Aedanus Burke (June 16, 1743March 30, 1802) was a soldier, judge, and
United States Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. He was a slaveholder.
Life
Born in
Tiaquin,
County Galway
"Righteousness and Justice"
, anthem = ()
, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg
, map_caption = Location in Ireland
, area_footnotes =
, area_total_km2 = ...
in the
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...
, he attended the theological
College of Saint Omer
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
, visited
, visited the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
, and moved back to the American Colonies, settling in
Charles Town, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
(now Charleston.) He served in the militia forces of South Carolina during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
and was appointed a judge of the State
circuit court in 1778, serving until the enemy overran the state. He was a member of the
South Carolina House of Representatives
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections.
Unlike many legislatures, seati ...
from 1778 to 1779, and again served in the Revolutionary Army from 1780 to 1782.
In 1783 he published two pamphlets, ''An Address to the Freemen of South Carolina'' (January 1783) and ''Considerations on the Society or Order of Cincinnati'' (October 1783), under the pseudonym ''Cassius'' where he criticized the nascent
Society of the Cincinnati
The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...
for being an attempt at reestablishing a hereditary nobility in the new republic.
[William Doyle, ''Aristocracy and its enemies in the age of revolution'', Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 102ff.]
When the courts were reestablished, Burke resumed his seat on the bench, and in 1785 was appointed one of three commissioners to prepare a digest of the State laws. He was a member of the convention in 1788 called to consider ratification of the
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
, which he opposed; he was elected as an
Anti-Administration
The Anti-Administration Party was an informal political faction in the United States led by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson that opposed policies of then Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in the first term of US President George W ...
candidate to the
First United States Congress
The 1st United States Congress, comprising the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, met from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791, during the first two years of George Washington's presidency, first at Federal Hall in ...
(March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791). He declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1790 to the Second Congress, the legislature having passed a law prohibiting a State judge from leaving the State; he was elected a
chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
of the
courts of equity in 1799 and served until his death in Charleston in 1802. As the senior member of the South Carolina appellate courts from 1796 to 1799, Burke was the Chief Justice of South Carolina. Interment was in the cemetery of the Chapel of Ease of St. Bartholomew's Parish, near
Jacksonboro, South Carolina
Jacksonboro is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located in southeastern Colleton County, South Carolina, United States, along the west side of the Edisto River. Jacksonboro serves as a primary junction along U.S. Highway 17 ...
.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Aedanus
Members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina
Members of the South Carolina House of Representatives
Anti-Federalists
1743 births
1802 deaths
People of South Carolina in the American Revolution
Burials in South Carolina
Kingdom of Ireland emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
Politicians from County Galway