William Drayton (December 30, 1776May 24, 1846) was an American politician, banker, and writer who grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the son of William Drayton Sr., who served as justice of the Province of East Florida (1765–1780). Drayton served as a United States Representative to Congress (1825–1833). Following the Nullification Crisis, as a unionist Drayton decided to move his family to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1833 and lived there the rest of his life.

Early life and education

The son of William Drayton Sr. and his wife, William was born in St. Augustine in

East Florida East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...

(then a colony of the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...

), where his father served from 1765 to 1780 as the chief justice for the Province of East Florida. In 1780 the judge lost his position due to accusations of sympathy with rebels in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

; he returned with his family to Charleston. He had bought property and plantations in Florida, including what became known as Drayton Island. The Drayton sons were sent to England to complete their educations. Afterward, with his older brother Jacob, William studied law in Charleston. Both became lawyers.

Marriage and family

About 1804 William Drayton married Anna Gadsden (d. 1814), a cousin once removed. They had four children: *Emma Gadsden (c. 1804 – 1840) * Thomas Fenwick (1809–1891), became a Confederate Army general *

Percival Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the Gr ...

(1812–1865), became a career US Naval officer *William Sidney (b. c. 1814–1860), became a US Naval officer and shipping businessman After Anna's death, in 1817 Drayton married Maria Heyward. Two of their five children survived to adulthood. Maria Heyward Drayton was also close to her young stepchildren.: *William Heyward, became a lawyer in Philadelphia. *Henry Edward, became a doctor in Philadelphia. The two younger Drayton brothers married the sisters Harriet and Sarah Coleman, respectively. Thomas Drayton, a

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

graduate, stayed in South Carolina when the family moved north and bought a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

at Hilton Head. He resigned from the US Army to join Confederate forces after secession. He and his brother Percival "commanded opposing forces" in the battle of

Port Royal, South Carolina Port Royal is a town on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 14,220 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort metropolitan area. Port Royal is home to Marine Cor ...

, when Union forces captured the forts."Drayton Family Papers"
including correspondence from 1783–1896,

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...

, accessed May 1, 2012 File:TFDrayton.jpg, Thomas Fenwick Drayton, General CSA File:Percival Drayton.jpg, Percival Drayton,Captain USN File:Port Royal.jpeg, Battle of Port Royal November 7, 1861

Career

William Drayton served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, where he was commissioned as a colonel (a rank he used all his life). In a November 12, 1816 letter to president-elect James Monroe,

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

recommended, unsuccessfully, that Drayton, a Federalist who had shown loyalty to the Madison administration and the union through his military service, be appointed Secretary of War to heal the breach between the Federalist Party, now largely moribund on the national level, and the Republicans. Colonel Drayton was elected in 1824 to represent

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

's first district in the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

, and served from 1825 to 1833 with repeated re-election. A unionist during the

nullification Nullification may refer to: * Nullification (U.S. Constitution), a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify any federal law deemed unconstitutional with respect to the United States Constitution * Nullification Crisis, the 1832 confront ...

controversy, in 1833 he moved his family to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. Two years later in 1835, he was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. While a unionist, Drayton continued to support slavery. In Philadelphia he wrote and published ''The South Vindicated from the Treason and Fanaticism of the Abolitionists'' (1836), a

pro-slavery Proslavery is a support for slavery. It is found in the Bible, in the thought of ancient philosophers, in British writings and in American writings especially before the American Civil War but also later through 20th century. Arguments in favor o ...

tract. He briefly became the president of the defunct

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836.. The Bank's formal name, ...

in 1841.

Drayton died on May 24, 1846 in Philadelphia and was interred at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

Legacy and honors

*His papers are held by the

in Philadelphia. *The author

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

dedicated his collection '' Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'' (1840) to him.Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. p. 129.

Bibliography

The South Vindicated from the Treason and Fanatacism of the Northern Abolitionists
H. Manly (Philadelphia), 1836

Notes

External links

biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website

Drayton Family Papers
including correspondence from 1783–1896,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drayton, William 1776 births 1846 deaths 19th-century American politicians American bankers American people of the War of 1812 Drayton family Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina Members of the American Philosophical Society People of British Florida American people of English descent Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina South Carolina Unionists Writers from Charleston, South Carolina