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William Drayton | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait of Drayton | |
| Born | September 1742 Charleston,South Carolina, British America |
| Died | 3 September 1779(1779-09-03) (aged 36–37) Strawberry Ferry Tavern, Berkeley County, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Children | John |
William Henry Drayton (September 1742 – September 3, 1779) was an AmericanFounding Father, planter, and lawyer fromCharles Town, South Carolina. He served as a delegate forSouth Carolina to theContinental Congress in 1778-79 and signed theArticles of Confederation.
William Henry was born on his family's plantation,Drayton Hall, on the bank of theAshley River nearCharleston. 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 GovernorWilliam Bull. Drayton Hall would remain William's home throughout his life.
In 1750, he was sent to England for his education. He first studied atWestminster School where he metCharles Cotesworth Pinckney. Then he went on toBalliol College, Oxford, before returning home in 1764. Heread law and was admitted to the bar in South Carolina.[1]
Drayton married Dorothy Golightly in 1764; they were the parents of South Carolina GovernorJohn Drayton. He was the cousin ofU.S. RepresentativeWilliam Drayton, the son of JudgeWilliam Drayton Sr.
Drayton at first opposed the growing sense of colonial unity and resistance after theStamp Act Congress but reversed his position as theRevolution 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, theAmerican Claim of Rights, which supported the call for a Continental Congress. Subsequently he was removed from all government positions, which completed his conversion to thePatriot cause.
He became a member of South Carolina'sCommittee of safety in 1775 as well as the provisional Congress that functioned as the colony's rebel government. In 1776, he andArthur Middleton designed theSeal of South Carolina. When they began operating under an interim constitution in 1776, he returned to his seat on the council, serving as chief justice ofstate's Supreme Court. When theSouth Carolina General Assembly unanimously voted for union withGeorgia 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 GovernorJohn 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 theNatives: "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."
Drayton suffered a seizure while crossing the Strawberry Ferry in modern-day Berkeley County, South Carolina, and died shortly after at the nearby Strawberry Ferry Tavern on September 3, 1779, while serving in Congress. He was 37.[2] 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.
