Member, South Carolina Commons House of Assembly, 1761–1775; Represented South Carolina colony at the Stamp Act Congress, 1765; Delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses; One of the drafters of the South Carolina Constitution of 1776; Elected President (governor) of South Carolina in March 1776; Resigned as President of South Carolina in March 1778 to protest adoption of South Carolina Constitution of 1778; Elected Governor of South Carolina under the 1778 S.C. Constitution in February 1779, serving until 1782; Served in Continental Congress, 1782–1783; appointed to South Carolina Court of Chancery; Leader in the South Carolina State legislature in 1780s; Chosen one of South Carolinaís delegates to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787; Served as one of the first justices of the United States Supreme Court, 1789–1791; Resigned that position to become Chief Justice of South Carolina, serving until 1795.
Born ca. 1739, in Charleston, South Carolina.
Education: Studied law with his uncle Andrew Rutledge and with James Parsons in Charleston before attending the Middle Temple in London; Admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1761.