Rutledge, Edward, signer of the Declaration of Independence from South Carolina

Autograph letter signed ("Ed: Rutledge"), 3 pages (9 x 7 1/2 in.; 228 x 190 mm), to Arthur Lee with a 1 page unsigned autograph draft of Lee's reply, New York, 7 June 1787; second leaf inlaid, small light stain on first page affecting a word on each side. Half-morocco clamshell box.

Published in Richard Henry Lee, Life of Arthur Lee, L.L.D. (1829), vol. 2, pp. 315-317

second leaf inlaid, small light stain on first page affecting a word on each side.
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Rutledge and Lee on the Constitutional Convention.

Edward Rutledge (1749-1800), along with his older brother John, devoted his life to the public service of the colony and state of South Carolina. At the time of writing, he was in the state legislature, sending news to his friend Arthur Lee (1740-1792) of that distinguished Virginia family, serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress in New York.

The Philadelphia Convention to revise, or as it happened, abolish the Articles of Confederation was then in the planning stages. The letter begins, after mentioning a bit of unspecific business with the Charleston firm of Morris & Brailsford, by offering news of the growing enthusiasm for the Convention: "We have agreed to send deputies to the Continental Convention, my brother who is truly federal, is among the number of gentlemen who, I hope, and am convinced, will not yield to him in zeal for Continental measures. We have passed a law to stop the importation of negroes & have done sundry other good things."

He offers remonstrances to the "eastern states" (New York, Rhode Island and others) who threaten not to send delegates, fearing that a centralized government will restrict their trade: "It is said that the eastern states will not send delegates to the Convention. If this has been their determination they must change it. What, altho' they have experienced domestic convulsions from their state conventions? Cannot they foresee that a restoration of their trade will afford an outlet for their restless spirits & remove, with the poverty of their situation, an inclination to disturb the government. They of all others, are more immediately interested in vesting powers in the united Council. Animate them, my good Sir, to a sense of their duty & of their interest."

Lee, though more concerned with their joint business, is not amenable to Rutledge's view, which he sees only according to the British model: "The representation of the U.S. in Convention is much more complete than was expected. Hitherto, nothing has transpired touching their deliberations. We are not, most assuredly, ripe for such a Constitution (I mean a King, Lords & Commons) as would at once support the national honor, dignity and interest. Till people are properly impressed with this, & there is a body of sufficient property & dignity to form the second Estate, such a system cannot be adopted, without a convulsion too hazardous for those, who love their country, to incur. We must therefore I suppose, go on with a patched Confederation, 'till time shall have mastered us for something more consonant to the imperial greatness of this part of the Globe. I am very desirous of engaging ...[the text stops here]."