A philosopher has discussed the difference between men in government.

"Each man is unique.

"Each yearns for different things.

"While one cannot exist "without the fame that is attained through great deeds, "the other is satisfied "with simply completing the deed itself.

"The first man is highly defensive, "insecure in his position, and easily insulted.

"The second, knowing who he is, "steps courteously aside and has time for others.

"The first can be found on the pages of most history books.

"As time progresses, his deeds and his misdeeds "gain greatness in other men's eyes, "and we call him hero.

"But the second man, "who has quietly supported and guided many men like the first, fades into obscurity and is seldom remembered."

John Rutledge was such a man.

♪ ♪ ♪ John Rutledge was one of the finest legal minds ever to reside in America.

He was one of our strongest statesmen.

He's one of South Carolina's gr eatest Revolutionary leaders, yet he was very humble and so revealed very little about himself.

You can find his political exploits in South Carolina history books, but what we know about Rutledge the man, we found in one slender biography written in 1942 by Richard Barry.

John Rutledge was the eldest of seven children.

His father, a doctor, married Sarah Hext, the wealthiest heiress in South Carolina, in 1738 and took over the Hext fortune.

He never practiced medicine again.

He sold off much of the Hext land and slaves and with the proceeds bought a Tradd Street town house and spent the rest of his life socializing and entertaining.

[footfalls on pavement] The guests here at Tradd Street were supplied by Dr. John's brother Andrew, a prominent attorney, and they included all of the influential men of Charleston.

It was here that the oldest child, John, was born in 1739.

Sarah was 15 years old.

She was very concerned about the education of her children, which Dr. John insisted on tending to himself, but when Sarah found out that John had no knowledge of Latin and Greek, the true mark of a gentleman, she insisted on hiring a tutor for all of the Rutledge children.

The tutor reported that Latin and Greek were entirely too difficult for young John.

The decision was left to Uncle Andrew.

So, it was decided that John be educated in mathematics, the one subject in which he seemed to do well.

When John was 11, his father died.

When he was questioned, he said he wanted to be a lawyer like his uncle, so for the next four years, he followed his uncle everywhere.

Andrew had been elected speaker of the Commons House of the Assembly.

It's said that his nephew never missed a session.

During those years in the Assembly, he heard debated the issues which would eventually be the causes of the American Revolution.

He absorbed everything, and in the process, he learned the workings of government.

In many sessions, he heard Uncle Andrew use the phrase a phrase which became the guiding principle of John Rutledge's life, "Care not who reigns... think only of who rules."

Shortly after John's 16th birthday, Andrew Rutledge died.

For a while, John studied law in the office of James Parsons.

Then Sarah decided he needed a proper education abroad, so he was sent to England to study.

He spent two years in the Middle Temple in London and then returned to Charleston.

He arrived in port on Christmas Eve of 1760.

Although he was delighted to be home, he brought bad news.

He told his family and friends that George II had died two months earlier.

Later that evening, the "Charleston Gazette" printed the announcement of the King's death.

So on Christmas Eve of 1760, while the entire colony mourned, the death of a ruler, George III had been on the throne for almost two months.

The new ruler, 22 years old, was already looking to the colony of South Carolina for new revenues.

John Rutledge, 21 years old, was about to do the same.

♪ Upon returning, John found the family fortunes greatly diminished.

The lands had produced very little income due to neglect and mismanagement.

Sarah had leased many of the lands to pay for John's education in England.

The unpaid bills were stacked high on her desk and the creditors were lined up on the doorstep.

And in those days, there was an institution known as debtors' prison.

[footfalls] Lands left to the Rutledge estate included Phillips and Lexington Plantations and 1400 acres which they had leased at Boone Hall.

Sarah Hext was the granddaughter of a Boone, and many of her children were born here.

After about 90 days, John had the solution to part of his mother's financial problems.

With money he was able to borrow from Henry Laurens, he campaigned successfully for the position of assemblyman from Christ Church Parish.

