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Rufus King
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Rufus King |
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| US Military Dictionary: Rufus King |
King, Rufus (1814-76) Union army officer, born in New York City. King was a brigade then division commander whose reputation was scarred by his actions at Second Bull Run (1862). Rather than hold his position when attacked by the forces of Gen. Thomas ”Stonewall” Jackson while proceeding, as ordered, toward Centreville, Virginia, King retreated toward Manassas Junction. Although he had never received the orders to hold his position, he made a handy scapegoat after the Union defeat. A court of inquiry reprimanded him for disobedience of orders and dereliction of duty. King never held another combat post, and resigned his commission in 1863. King's participation in the Civil War interrupted his post as minister to the Papal States (1861-68).
King's brigade, which consisted of four Wisconsin regiments and one from Indiana, was the only unit of its size to serve in the eastern theater composed entirely of troops from west of the Appalachians. It was called the “Iron Brigade.”See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| Biography: Rufus King |
Rufus King (1755-1827), American statesman and an important member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, typified the constructive conservativism of the Federalist party at its best. He served as a U.S.senator and as minister to Great Britain.
Rufus King was born in Scarborough, Maine, the son of a prosperous loyalist merchant whose house was twice ransacked by revolutionary mobs. Nevertheless, during the dramatic events leading to the Revolution, Rufus sympathized with the patriots, although he did not join Gen. George Washington's army. King graduated from Harvard College in 1777 and immediately entered the office of one of New England's most learned and gifted law teachers. He served briefly in the militia but devoted most of his energy to his studies. Admitted to the bar in 1780, he quickly established a large and lucrative practice that he continued intermittently throughout his life.
Emerging Federalist
In 1783 King was elected to the Massachusetts General Court. A year later he was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he served for 3 years. He worked for enlarged powers for Congress and also sought to exclude slavery from the Northwest Territory. In 1786 he married Mary Alsop, the daughter of a wealthy New York merchant.
Disgusted with the impotence of the Continental Congress and alarmed by the violence of Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts, King advocated a stronger central government. He was appointed a Massachusetts delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where he spoke often and eloquently in defense of a strong Federal government, the sanctity of contracts, and a government purged as much as possible of the slave interest. He fought every effort to "gut" the new Federal Constitution but remained willing to consider changes accommodating what various states considered their vital interests. When the convention adjourned, King was one of the nation's prominent leaders and a chief spokesman for ratification of the Constitution.
King was elected a U.S. senator from New York, his adopted state, in July 1789. In the Senate for 7 years, he was solidly Federalist, supporting Alexander Hamilton's financial plans, Jay's Treaty (1794), and a strong army and navy. He coupled his political influence with expansion of his legal and commercial interests, becoming by the end of the century one of the wealthiest men in New York.
Minister to Great Britain
In 1796 King began 7 years of distinguished service in the critically important post of American minister to Great Britain. He played a key role in establishing what has been called the "First Rapprochement" between England and its former colonies. Though he defended American interests at every turn, his conciliatory manner gained him the confidence of a succession of English ministers and made him the main channel of communication between the two governments. His last important service was to support English threats to renew war against France should the latter take possession of New Orleans; this proved of considerable value in making President Thomas Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana possible.
After returning to the United States in June 1803, King moved his family to a country estate on Long Island, N.Y., and resumed his legal practice. With Hamilton and John Quincy Adams he opposed disunionist sentiment within the Federalist party. In 1804 and 1808 he ran as his party's vice-presidential candidate. Unsuccessful in both elections, he became a country gentleman, meanwhile serving as a trustee of Columbia College and supporting Trinity Episcopal Church.
Return to the Senate
King was reelected as U.S. senator from New York in 1813. Although critical of President James Madison and the War of 1812, in the crisis following the British capture of Washington, D.C. (August 1814), King loyally marshaled Federalist support to rescue the nation from bankruptcy and strengthen its defense against expected further assault by the powerful British forces. One of the few Federalists who had not been tainted by overzealous opposition to the war, King received his party's presidential nomination in 1816. However, he suffered a crushing defeat in the Electoral College.
