonies. Others wanted to give each colony one vote. "Rutledge" observed that as the Congress had no legal authority to force the colonies to accept its decisions, it would make the most sense to give each colony one vote. The other delegates ultimately agreed to this proposal.

President of South Carolina

John Rutledge continued to serve in the First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress until 1776. That year, he was elected President of South Carolina under a constitution drawn up on March 26, 1776. Upon taking office, he worked quickly to arrange the new government and to prepare defenses in case of a British attack.
   In June 1776, Rutledge learned that a large British naval force was moving toward Charleston. In response, he ordered the construction of Fort Sullivan (now Fort Moultrie) on Sullivan's Island in Charleston Harbor. By the time the British arrived, the fort was only half completed. General Harry Lee, who had arrived a few days earlier with reinforcements from North Carolina, told Rutledge the fort should be evacuated, as Lee considered it indefensible. Lee said that the fort would fall in under a half an hour, and all the men would be killed.
   On June 28 1776, the British attacked the fort. They expected the fort to fall quickly. However, the fort’s walls were made out of soft palmetto palm trees, and the British cannonballs simply sank into the logs without doing any damage. The British attack failed. South Carolina later became known as the Palmetto State as a result of this battle.
   Rutledge continued as President of South Carolina until 1778. That year, the South Carolina legislature proposed a new constitution. Rutledge vetoed it, stating that it moved the state dangerously close to a direct democracy, which Rutledge believed was only a step away from total anarchy. When the legislature overrode his veto, Rutledge felt he'd no choice but to resign.

Governor of South Carolina

A few months after Rutledge’s resignation, the British, having suffered several defeats in the North, decided to try to retake the South. British Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell landed in Georgia with 3000 men and quickly took control of the entire state. It was obvious that he'd soon move into South Carolina.
In 1779, Rutledge was elected to head the government of South Carolina under a revision of the new constitution. Governor Rutledge immediately began to recruit volunteers to join the army and sent a detachment of troops under General Benjamin Lincoln into Georgia to harass the British. Unfortunately, the new British commander, General Jacques Prevost, learned what Rutledge was trying to do and set out toward Charleston with 2500 troops. When Rutledge heard about the British, he hurried back to Charleston and worked furiously to build up defenses. In spite of Rutledge’s best efforts, when General Prevost arrived outside Charleston, the British force had been greatly increased by the addition of Loyalists, and the Americans were vastly outnumbered.

Charleston occupied

In early 1780, Sir Henry Clinton attacked South Carolina, and Charleston was thrown into a panic. The legislature adjourned upon learning of the British. Their last action was to give John Rutledge power to do anything short of executing people without a trial. Rutledge used his dictatorial powers wisely and did his best to build up defenses, but Charleston was in the midst of a smallpox epidemic. As a result, all of Rutledge’s efforts to raise the militia failed. In February, Sir Clinton landed on John’s Island, less than 30 miles from Charleston, with 5000 troops and was quickly joined by 1400 more from Savannah. Clinton waited for more troops and in May, he attacked Charleston with around 9000 troops. The Americans under General Lincoln numbered less than 2500, and on May 10, Charleston surrendered.
Rutledge wasn't captured with Charleston, as he'd been urged to leave the city. He remained Governor of the unconquered part of South Carolina and he did everything he could to arouse support to retake Charleston. He even traveled to Philadelphia to try to get the Continental Army to help him. On January 17, 1781, the Americans heavily defeated the British at Cowpens, South Carolina. This victory greatly raised the spirits of those in Charleston, but the army was soon outmaneuvered by the better-organized British, and the Americans were forced to retreat.
Finally, in December, 1781, General Nathanael Greene retook Charleston and drove the British from South Carolina. Governor Rutledge gave an address to the Assembly of South Carolina, praising the people of the state for holding out in spite of all the trials they'd been forced to go through. In January, 1782, John Rutledge’s term of office came to an end, and he wasn't able to run again, because of term limits.