Assemblymen could not be sued for bad debts.

Consequently, what was left of the Rutledge estate was safe.

Shortly after his election, Rutledge opened his law office at the corner of Broad and Church Street.

At this time, it was very difficult to begin a law practice in Charleston, so Rutledge found the going very difficult, although Henry Laurens occasionally threw a small case his way.

The breakthrough came in 1761 when John Rutledge accepted the first breach-of-promise suit ever to be tried in the United States against the advice of all his friends.

The "Gazette" refused to print the court proceedings because the matter was entirely too indelicate to bring to public notice.

John's defense was brilliant!

Under shrewd and careful cross-examination, he forced William Lennox to admit, December 1, 1761, that he had verbally promised Mary Cooke that he would marry her.

The jury was out for 11 minutes and found in favor of Mary Cooke.

She was awarded 2500 pounds.

Within the next two weeks, men like Henry Middleton and Henry Laurens brought law cases to John Rutledge.

But though he was asked many times, never again did he accept a breach-of-promise suit.

In fact, he would not even discuss the Cooke-Lennox case.

In fact, John Rutledge rarely discussed anything.

He was a very private man with few friends.

He could have sought fame because after the Cooke-Lennox affair, he never lost a legal case, but Rutledge didn't seek fame.

♪ His intense need for privacy was shown on May 1, 1763, when he arrived at his mother's house for dinner with a young lady, Elizabeth Grimké, age 19 on his arm.

He had married her earlier that evening at St. Philip's with no prior announcement and no guests.

He had selected his own wife and he had married for love.

His mother was very upset because she had been searching for a rich, young bride for John.

There was nothing that she could do about it except remark, "John is a law unto himself."

♪ Less than three years after returning from London, John Rutledge had settled his mother's financial affairs, arranged for the education of his six brothers and sisters, and, with James Parsons and Charles Pinckney, had become one of the three most important attorneys in Charleston.

In 1763, he moved here to this house which he built at 116 Broad Street.

The house wasn't far from a vacant lot called The Corner.

and here, it's been said At The Corner, men of prominence would meet and discuss affairs of politics and government.

It's also been said that more affairs of the colony were settled at The Corner than in any courts or assemblies.

Benches had been placed there, and John Rutledge was given his own.

No one else ever sat in his place.

Rutledge was 24 years old and already was one of the three most powerful men in Charleston.

[vehicular noise] In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act.

The colonists were indignant!

A request was sent to the Southern colonies to send delegates to a meeting in New York to discuss the matter.

North Carolina and Georgia refused to attend.

Virginia simply let their assembly go into recess rather than have to make a decision on the issue.

The triumvirate of Parsons, Pinckney, and Rutledge decided that South Carolina should be represented.

However, it was necessary to convince the Assembly, and John Rutledge was given that task.

When word spread through Charleston that Rutledge would address the Assembly, spectators filled the small statehouse and overflowed into Broad Street.

The speech was so well-done, that when it was over everybody thought he was speaking directly to them.

He praised the Crown, yet he didn't praise the Crown.

He urged reform and action and yet cautioned against reform and action.

His magnificent oratory convinced two of the staunchest Tories in the delegation to vote with him.

The South Carolina Assembly selected three men to go to New York to the Stamp Act Congress... Christopher Gadsden, 43; Thomas Lynch, in his 50s; and John Rutledge, who was almost 26 years old.

The only thing that Rutledge liked about New York was that it had its own college.

He wrote James Parson and he was considering establishing one in Charleston.

So, in 1770, five years later, he wrote the charter for the College of Charleston.

At the Congress, he formed a firm friendship with Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts.

Ruggles was elected president and made Rutledge floor leader and chairman of the Committee on Resolutions.

It was decided the best approach was to write a letter to George III demanding immediate repeal of the Stamp Act.

So, the letter was drafted by Rutledge's committee, approved by the Congress, and sent.

But Rutledge, working behind the scenes as usual, also wrote a letter.