Reelected to the Senate, King supported some of the nationalist programs of the "new" Jeffersonian Republicans; but most memorably, he spoke out against admission of Missouri as a slave state in 1819. Hoping to stir the North against slavery and thus create an issue that could revive the fortunes of the Federalist party, he orated, cajoled, and intrigued to place firm legal restraints on the proslavery elements. His disappointment at the passage of the Missouri Compromise (1820) was followed by his failure to prevent the adoption of various democratizing reforms at the New York Constitutional Convention.
Though in declining health, King accepted appointment from John Quincy Adams as minister to Britain. In 1825-1826 he resumed cordial relations with prominent Englishmen but achieved little success in his negotiations. Sick and disappointed, he returned to New York, where he died on April 29, 1827.
Further Reading
Long selections from King's papers and letters are in Charles R. King, ed., The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King (6 vols., 1894-1900). The standard biography is Robert Ernst, Rufus King, American Federalist (1968). Bradford Perkins, The First Rapprochement: England and the United States, 1795-1805 (1955), best describes King's diplomatic contributions.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Rufus King |
King, Rufus, 1755-1827, American political leader, b. Scarboro, Maine (then a district of Massachusetts). He served briefly in the American Revolution and practiced law in Massachusetts before serving (1783-85) as a member of the Massachusetts General Court. He was (1784-87) a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he helped draft the Ordinance of 1787 and was chiefly responsible for the exclusion of slavery from the Northwest Territory. At the Federal Constitutional Convention (1787), he was an effective supporter of a strong central government and helped to secure Massachusetts's ratification of the Constitution. Moving to New York City, King was elected to the state assembly and was chosen (1789) as one of New York's first two U.S. Senators. He strongly supported Alexander Hamilton's financial measures and later defended Jay's Treaty. As minister to Great Britain (1796-1803) he reconciled many differences between the two countries and proved himself an able diplomat. He was the unsuccessful Federalist party candidate for Vice President in 1804 and 1808 and for President in 1816. From 1813 to 1825 he again served as U.S. Senator. Although at first an opponent of the War of 1812, he later came to support the administration's war measures. King opposed the Missouri Compromise and advocated solving the slavery problem by emancipating and colonizing blacks outside the country on the proceeds of the sale of public lands. In 1824 he declined reelection but was again minister to Great Britain (1825-26). Charles King (1789-1867) was his son.
Bibliography
See C. King, ed., The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King (6 vol., 1894-1900, repr. 1971); biography by E. H. Brush (1926); study by R. Ernst (1968).
| Wikipedia: Rufus King |
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For other persons named Rufus King, see Rufus King (disambiguation).
| Rufus King | |
 Rufus King by Gilbert Stuart, 1819/1820 |
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| In office July 25, 1789 - May 23, 1796 March 4, 1813 - March 3, 1825 |
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| Preceded by | (none) John Smith |
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| Succeeded by | John Laurance Nathan Sanford |
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| Born | March 24, 1755 Scarborough, Massachusetts (now Maine), USA |
| Died | April 29, 1827 (aged 72) Jamaica, Queens, New York, USA |
| Political party | Federalist |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Alsop King |
| Children | James G. King John Alsop King Charles King (academic) Edward King Frederic Gore King |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
| Signature |  |
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. He also attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He represented New York in the United States Senate, served as Minister to Britain, and was the Federalist candidate for both Vice President (1804, 1808) and President of the United States (1816).
