John Rutledge, Jr..

About John Rutledge, Jr.

John Rutledge Jr. was a United States representative from South Carolina. Born in Charles Town in the Province of South Carolina, he was a son of John Rutledge, who was President of South Carolina, Governor of South Carolina, a Continental Congressman, Philadelphia Convention Framer of the United States Constitution, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and a nephew of Edward Rutledge, another Continental Congressman from South Carolina. The younger John received private instruction and also attended school in Charleston and Philadelphia. He studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar about 1787 and practiced in Charleston; he also engaged as a planter. From 1794 to 1797, he was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1794 to the Fourth Congress, and was elected as a Federalist to the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Congresses, serving from March 4, 1797, to March 3, 1803. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Thirteenth Congress, and commanded a company of the Twenty-eighth Regiment, South Carolina Militia, in 1799. In 1801, he was the Federalist nominee in a special election for the U.S. Senate, losing to Thomas Sumter. He was promoted to major and in 1804 succeeded to the command of the regiment and served as its commander in the War of 1812. He commanded the Seventh Brigade from 1816 until his death in Philadelphia.