He praised the King yet gave precedents proving the unconstitutionality of the Stamp Act.

He backed up those precedents by quoting from Blackstone because he knew the King fancied himself a lawyer, although the only law he had read was Blackstone.

The King received the first letter and was offended by the colonists' demands as Rutledge knew he would be.

The second letter arrived in the hands of William Pitt, who was a friend to the colonists.

Pitt brought it the king's attention, and three days later, the Stamp Act was repealed.

All the newspapers of the days published the first letter and believed that was the cause of it all but it was Rutledge's letter that brought action.

And he never told anyone.

♪ In 1774, Massachusetts again sent a request for delegates.

The First Continental Congress was to meet in Philadelphia.

John Rutledge was chosen as chairman of the delegation, and his youngest brother, Edward, was also one of the four men chosen.

In actuality, the First Continental Congress accomplished nothing.

Rutledge returned with two things, however.

First...a newfound respect for him from his fellow statesmen.

When Patrick Henry was asked who was the greatest man at the Congress, he answered, "If you speak of eloquence, John Rutledge of South Carolina is by far the best orator."

The second thing he returned with was a recipe for a new drink.

It was called a mint julep.

[footfalls] In 1775, Rutledge returned to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress.

He served on 11 committees.

Two were very important.

In the Committee on Government, it was under Rutledge that a proposal was accepted which served as the model for all future state governments.

In the second committee, it was Rutledge and Samuel Adams who, after many hours of deliberation, selected George Washington as Commander in Chief.

♪ Rutledge returned to Charleston before the end of the Continental Congress, and he found that the city was divided between Loyalists and the liberty forces led by William Henry Drayton.

John had lost a great deal of power because Parsons was near death, and Charles Pinckney refused to have anything at all to do with the debate.

Drayton was in, and Rutledge was ignored.

However, in February of 1776, Rutledge presented to the Provincial Assembly a resolution from the Continental Congress suggesting that each colony form its own government and write its own constitution.

The Assembly acted immediately and by secret ballot voted that John Rutledge should write the constitution.

[vehicular noise] When the constitution was completed, the delegates were amazed to find that it made the colony totally independent of Great Britain.

They didn't expect this of Rutledge and many refused to accept the proposal.

However, it was learned that Great Britain had declared the colonies rebellious and all property was to be seized, and they quickly changed their mind.

We have been led to believe that Texas was the first sovereign republic which later became a state.

That isn't so.

On March 26, 1776, South Carolina became a sovereign nation, a republic, the first in the New World, and the first president elected in the New World was not George Washington... it was John Rutledge.

♪ It's impossible to recount all of the contributions John Rutledge made to the American Revolution.

He led South Carolina and the Southern Campaign to victory.

It was his belief in and loyalty to Colonel William Moultrie which led to the defeat of the British at Sullivan's Island.

As soldier and governor, John Rutledge was everywhere.

He was the one to whom South Carolinians turned in their time of need.

At one time during the Revolution, the Assembly granted him full dictatorial powers, but he never abused it.

He remained true to the trust that the people held in him and true to himself.

[vehicular noise] Following the American Revolution, Rutledge served a term as delegate to Congress and was also chancellor justice of South Carolina.

He faded from public view, as many of his friends were gone.

His brothers Hugh and Edward, both attorneys, became much better known.

In the background, John watched and became dismayed.

Not for lack of recognition... because he was watching the death of a dream.

Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States was falling apart, and Rutledge knew it.

[vehicular noise] In 1784, Governor John Mathews named a street in Charleston "Rutledge."

When John wrote to thank him for the honor, the Governor curtly replied that the street was named for John's sister Sarah, who was the Governor's wife, and not for him.

For six years, John Rutledge was forgotten.

Then a need arose.

He couldn't know it at the time, but this was to be the greatest challenge of his career.

In 1787, John Rutledge was asked to lead a South Carolina delegation to another convention, and this time it was to write a constitution.

There has been much debate over who was the principal author of the United States Constitution.