Contents |
Biography
Early life
He was born on March 24, 1755 at Scarborough which was then a part of Massachusetts but is now in the state of Maine. He was a son of Sabilla Blagden and Richard King, a prosperous farmer-merchant, 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. It was not surprising that Richard King became a loyalist, but he died just prior to the start of the war in 1775. All of his sons, however, became patriots in the American War of Independence.[1]
Career
King attended Dummer Academy (now The Governor's Academy) and Harvard College, graduating in 1777. He began to read law under Theophilus Parsons, but his studies were interrupted in 1778 when King volunteered for militia duty in the American Revolutionary War. Appointed a major, he served as an aide to General Sullivan[2] in the Battle of Rhode Island.[3] After the campaign, King returned to his apprenticeship under Parsons until he was admitted to the bar in 1780. He began a legal practice in Newburyport, Massachusetts. King was first elected to the Massachusetts state assembly in 1783, and returned there each year until 1785. Massachusetts sent him to the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787. He was the youngest at the conference.
Politics
In 1787, King was sent to the Federal constitutional convention at Philadelphia where he worked closely with Alexander Hamilton on the Committee of Style and Arrangement to prepare the final draft. He returned home and went to work to get the Constitution ratified and to position himself to be named to the U.S. Senate. He was only partially successful. Massachusetts ratified the Constitution, but his efforts to be elected to the Senate failed.
At Hamilton's urging, he moved to New York City, and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1789. When the United States Constitution took effect, the State Legislature disagreed on who should be chosen besides Philip Schuyler for U.S. Senator from New York. Alexander Hamilton endorsed Rufus King as a candidate, thwarting the plans of the prominent Livingston family, who had hoped to place one of their own, James Duane, on the seat. Governor George Clinton, looking to cause a rift between the Livingstons and the Schuyler family (Hamilton was Philip Schuyler's son-in-law), discreetly supported King, and as a result he was elected in 1789. He was re-elected in 1795 but resigned on May 23, 1796, having been appointed U.S. Minister to Great Britain.
Diplomat and national candidate
King played a major diplomatic role as Minister to the Court of St. James from 1796 to 1803, and again from 1825 to 1826. Although he was a leading Federalist, Thomas Jefferson kept him in office until King asked to be relieved. He successfully settled disputes that the Jay Treaty had opened for negotiation. His term was marked by friendship between the U.S. and Britain; it became hostile after 1805. While in Britain, he was in close personal contact with South American revolutionary Francisco de Miranda and facilitated Miranda's trip to the United States in search of support for his failed 1806 expedition to Venezuela.
He was the unsuccessful Federalist Party candidate for Vice President in 1804 and 1808. In 1813, he was elected again to the U.S. Senate, and served until March 3, 1819. In April 1816, he lost the election for Governor of New York to the incumbent Daniel D. Tompkins of the Democratic-Republican Party. Later that year, King was nominated by the Federalists in the United States presidential election, 1816, but lost again. King was the last presidential candidate to be nominated by the Federalists during their period as one of the participants in the two-party system of the United States.
In 1819, he ran for re-election as a Federalist, but the party was already disbanding and had only a small minority in the New York State Legislature. Due to the split of the Democratic-Republicans, no successor was elected to the U.S. Senate, and the seat remained vacant until January 1820 when King was elected again. Trying to attract the former Federalist voters to their side at the next gubernatorial election in April 1820, both factions of the Democratic-Republican Party supported King, who served another term in the U.S. Senate until March 4, 1825.
Anti-Slavery
King had a long history of opposition to the expansion of slavery and the slave trade. This stand was a product of moral conviction which coincided with the political realities of New England federalism. In 1785, King first opposed the extension of slavery into the Northwest Territories, although he was willing "to suffer the continuance of slaves until they can be gradually emancipated in states already overrun with them." He did not press the issue very hard at this time, however. At the Constitutional Convention he indicated his opposition to slavery was based upon the political and economic advantages it gave to the South, and he was willing to compromise for political reasons.
In 1817, he supported Senate action seeking abolition of the slave trade, and in 1819 spoke strongly for the antislavery amendment in 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. [Arbena 1965]
Family
Many of King's family were also involved in politics and he had a number of prominent descendants. His brother William King was the first governor of Maine and a prominent merchant, and his other brother, Cyrus King, was a U. S. Congressman.
