Lawyers Making the Law
BUSINESS BUSINESS
story by Mark W. Buyck, III
The Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville made this observation from his 1831 travels in the United States: "The government of democracy is favorable to the political power of lawyers; for when the wealthy, the noble, and the Prince are excluded from the government, the lawyers take possession of it, in their own right, as it were, since they are the only men of information and sagacity, beyond the sphere of the people, who can be the object of the popular choice. … Lawyers belong to the people by birth and interests, and to the aristocracy by habit and taste; they may be looked upon as a connecting link between the two great classes of society.” Much has changed over the last 190 years. While lawyers as a profession may not be held in as high esteem as they were in previous times, there is no denying that citizens with legal training have shaped the country’s founding and have been active participants in governmental affairs. 56 founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, declaring the American colonies free from England’s monarchy and its Parliament’s taxes. Twenty-five of these patriots were lawyers including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The four signers from South Carolina were all trained in the law. Thomas Heyward, Thomas Lynch, Jr and Edward Rutledge were all practicing lawyers and Arthur Middleton had studied law in England at the Inns of Court. When the Constitutional Convention was called in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation, 70 delegates were appointed by the various states. Only 55 made it to the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia to undertake the process of drafting the United States’ Constitution. 32 of the 55 framers of the Constitution were lawyers. Prominent among these were Alexander Hamilton and William Livingston. James Madison had also been a student of the law but never considered himself a lawyer. Three of the four South Carolina delegates were lawyers, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, and John Rutledge. Charles Pinckney was particularly active during the writing and debate of the Convention. He also played a key role in South Carolina becoming the eighth state to ratify the resulting Constitution. Charles Pinckney served as Governor of South Carolina on three separate occasions. He was Thomas Jefferson’s ambassador to Spain and also served in the United State’s Senate and the United State’s House of Representatives.
