John Rutledge Politician

John Rutledge (September 17, 1739 – July 23, 1800) was the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.A lawyer and a judge, Rutledge was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress and the Continental Congress, President and then Governor of South Carolina during the American Revolution, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was the elder brother of Edward Rutledge, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Like many prominent European-American men in South Carolina at the time, he owned African American people as slaves. According to the state library of South Carolina:"Although Rutledge claimed that he disliked slavery, as an attorney he twice defended individuals who abused slaves. Before the American Revolution, Rutledge owned sixty slaves; afterward, he possessed twenty-eight. His wife Elizabeth emancipated her own slaves, and his nieces were abolitionists Sarah and Angelina Grimké. Despite this, Rutledge convinced the Constitutional Convention not to abolish slavery. When Rutledge died in 1800, he only owned one slave due to financial difficulties."

Personal facts

Birth date	September 17, 1739
Birth place	Province of South Carolina , Charleston South Carolina
Religion	Episcopal Church (United States)
Date of death	July 23, 1800
Place of death	South Carolina , Charleston South Carolina
Education	Middle Temple
Children	John Rutledge Jr.

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Office holder

office	Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Delegate from South Carolina to the Stamp Act Congress Delegate from South Carolina to the First Continental Congress 2nd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
successor	Thomas Johnson (jurist) Oliver Ellsworth Rawlins Lowndes John Mathews (lawyer)