Rutledge, Edward

Rutledge, Edward, 1749–1800, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Charleston, S.C.; brother of John Rutledge. He studied law at the Middle Temple, London, and was admitted (1772) to the English bar. He returned to America and was (1774–77) a member of the Continental Congress. He later held official posts at both the national and state level. He was captured (1780) by the British at the fall of Charleston. He was governor of South Carolina from 1798 to 1800.

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Rutledge, Edward (1749–1800) governor; born in Charleston, S.C. (brother of John Rutledge). A South Carolina lawyer, he served in the First and Second Continental Congresses (1774–76), where he shifted from his Loyalist sympathies to sign the Declaration of Independence. He went back to South Carolina to fight against the British and was briefly their prisoner after the fall of Charleston. A staunch Federalist, he served in the state legislature (1782–98), where he moderated confiscation of Loyalists' property, later becoming governor (1798–1880).