13 Facts About Rawlins Lowndes

Rawlins Lowndes was an American lawyer, planter and politician who became involved in the patriot cause after his election to South Carolina's legislature, although he opposed independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Two of his sons, Thomas and William Rawlins Lowndes, would serve in the US Congress.

Rawlins Lowndes's father resigned from the St Kitts legislature in 1731 and moved his young family and slaves to Charleston, South Carolina.

The elder, Charles Rawlins Lowndes, was then 17, and after finishing his education under Hall's direction, became a planter in Colleton County, South Carolina.

Rawlins Lowndes would marry and serve briefly as its provost marshal before his death in 1763.

Rawlins Lowndes served in this role for ten years, from 1742 to 1752.

However, Rawlins Lowndes resigned his legislative position upon receiving a royal appointment as associate justice for the colony in 1766.

Nonetheless, when Judge Gordeon was shortly thereafter reassigned to Jamaica, Rawlins Lowndes received an appointment as South Carolina's Chief Justice.

Rawlins Lowndes became a member of the First and Second Provincial Congresses, the First and Second General Assemblies, and South Carolina's First and Second Committee of Safety.

In 1776, Rawlins Lowndes was one of eleven committee members charged with the responsibility of writing a draft constitution for South Carolina.

Rawlins Lowndes cooperated with General Benjamin Lincoln and ordered a general embargo of the former colony's ports, forbidding any vessels from leaving.

Rawlins Lowndes spoke four times in the 3-day debate, particularly opposing the clauses giving Congress power to regulate commerce, restricting the trans-Atlantic slave trade after 1808; and to the centralization of power which would accrue to the federal government.

Rawlins Lowndes died in Charleston, South Carolina, on August 24,1800.