Charles Pettit (1736 – September 4, 1806) was an American lawyer and merchant from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He served as a delegate for Pennsylvania to the

Confederation Congress The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States of America during the Confederation period, March 1, 1781 – Mar ...

from 1785 to 1787.

Biography

Charles Pettit was born in 1736. His parents were Andrew and Dinah (Woolverton) Pettit of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. In 1758 he married Sarah Reed, a half-sister of Joseph Reed. Reed exerted considerable influence on Pettit's later career, bringing him into politics. In 1767 Pettit accepted the first of many public service positions as a deputy surrogate for the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

to assist his brother-in-law, Reed, who was Secretary. When Reed resigned in 1769, Pettit was appointed as the colony's secretary. After studying with an established firm, Pettit was admitted to the bar in 1770. In 1773 he was selected as a member of the

Governor's Council The governments of the Thirteen Colonies of British America developed in the 17th and 18th centuries under the influence of the British constitution. After the Thirteen Colonies had become the United States, the experience under colonial rule would ...

. Pettit served as a personal secretary to Governor

William Franklin William Franklin (22 February 1730 – 17 November 1813) was an American-born attorney, soldier, politician, and colonial administrator. He was the acknowledged illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin. William Franklin was the last colonial G ...

from 1772 to 1774, and moved to

South Amboy, New Jersey South Amboy is a suburban city in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located on Raritan Bay. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 9,411.Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

neared, he resigned his post. He returned to it in 1776 when appointed as secretary to the revolutionary governor,

William Livingston William Livingston (November 30, 1723July 25, 1790) was an American politician who served as the first governor of New Jersey (1776–1790) during the American Revolutionary War. As a New Jersey representative in the Continental Congress, he sig ...

. From 1776 to 1778 Pettit held the office of provincial secretary (a title specified by the 1776 New Jersey State Constitution and later known as

Secretary of State of New Jersey The secretary of state of New Jersey oversees the Department of State, which is one of the original state offices. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing artistic, cultural, and historical programs within the U.S. state of New Jersey, as w ...

). In 1777, his brother-in-law Joseph Reed again influenced his career. Reed was then serving in the Continental Congress and worked on the committee that recommended an overhaul of the

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...

's function. In 1778, Pettit was appointed deputy quartermaster general, essentially a civilian post. But it came with a commission as a colonel in the Continental Army, a perk which offended some of the army's

line officer In the United States Armed Forces, a line officer or officer of the line is a U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps commissioned officer or warrant officer who exercises general command authority and is eligible for operational command positions, as o ...

s. Pettit kept the accounts for the corps from then until his resignation in 1781. He also moved to

to be closer to the Congress, which was temporarily meeting in New York. After his military service, Pettit resumed a mercantile career, this time in Philadelphia. He had been a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, based in that city, since 1779. He was elected to represent Philadelphia in the state's

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in 1784 and 1785. The legislature twice selected him as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he served from 1785 to 1787. He also was appointed a trustee for the University of the State of Pennsylvania in 1786; he continued in the post after it merged to create the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1791. Pettit died in Philadelphia in 1806.

References

*Risch, Erna. ''Supplying Washington's Army''. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1981
"Chapter 2: Organization of the Quartermaster's Department".

External links

at the

* Retrieved on 2009-05-16 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pettit, Charles 1736 births 1806 deaths Continental Army staff officers Continental Congressmen from Pennsylvania 18th-century American politicians Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Secretaries of State of New Jersey People from Burlington, New Jersey People from Hunterdon County, New Jersey Politicians from Philadelphia People from South Amboy, New Jersey People of New Jersey in the American Revolution