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JOHN RUTLEDGE
was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in September
1739. He studied law at the Inns of Court in England,
and was admitted to the English bar in 1760. In 1761,
Rutledge was elected to the South Carolina Commons House
of Assembly. In 1764, he was appointed Attorney General
of South Carolina by the King’s Governor and served
for ten months. Rutledge served as the youngest delegate
to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, which petitioned
King George III for repeal of the Act. Rutledge headed
the South Carolina delegation to the Constitutional
Convention in 1787 and served as a member of the South
Carolina Ratification Convention the following year.
On September 24, 1789, President George Washington nominated
Rutledge one of the original Associate Justices of the
Supreme Court of the United States. The Senate confirmed
the appointment two days later. After one year on the
Supreme Court, Rutledge resigned in 1791 to become Chief
Justice of South Carolina’s
highest court. On August 12, 1795, President George Washington
nominated Rutledge Chief Justice of the United States.
He served in that position as a recess appointee for
four months, but the Senate refused to confirm him.
Rutledge died on June 21, 1800, at the age of sixty. |
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