His wife Mary Alsop was born in New York on October 17, 1769 and died in Jamaica, New York on June 5, 1819. She was the only daughter of John Alsop, a wealthy merchant, and a delegate for New York to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776. She was also a great neice of Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She married Mr. King in New York City on March 30, 1786, he being at that time a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress then sitting in that city.
Mrs. King was a lady of remarkable beauty, gentle and gracious manners, and well cultivated mind, and adorned the high station, both in England and at home, that her husband's official positions and their own social relations entitled them to occupy. The latter years of her life, except while in Washington, were passed in Jamaica, Long Island, New York.
King died on April 29, 1827 and his funeral was held at his farm in Jamaica, Queens. He is buried in the Grace Church Cemetery in Jamaica, Queens, New York. 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 and is 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 CUNY Queens College campus. Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is named after his grandson, Rufus King, who moved to Milwaukee to become the editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel. The school's teams are known as the Generals, because Rufus King the younger was a brigadier general in the Civil War. He was instrumental in forming Wisconsin's renowned Iron Brigade. He and the Iron Brigade participated in the Second Battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Gainesville. He was also Milwaukee's first superintendent of public schools, and a regent of The University of Wisconsin.
Descendants
Rufus King's descendants number in the thousands today. Some of his notable descendants include;
- Dr. C. Loring Brace IV, 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 and for founding The Children's Aid Society.
- David Crosby, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash and CPR (band).
- Floyd Crosby, was an award winning American cinematographer.
- Wolcott Gibbs, was an American editor, humorist, theater critic, playwright and author of short stories.
- 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 (general), 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.
- John Alsop King, was an American politician who served as governor (1857–1859) of New York.
- Rufus King (general), 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.
- Ellin Travers Mackay, 2nd wife of composer and lyricist, Irving Berlin.
- Mary Alsop King Waddington, was an American author.
- Jane Wyatt, was an American actress perhaps best known for her role as the housewife and mother on the television series Father Knows Best and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science fiction television show, Star Trek.
See also
Notes
- ^ Ernst, 1–15
- ^ from Colonial Hall. Can be retrieved from http://www.colonialhall.com/king/king.php
- ^ Steven E. Siry. "King, Rufus"; American National Biography Online, February 2000.
Primary sources
- King Charles R. The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, 4 vol 1893-97
- Ernst, Robert. Rufus King: American Federalist. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1968
- Arbena, Joseph L. "Politics or Principle? Rufus King and the Opposition to Slavery, 1785-1825." Essex Institute Historical Collections (1965) 101(1): 56-77. ISSN 0014-0953
- Perkins, Bradford ; The First Rapprochement: England and the United States, 1795-1805 1955.
External links
- Rufus King at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Rufus King at Find A Grave
- 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)
| United States Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by (none) |
United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1789 - 1796 Served alongside: Philip Schuyler and Aaron Burr |
Succeeded by John Laurance |
| Preceded by John Smith |
United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1813 - 1819 Served alongside: Obadiah German and Nathan Sanford |
Succeeded by vacant |
| Preceded by vacant |
United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1820 - 1825 Served alongside: Nathan Sanford and Martin Van Buren |
Succeeded by Nathan Sanford |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by Thomas Pinckney |
United States Minister to Great Britain 1796 - 1803 |
Succeeded by James Monroe |
| Preceded by Richard Rush |
United States Minister to Great Britain 1825 - 1826 |
Succeeded by Albert Gallatin |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney(1) |
Federalist Party vice presidential candidate 1804 (lost), 1808 (lost) |
Succeeded by Jared Ingersoll |
| Preceded by DeWitt Clinton |
Federalist Party presidential candidate 1816 (lost) |
Succeeded by (none) |
| Notes and references | ||
| 1. Technically, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was a presidential candidate in 1800. Prior to the passage of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804, each presidential elector would cast two ballots; the highest vote-getter would become President and the runner-up would become Vice President. Thus, in 1800, the Federalist party fielded two presidential candidates, Pinckney and John Adams, with the intention that Adams be elected President and Pinckney be elected Vice President. | ||
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