“I, no longer, correspond, in a publick Character, with you,” John Rutledge wrote, “but, as I wish, that my Conduct may always stand fair, in the Opinion of Men of Integrity & Understanding, I hope you will excuse my taking the Liberty of giving you, a brief account of my Resignation_”¹

Former South Carolina state governor John Rutledge had just delivered his resignation speech three days prior. After declining to approve a new state constitution (1778), Rutledge stepped down, arguing that his powers wrested upon the current constitution (1776).²

Engaging in the political philosophy so typical of the time and referencing “Locke, Bolingbroke, and other celebrated Names,” Rutledge was convinced “that a Legislature has no lawful Power, to establish a different [form of government], but that such Power is, only, in the People, on a Dissolution of Government, or Subversion of the Constitution.”

Rutledge was nearly apoplectic that anyone could believe he “could have consented to the Establishment of a different Legislature,” at least “no candid & judicious Person.” However, men did expect him to do just that. But he argued that before they could even “pass an Act contrary” to the existing consitution, “a virtual, or implied, Absolutism, an Absolution, by an Act tantamount to a Law, for repealing that which imposed” their original oath (to the 1776 constitution) must first be agreed upon.

Failing that, Rutledge resigned. The vote for his replacement was not smooth. Arthur Middleton defeated Christopher Gadsden by a vote of 76 to 40 but refused the office using the same logic as Rutledge.³ Gadsden lost a second vote, this time Rawlins Lowndes, who accepted the appointment.

1. John Rutledge to Henry Laurens, Charles Town, March 8, 1778, Papers of Henry Laurens, 12:527-529. All subsequent quotes come from this letter. ↩︎
2. South Carolina and American General Gazette, March 12, 1778. For a narrative of the events leading to Rutledge’s resignation, see Edward McCrady, The History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 (New York, 1901), 236-239. ↩︎
3. For Gadsden, see Stanly E. Godbold, Jr., and Robert Woody, Christopher Gadsden and the American Revolution (Knoxville, 1983) and Daniel McDonough, Christopher Gadsden, and Henry Laurens: The Parallel Lives of Two American Patriots (Plainsboro, 2000). ↩︎