William Henry Drayton (September 1742 – September 3, 1779) was an American
Founding Father
The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...
,
planter, and lawyer from
Charleston, 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 ...
. He served as a delegate for
South Carolina to the
Continental Congress in 1778-79 and signed the
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...
.
Early life
William Henry was born on his familhy's plantation,
Drayton Hall
Drayton Hall is an 18th-century plantation located on the Ashley River about 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Charleston, South Carolina, and directly across the Ashley River from North Charleston, west of the Ashley in the Lowcountry. An exa ...
, on the bank of the
Ashley River
The Ashley River is a blackwater and tidal river in South Carolina, rising from the Wassamassaw and Great Cypress Swamps in western Berkeley County. It consolidates its main channel about five miles west of Summerville, widening into a ti ...
near Charleston. His father John Drayton had just completed construction of a massive main house on the rice plantation. His mother was Charlotta Bull Drayton, the daughter of the colony's Governor
William Bull. Drayton Hll would remain William's home throughout his life.
In 1750, he was sent to England for his education. He first studied at
Westminster School where he met
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (February 25, 1746 – August 16, 1825) was an American Founding Father, statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the United States Constit ...
. Then he went on to
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
, before returning home in 1764. He
read law and was admitted to the bar in South Carolina.
Drayton married Dorothy Golightly in 1764; they were the parents of South Carolina Governor
John Drayton
John Drayton II (June 22, 1766 – November 27, 1822) was Governor of South Carolina and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Education and career
Born on June 22, 1766, in Char ...
. He was the cousin of
U.S. 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 c ...
William Drayton
William Drayton (December 30, 1776May 24, 1846) was an American politician, banker, and writer who grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the son of William Drayton Sr., who served as justice of the Province of East Florida (1765–178 ...
, the son of Judge
William Drayton Sr.
Career
Drayton at first opposed the growing sense of colonial unity and resistance after the
Stamp Act Congress but reversed his position as the
Revolution grew nearer. He first wrote a series of published letters opposing the American actions. When they were published in England, he was made a member of the Colonial Council in 1772. Governor Bull appointed him to the Colony's Court in 1774. However, later that year he wrote a pamphlet, the ''American Claim of Rights'', which supported the call for a Continental Congress. Subsequently he was removed from all government positions, which completed his conversion to the
Patriot cause.
He became a member of South Carolina's
Committee of safety in 1775 as well as the provisional Congress that functioned as the colony's rebel government. In 1776, he and
Arthur Middleton
Arthur Middleton (June 26, 1742 – January 1, 1787) was a Founding Father of the United States as a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, representing South Carolina in the Second Continental Congress.
Life
Middleton was bo ...
designed the
Seal of South Carolina
The Great Seal of the State of South Carolina was adopted in 1776. South Carolina's seal is made up of two elliptical areas, linked by branches of the palmetto tree. The image on the left is dominated by a tall palmetto tree and an oak tree, fall ...
. When they began operating under an interim constitution in 1776, he returned to his seat on the council, serving as chief justice of
state's Supreme Court. When the
South Carolina General Assembly unanimously voted for union with
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
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* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
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* Related to the ...
in 1776, Drayton became the chief champion of the proposal. The union was rejected by a Georgia convention on January 23, 1777, but Drayton continued to campaign in Georgia for union until Governor
John A. Treutlen issued a reward for his arrest. In 1778, South Carolina sent Drayton as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he gave strong support to the military, but he was no friend to the
Natives
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
: "Cut up every Indian Cornfield and burn every Indian town," he proclaimed, so that their "nation be extirpated and the lands become the property of the public."
Death
Drayton died of
typhus on September 3, 1779 in
Philadelphia, while serving in Congress. He was 37.
His home, Drayton Hall, now lies within the expanded city of Charleston. It is operated as a museum and is open to the public for an admission fee.
References
Further reading
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External links
Drayton Hall website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drayton, William
1742 births
1779 deaths
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
American people of English descent
Continental Congressmen from South Carolina
18th-century American politicians
Signers of the Articles of Confederation
People educated at Westminster School, London
Drayton family
American planters
American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law