Lowndes, Rawlins

Lowndes, Rawlins (loundz), 1721–1800, president of South Carolina (1778–79), b. St. Kitts. In 1730 his family moved to Charleston, S.C., where Lowndes later became a noted lawyer. In the colonial assembly (where he was speaker several times) and as associate judge of the court of common pleas, he took a leading part in opposing British measures before the American Revolution, but did not favor armed rebellion or independence. Nevertheless he helped draft the state constitution and was chosen president in 1778; he declined reelection. After the war he was the leading opponent in South Carolina of ratification of the U.S. Constitution.