Mark Cole
Edward Rutledge was, at 26, the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also the most conservative.
Young, educated in England, and wealthy, Rutledge did not always make a favorable impression on his fellow members of the Continental Congress. But he always made a memorable impression: John Adams wrote in his diary that Edward Rutledge was a “swallow, a sparrow, a peacock; excessively vain, excessively weak, and excessively variable, unsteady; jejune, inane, and puerile.”
It was probably not so much Rutledge’s style or his age that perturbed Adams, but, rather, the moderation of the young Rutledge and, indeed, the entire South Carolina delegation. The South Carolinians were a group of wealthy planters who represented the people of South Carolina, the vast majority of whom were either opposed to independence, or tepid at best.
Rutledge was Adams’ worst nightmare. In the early days of the Second Continental Congress, Rutledge worked hard to prevent votes on independence. When Richard Henry Lee introduced the independence resolution in early June of 1776, it was the young Rutledge who delayed the vote by a few weeks.
But when it became obvious to all the members of the Second Continental Congress that a vote for independence was inevitable, it was Rutledge who made a dramatic about-face. He then led the charge for independence within his own delegation, convincing the other skeptical South Carolinians to vote with the other colonies. Rutledge wisely reasoned that if the majority was going to vote for independence, then the vote must be unanimous.
Rutledge was successful and when the vote was taken, every delegate voted for independence. This importance of this contribution to the cause can hardly be overstated. No one could have accomplished it except Edward Rutledge.
And when it came time for each delegate to pledge his life, fortune and sacred honor on behalf of the cause, Rutledge did so, without hesitation. His earlier moderation on the question of independence was gone forever. The signature of Edward Rutledge is no less prominent than that of John Adams, Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson or Richard Henry Lee.
In September 1776, a committee of three Continental Congressmen was appointed to meet with Lord Howe in New York to discuss a possible peace settlement. The members appointed were young and formerly conservative Edward Rutledge, respected elder statesman and experienced diplomat Ben Franklin, and the Atlas of independence himself, John Adams. History has its ironies.
The meeting with Lord Howe did not last long. Though the colonial diplomats were from different regions, varied in age and came to believe in independence at different times, Franklin, Adams and Rutledge together made it clear that the colonies spoke with one voice.
Their message was clear: independence or war.
During the Revolution, Rutledge fought, and fought hard. And he suffered. He led troops in South Carolina and was captured, along with his brother-in-law and fellow signer of the Declaration, Arthur Middleton. He was imprisoned for a year. When the war ended in 1781, he was released and resumed his legal practice and served in the South Carolina legislature. He was eventually Governor of South Carolina and he died while serving in that office, in 1800.
John Adams outlived Rutledge by a quarter of a century. One wonders if over the course of the years his initial opinion of Rutledge changed. Rutledge came to the independence movement late, but when he did, he persuaded his colleagues to support it so that the Congress would speak unanimously. Together, Franklin, Adams and Rutledge personally delivered a defiant message to Lord Howe. Rutledge fought on the battlefield and was held as a prisoner of war for a year. His family members had a plantation destroyed during the Revolution. Some suffered more than Edward Rutledge in the name of independence; but not many.
He never said so, but I think John Adams probably grew in his opinion of Edward Rutledge. Regardless, Edward Rutledge is one of America’s true Founding Fathers.
Check out Mark’s book: Lives, Fortunes, Sacred Honor: The Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence
