Rufus King (March 24, 1755April 29, 1827) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate from 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 and was the party's last presidential nominee during the 1816 presidential election.

The son of a prosperous Massachusetts merchant, King studied law before he volunteered for the militia during 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 and called for increased powers for the federal government. After the convention, King returned to Massachusetts, where he used his influence to help ratify the 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 and remained in office until 1796. That year, he accepted President George Washington's appointment to the position of Minister to Great Britain. Though King aligned with Hamilton's Federalist Party, the Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson retained King's services after Jefferson's victory in the 1800 presidential election. King served as the Federalist vice-presidential candidate in the 1804 and 1808 elections and ran on an unsuccessful ticket with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. Though most Federalists supported the Democratic-Republican DeWitt Clinton in the 1812 presidential election, King, without the support of his party, won the few votes of the Federalists who were unwilling to support Clinton's candidacy. In 1813, King returned to the Senate and remained in office until 1825.

King, the de facto Federalist nominee for president in 1816, lost in a landslide to James Monroe. The Federalist Party became defunct at the national level after 1816, and King was the last presidential nominee whom the party fielded. Nonetheless, King was able to remain in the Senate until 1825, which made him the last Federalist senator because of a split in the New York Democratic-Republican Party. King then accepted President John Quincy Adams's appointment to serve another term as ambassador to Great 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 had numerous notable descendants.

Early life

King was born on March 24, 1755, in Scarborough, which was then part of Massachusetts but is now in Maine. He was a son of Isabella (Bragdon) and Richard King, a prosperous farmer, merchant, lumberman, and sea captain John Adams once referred to that moment in discussing limitations of the "mob" for the Constitutional Convention and wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, in which he described the scene:

<blockquote>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....</blockquote>

Richard King was a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War, but all his sons became Patriots. Later, he attended Harvard College, where he graduated in 1777. He began to read law under Theophilus Parsons, but his studies were interrupted in 1778, when King volunteered for militia duty during the American Revolutionary War. Appointed a major, he served as an aide to General John Sullivan during the Battle of Rhode Island.

In 1787, King was sent to the Constitutional Convention, which was held in Philadelphia. Despite his youthful stature, King held a significant position at the convention since "he numbered among the most capable orators." Along with James Madison, "he became a leading figure in the nationalist causes." Furthermore, he attended every session. King's major involvements included serving on the Committee on Postponed Matters and the Committee of Style and Arrangement. The Constitution was signed on September 17 but needed to be ratified by the states. Even though King was an outspoken Federalist politically, President Thomas Jefferson, upon his elevation to the presidency, refused to recall him. In 1803, King voluntarily relinquished his position.

King had a long history of opposition to the expansion of slavery and the slave trade. That stand was a product of moral conviction, which coincided with the political realities of New England Federalists. While in Congress, he successfully added provisions to the 1787 Northwest Ordinance that barred the extension of slavery into the Northwest Territory. However, he also said he was willing "to suffer the continuance of slaves until they can be gradually emancipated in states already overrun with them." He referred to slavery as a "nefarious institution." In 1817, he supported Senate action to abolish the domestic slave trade, and in 1819, he spoke strongly for the anti-slavery amendment to the Missouri statehood bill. In 1819, his arguments were political, economic, and humanitarian. The extension of slavery would adversely affect the security of the principles of freedom and liberty. After the Missouri Compromise, he continued to support gradual emancipation in various ways. In 1821, he fought against attempts to include a discriminatory clause in New York's Constitution that aimed to restrict suffrage on racial grounds, arguing that such a restriction was unconstitutional. and was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814. Contrary to his previous position on the national bank of the United States, King found himself denying the reopening of a Second Bank of the United States in 1816. She was a great-niece of Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She married King in New York City on March 30, 1786. The home that King purchased in 1805 and expanded thereafter and some of his farm make up King Park in Queens. The home, called King Manor, is now a museum open to the public. The Rufus King School, also known as P.S. 26, in Fresh Meadows, New York, was named after King, as was the Rufus King Hall on the City University of New York Queens College campus and King Street in Madison, Wisconsin.

thumb|The gravesite of Rufus King

Descendants and relatives

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

  • 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., United States Navy
  • 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, and 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 U.S. 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 Union brigadier general during 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.
  • Rufus Gunn King III was the chief judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
  • Alice Duer Miller was an American writer and poet.
  • Halsey Minor is a technology entrepreneur who founded CNET in 1993.
  • Mary Alsop King Waddington was an American author.

See also

  • List of United States political appointments that crossed party lines

References

Works cited

Bibliography

  • Brush, Edward Hale. Rufus King and His Times. New York: Nicholas L. Brown, 1926.
  • King, Charles R. The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, 4 vol. 1893–1897.
  • Perkins, Bradford. The First Rapprochement: England and the United States, 1795–1805. University of California Press, 1967.
  • The King Family Papers at the New York Historical Society
  • The Rufus King Papers at the New York Historical Society
  • King Manor Museum
  • Historic House Trust of New York, King Manor Museum
  • A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825
  • The members of the 1st United States Congress (took seat on July 25, 1789)
  • The members of the 4th United States Congress (resigned on May 23, 1796)