The honor is usually given to James Madison of Virginia, but be that as it may, Madison was not a member of the drafting committee.

The Constitution was written in eight days by five men working day and night.

They were Wilson of Pennsylvania, Ellsworth of Connecticut, Randolph of Virginia, Gorham of Massachusetts, and Rutledge of South Carolina.

Only one man attended every session, and that Constitution is very similar to the one that the same man wrote for the Republic of South Carolina, and that man was John Rutledge.

[vehicular noise] After returning from the convention, he spent many hours seeking ratification of the Constitution.

Then he served briefly as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, being appointed by George Washington.

However, he lost the post because the Senate refused to confirm the appointment due to Alexander Hamilton, who started unfounded rumors concerning Rutledge's mental condition.

After the death of his wife Elizabeth, he sold the home at 116 Broad Street and took a room at Dillon's.

He had used most of his personal wealth to help the cause of the American Revolution, and there was very little left.

He spent the last years of his life alone and in obscurity, forgotten by the people whom he had served.

His one true friend to the end was Colonel William Moultrie.

♪ Edward Rutledge died in January of 1800.

He was buried here in St. Philip's churchyard with much ceremony.

The inscription on his grave marker reads, "Beneath this stone there lies "the remains of Edward Rutledge, Esquire, "late Governor of this state, "whom to please the Almighty "departed from this life January 23, 1800, at the age of 50 years and two months."

Six months later, John Rutledge died.

With little ceremony and with few in attendance, he was buried here at St. Michael's.

The inscription on his simple tombstone reads, "On the 18th of July, anno Domini 1800, departed this life in the 61st ye ar of his age John Rutledge."

Over 30 years after his death, the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville came to this country to gather material for his book on the workings of democracy.

In Washington, D.C., he asked who was the author of the Constitution.

of the United States.

They told him Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson had been in Paris when the Constitution was written, and de Tocqueville knew it.

"I do not mean the Declaration of Independence.

"That was but a gesture.

I mean, your title, your patent... who prepared that?"

He was given a list of names which included that of Washington and Franklin.

He said, "This is ridiculous.

"Such an important product of the human entity, "one of the most idiosyncratic documents of the human brain, "can have but one authentic father.

Who was he?"

After studying the archives, de Tocqueville said, "There is no mystery about it.

"The authorship of the Constitution is quite clear.

"A man named John Rutledge wrote it.

Who was he?"

But no one in Washington had ever heard of John Rutledge.

Determined to find out more about the man, de Tocqueville came to Charleston and looked up members of the Rutledge family.

He was told that Edward Rutledge had signed the Declaration of Independence, and although old "Dictator John" had done many things, no one knew very much about him.

De Tocqueville left amazed and frustrated that not even the grandchildren of John Rutledge knew very much about the man.

How was it that the accomplishments of a man as great as John Rutledge could be ignored until the past few decades?

♪ Because John Rutledge himself did not seek recognition, his reward was the personal satisfaction of a job well-done, and he always knew what that job was because he knew who he was and was true to himself.

According to Richard Barry, there were three men who were essential to the American Revolution.

One, Samuel Adams, who was determined to drive all foreign powers from the American shores.

He provided the desire.

Secondly, George Washington, the man of courage, of faith, and of indomitable will to overcome, and the third man... was John Rutledge.

Without him, there would have been no one to provide the structure of government which would bring it from the ruins of war.

With purely unselfish motives, John Rutledge designed the framework of the greatest country on earth.

Without it there would be no working democracy, few personal freedoms, and no United States of America.

There is no other man in history who can claim such a distinction, but if he were here today, I doubt even then if he would claim it or even want to talk about it, because the nature of a few rare men raised them above ordinary human motives.

They see a need and they achieve greatness in fulfilling that need, and that pass into obscurity, ignored and forgotten.

John Rutledge was such a man.

♪ ♪ Program captioned by: CompuScripts Captioning, Inc. 803.988.8438 ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