Judicial career

A few weeks after leaving the governorship, Rutledge was again elected to the Continental Congress, where he served until 1783. In 1784, he was appointed to the South Carolina Court of Chancery. Although Rutledge was an excellent politician, possessing great wisdom as an administrator, those who knew him well always agreed that he was more at home working in the courtroom than anywhere else

Constitutional Convention

Rutledge continued to serve on the Court of Chancery until 1791. During this time, he was selected to represent South Carolina in the Constitutional Convention. One of the most influential delegates at the Convention, Rutledge maintained a moderate nationalist stance and chaired the Committee of Detail. He attended all the sessions, spoke often and effectively, and served on five committees.
   Rutledge recommended that the executive power consist of a single person, rather than a plurality, because he felt that one person would feel the responsibility of the office more acutely. Because the president wouldn't be able to defer a decision to another "co-president", Rutledge concluded that a single person would be more likely to make a good choice.
   Rutledge was largely responsible for denying the Supreme Court the right to give advisory opinions. Being a judge himself, he strongly believed that a judge’s sole purpose was to resolve legal conflicts; he held that a judge should only hand down an opinion when ruling on an actual case.
   Rutledge also argued that if either house of the legislature was to have the sole authority to introduce appropriation bills, it should be the Senate. He noted that the Senate, by nature of its lengthier terms of office, would tend to be more leisurely in its actions. Because of this, Rutledge felt that the Senate would be better able to clearly think about what the consequences of a bill would be. And since the bills couldn't become law without the consent of the House of Representatives, he concluded that there would be no danger of the Senate ruling the country.
   When the proposal was made that only landowners should have the right to vote, Rutledge opposed it perhaps more strongly than any other motion in the entire convention. He stated that making a rule like this would divide the people into "haves" and "have nots". It would create an undying resentment against the landowners and could do nothing but cause discord. Benjamin Franklin agreed with Rutledge, saying that such a law would suppress the ambitions of the common people. Franklin also observed that if only people who actually owned land could vote, the sons of a substantial farmer, not having land in their own names, would be denied the right to vote.
   In the debate of whether or not to allow slavery in the new country, Rutledge took the side of the slave-owners; he was a Southerner and he owned several slaves. Rutledge said that if the Constitution forbade slavery, the Southern states would never agree to the Constitution. (It would be interesting to observe that at the time of the Convention, Rutledge owned 28 slaves, down from over 60 before the Revolutionary War. When he died, Rutledge had just one slave.)

Supreme Court Associate Justice

In 1790, after the Constitution was ratified, Rutledge was appointed to be an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court. Although he accepted the nomination, he never actually sat on the Court. In 1791, he was elected the Chief Justice of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas and Sessions, and he resigned his federal post.
In 1792, Rutledge’s wife died. He had been such a devoted husband that his wife’s death accelerated a problem that had already started to show itself: Rutledge was wearing out, for lack of a better term. Years of incessant labor were beginning to take their toll. The loss of his wife deprived Rutledge of the only thing that held him up mentally. As a result, Rutledge began his final decline.

Second Chief Justice of the United States

In 1795, the Chief Justice of the United States, John Jay, was elected Governor of New York. Jay resigned his post as Chief Justice, and George Washington again appointed Rutledge during a recess of the Senate to the U.S. Supreme Court, this time as Chief Justice of the United States. Rutledge became Chief Justice on July 1, 1795. Soon thereafter, on July 16, 1795, Rutledge gave a highly controversial speech denouncing the Jay Treaty with England. He reportedly said in the speech "that he'd rather the President should die than sign that puerile instrument — and that he preferred war to an adoption of it."
However, Rutledge wasn't destined to have a long, distinguished career as the leader of the American justice system. Rutledge's outspoken opposition to the Jay Treaty, and the rumors of mental illness he'd suffered since the death of his wife in 1792, caused the Federalist-dominated Senate to reject his appointment on December 15, 1795. As a result, Rutledge's recess appointment automatically expired at the end of that Senate session. Rutledge thus became the only U.S. Supreme Court Justice in history to be forced out of office involuntarily, ending his public career. In the meantime, however, he'd presided over one term of the Court. Alexander Hamilton questioned his sanity, and Vice President John Adams wrote to Abigail Adams that the Senate's rejection of Rutledge "gave me pain for an old friend, though I couldn't but think he deserved it. C. Justices must not ... inflame the popular discontents which are ill founded, nor propagate Disunion, Division, Contention and delusion among the people."

Later years

The Senate’s rejection was the final blow to John Rutledge’s reason. Through the past three decades he'd risen from being just a common lawyer (although a very successful one) to being virtual dictator of South Carolina to helping form the government of America as we know it. Despite his substantial contributions in other areas, Rutledge was always more at home behind a judge’s bench than anywhere else. The fact that the Senate wouldn't allow him to head the Supreme Court, the apex of American law, crushed Rutledge and must have made life seem utterly empty to him. In the words of a contemporary, "The Senate’s refusal to confirm his appointment […] extinguished the last spark of [his] sanity.
After lingering for a few years under the oppression of disease, John Rutledge died on July 18, 1800, at the age of 60. He was interred at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Charleston. One of his houses, said to have been built in 1763 and definitely sold in 1790, was renovated in 1989 and opened to the public as the John Rutledge House Inn.

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