Rufus King

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_King

Rufus King (March 24, 1755 – April 29, 1827) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and the Philadelphia Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution in 1787. After formation of the new Congress he represented New York in the United States Senate. He emerged as a leading member of the Federalist Party, serving as the party's last presidential nominee in the 1816 presidential election.

The son of a prosperous Massachusetts merchant, King studied law before volunteering for the militia in the American Revolutionary War. He won election to the Massachusetts General Court in 1783 and to the Congress of the Confederation the following year. At the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, he emerged as a leading nationalist, calling for increased powers for the federal government. After the convention, King returned to Massachusetts, where he used his influence to help win ratification of the new Constitution. At the urging of Alexander Hamilton, he then abandoned his law practice and moved to New York City.

He won election to represent New York in the United States Senate in 1789, remaining in office until 1796. That year, he accepted President George Washington's appointment to the position of Minister to Britain. Though King aligned with Hamilton's Federalists, Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson retained his services after Jefferson's victory in the 1800 presidential election. King served as the Federalist vice presidential candidate in the 1804 and 1808 elections, running on an unsuccessful ticket with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. Though most Federalists supported Democratic-Republican DeWitt Clinton in the 1812 presidential election, King, without the support of his party, won few votes of those Federalists who were unwilling to support Clinton's candidacy. In 1813, he returned to the Senate and remained in office until 1825.

King was the informal de facto Federalist nominee for president in 1816, losing in a landslide to James Monroe. The Federalist Party became defunct at the national level after 1816, and King was the last presidential nominee the party fielded. Nonetheless, King was able to remain in the Senate until 1825, making him the last Federalist senator, due to a split in the New York Democratic-Republican Party. After that King accepted John Quincy Adams's appointment to serve another term as ambassador to Britain, but ill health forced King to retire from public life, and he died in 1827. King had five children who lived to adulthood, and he has numerous notable descendants.

Contents

• 1Biography
  • 1.1Early life
  • 1.2Education, career and early politics
  • 1.3Politics (Constitutional Convention)
  • 1.4Politics (post-Constitutional Convention)
  • 1.5Diplomat
  • 1.6Anti-slavery activity
  • 1.7Library
  • 1.8Other accomplishments
  • 1.9Family
  • 1.10Descendants
• 2See also
• 3References
  • 3.1Bibliography
• 4External links

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

He was born on March 24, 1755, at Scarborough, which was then a part of Massachusetts but is now in the state of Maine.^[1] He was a son of Isabella (Bragdon) and Richard King, a prosperous farmer-merchant, "lumberman, and sea captain"^[1] who had settled at Dunstan Landing in Scarborough, near Portland, Maine, and had made a modest fortune by 1755, the year Rufus was born. His financial success aroused the jealousy of his neighbors, and when the Stamp Act 1765 was imposed, and rioting became almost respectable, a mob ransacked his house and destroyed most of the furniture. Nobody was punished, and the next year the mob burned down his barn.^[2] This statement proves true as John Adams once referenced this moment discussing limitations of the "mob" for the Constitutional Convention writing a letter to his wife Abigail and describing the scene as:

I am engaged in a famous Cause: The Cause of King, of Scarborough vs. a Mob, that broke into his House, and rifled his Papers, and terrifyed him, his Wife, Children and Servants in the Night. The Terror, and Distress, the Distraction and Horror of this Family cannot be described by Words or painted upon Canvass. It is enough to move a Statue, to melt an Heart of Stone, to read the Story. ...^[3] It was not surprising that Richard King became a loyalist. All of his sons, however, became patriots in the American War of Independence.^[2]

...

Rufus King's descendants number in the thousands today. Some of his notable descendants include:

• Dr. C. Loring Brace IV was a noted biological anthropologist.
• Gerald Warner Brace (1901–1978) was an American writer, educator, sailor and boat builder.
• Charles Loring Brace (1826–1890) was a philanthropist and was most renowned for founding The Children's Aid Society.
• Wolcott Gibbs was an American editor, humorist, theater critic, playwright and author of short stories.
• Archibald Gracie III was a career United States Army officer, businessman, and a graduate of West Point. He is well known for being a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War and for his death during the Siege of Petersburg.
• Archibald Gracie IV was an American writer, amateur historian, real estate investor, and survivor of the sinking of the RMS *Titanic*.
• Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr., USN,^[22]
• Isabella Beecher Hooker (1822–1907) was a leader in the women's suffrage movement and an author.
• Charles King (academic) was an American academic, politician, newspaper editor and the ninth president of Columbia College (now Columbia University).
• Charles King was a United States soldier and a distinguished writer.
• James G. King was an American businessman and Whig Party politician who represented New Jersey's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. His daughter, Frederika Gore King, married Bancroft Davis.
• John Alsop King was an American politician who served as governor (1857–1859) of New York.
• Rufus King was a newspaper editor, educator, U.S. diplomat, and a Union brigadier general in the American Civil War.
• Rufus King Jr. was an artillery officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and a Medal of Honor recipient.
• Hon. Rufus Gunn King III (retired) was the Chief Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
• Ellin Travers Mackay was the 2nd wife of composer and lyricist Irving Berlin.
• Alice Duer Miller was an American writer and poet.
• Halsey Minor^[23] is a technology entrepreneur who founded CNET in 1993.
• Mary Alsop King Waddington was an American author.

See also[edit]

• List of United States political appointments that crossed party lines
• U.S. Constitution, ratification debates, judiciary debates
• A More Perfect Union (film)