Thomas Smith Grimké (September 22, 1786 – October 12, 1834) was an American attorney, author,

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14 ...

, and social activist. Among his siblings were the

Grimké sisters The Grimké sisters, Sarah Moore Grimké (1792–1873) and Angelina Emily GrimkéUnited States National Park Service. "Grimke Sisters." U.S. Department of the Interior, October 8, 2014. Accessed: October 14, 2014. (1805–1879), were American wr ...

Parents and education

Thomas Grimké was the second of fourteen children borne to jurist

John Faucheraud Grimké John Faucheraud Grimké (December 16, 1752 – August 9, 1819) was an American jurist who served as Associate justice and Senior Associate Justice of South Carolina's Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions from 1783 until his death. He also s ...

, and Mary ("Polly"), daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Moore) Smith, of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. He graduated from Charleston College, and entered the study of law under John Julius Pringle, then

Attorney General of South Carolina The attorney general of South Carolina is a statewide elected attorney and South Carolina's chief legal officer and prosecutor. They are a constitutional officer responsible for providing legal opinions to the legislative and executive branch, repr ...

, in 1804. He suspended his legal studies to enter

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in the fall of 1805. After completing courses at Yale, Grimké expressed a desire to prepare for the ministry, but yielded to the wishes of his jurist father and was admitted to the bar in May 1809. Grimké practiced law in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1830, Grimké received an honorary degree of

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

from Yale.

Legal career

On March 17, 1827, Grimké advocated, in an address before the Bar Association of South Carolina, the codification of the laws of that state. He was a member of the

State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

in 1826–1830, and in 1828 made a speech in support of the federal government on the tariff question. Grimké had a distinguished career in the South Carolina courts. He is perhaps best known for the case of ''M'Cready v. Hunt'', focusing on

states' rights In United States, American politics of the United States, political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments of the United States, state governments rather than the federal government of the United States, ...

, which was brought before the

South Carolina Court of Appeals The South Carolina Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of South Carolina. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeals hears most appeals from the Circuit Courts and Family Courts of South Carolina that do not fall with ...

in 1834. The case involved a "test oath" passed by the South Carolina legislature in November 1832. The oath required that members of the state militia pledge "faithful and true allegiance" to the State of

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. The law was vague on the underlying and contentious issue of sovereignty, and did not specifically state whether allegiance to the state was superior to allegiance to the federal government. However, dispute over the oath immediately erupted. The " Nullifier" faction asserted that allegiance to states had precedence over allegiance to the federal government, while "Unionists", with Grimké in the lead, asserted that the federal government had primacy over all states. Eventually, a legal case on the validity of the test oath reached the state Court of Appeals in Columbia. Attorney

Robert Barnwell Rhett Robert Barnwell Rhett (born Robert Barnwell Smith; December 21, 1800September 14, 1876) was an American politician who served as a deputy from South Carolina to the Provisional Confederate States Congress from 1861 to 1862, a member of the US H ...

, of Beaufort, argued for the test oath with the support of state Governor Robert Y. Hayne. He was opposed by a trio of young Unionist attorneys, James L. Petigru of Charleston, business attorney Abram Blanding of Columbia, and Grimké. The decision on June 2, 1834 from the three judges fell 2 to 1 for the Unionists. "Nullifiers" immediately called for the impeachment of the two jurists. "Nullifier" legislators responded to the decision by calling for a constitutional amendment to legalize the test oath and assert the primacy of allegiance to South Carolina.

Social activism

Grimké was an active advocate and donor to the temperance movement and a prominent member of the

American Peace Society The American Peace Society was a pacifist group founded upon the initiative of William Ladd, in New York City, May 8, 1828. It was formed by the merging of many state and local societies, from New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, ...

. He was active in forming a South Carolina chapter of the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the repatriation of freeborn peop ...

, which endeavored to send free blacks to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, to what would become

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

. He was also an advocate and lecturer upon the reformation of education in America, particularly urging the use of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

as a textbook in schools. Though a fine classical scholar, he opposed both

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

as elements of an education. He was an early advocate of

spelling reform A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples a ...

, as a means of simplifying education, and used his original spelling method in his own publications after 1833. Grimké was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1833. He advocated absolute

non-violence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

, holding that even self-defensive warfare was wicked. When asked what he would do if he were mayor of Charleston, and a piratical vessel should attack the city, he is said to have replied that he would marshal the Sunday-school children in procession, and lead them to meet the invader, which caused his ideas to be met with much ridicule.

Family

The Grimké family were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

by descent, and his paternal grandmother's family was

French Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

. On January 25, 1810, he married Sarah Daniel Drayton of Charleston, who died on July 23, 1867. The couple had six sons. His siblings included the noted orators and abolitionists

Sarah Moore Grimké Sarah Moore Grimké (November 26, 1792 – December 23, 1873) was an American abolitionist, widely held to be the mother of the women's suffrage movement. Born and reared in South Carolina to a prominent and wealthy planter family, she mo ...

and Angelina Grimké Weld. His brother and law partner Henry W. Grimké was the father of children by an enslaved woman. Although he did not free them, Angelina and Sarah helped them once they became aware of the sons' existence:

Archibald Grimké Archibald Henry Grimké (August 17, 1849 – February 25, 1930) was an African-American lawyer, intellectual, journalist, diplomat and community leader in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He graduated from freedmen's schools, Lincoln Universi ...

became a journalist and diplomat, and Francis J. Grimké, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister. Frederick Grimké (1791–1863), another brother, was for some time presiding judge of the Ohio Court of Common Pleas, and from 1836 to 1842 was a member of the

Ohio Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, ...

, from which he resigned to devote his time to "philosophical studies".

Death

Grimké died of

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

on October 12, 1834, while on a lecture tour and a visit with family members in Ohio. He was buried in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. He received a 3-page obituary in the '' African Repository and Colonial Journal'', including material from "a Charleston paper", which communicated that in his honor, members of the Charleston bar would wear

mourning Mourning is the emotional expression in response to a major life event causing grief, especially loss. It typically occurs as a result of someone's death, especially a loved one. The word is used to describe a complex of behaviors in which t ...

(black) for 30 days. A sermon preached in Charleston on the occasion of his death was subsequently printed in the Episcopal publication ''Gospel Messenger'' (volume 11, December, 1834). The contemporary doctor Daniel Drake remembered him in these terms:

It may be trule said of Mr.G. that he was a Christian scholar, a Christian orator, a Christian philosopher, and a Christian gentleman. He had resolved the whole duty of man, in every situation and relation of life, into the simple and sublime principple of obedience to God, and was himself a luminious example of conformity, in practice, to his own theory of moral obligation. The preservation of the Union was one of his cherished themes...Drake, Daniel (1834). ''Discourse on the History, Character, and Prospects of the West: Delivered to the Union Literary Society of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, at Their Ninth Anniversary, September 23, 1834''. Truman and Smith. p. 53-54: "Thomas S. Grimké."

Notes

External links

Orations and publications
*

References

* Ford, Lacy K., Jr., ''Origin of Southern Radicalism: The South Carolina Upcountry, 1800 to 1860'', Oxford University Press, U.S., 1991, {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimke, Thomas Smith 1786 births 1834 deaths Thomas Smith Grimke South Carolina lawyers South Carolina state senators Temperance activists from South Carolina American nonviolence advocates American pacifists 19th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly 19th-century American lawyers