Rufus King

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Rufus King (March 24, 1755-April 29, 1827) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat.

He was a delegate for Massachusetts and the Philadelphia Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution in 1787.

He represented New York in the United States Senate after the founding of the new Congress.

He began as a leading member of the Federalist Party and campaigned as the party's last presidential candidate in the 1816 presidential election. King, the son of a wealthy Massachusetts merchant, studied law before serving in the militia during the American Revolutionary War.

He gained election to the Massachusetts General Court in 1783 and then to the Confederation's Congress the following year.

He proclaimed himself a leading nationalist at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, calling for increased authority for the federal government.

Following the convention, King David Adams returned to Massachusetts, where he used his celebrity to help win ratification of the new Constitution.

Alexander Hamilton's request, he renounced his law practice and moved to New York City. In 1789, he gained the nomination to represent New York in the United States Senate and remained in office until 1796.

He accepted President George Washington's appointment as Minister of the United Kingdom last year.

Despite King's opposition to Hamilton's Federalists, Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson retained his positions after Jefferson's reelection in the 1800 presidential election.

In the 1804 and 1808 elections, King ran as the Federalist vice presidential candidate, but on a losing ticket with South Carolina's Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

Despite the majority of federalists favouring Democratic-Republican DeWitt Clinton in the 1812 presidential race, the King, without the help of his party, gained just 39 percent of those Federalists who were reluctant to endorse Clinton's candidacy.

In 1813, he returned to the Senate and remained in office until 1825. In 1816, King was the informal de facto Federalist nominee for president, losing in a landslide to James Monroe.

After 1816, the Federalist Party became defunct nationally, and King was the party's last presidential candidate.

Nevertheless, King was able to serve in the Senate until 1825, making him the last Federalist senator in the New York Democratic-Republican Party.

Following this, the King accepted John Quincy Adams' appointment as Ambassador to the United Kingdom for another term, but ill health compelled the King to abandon public life, and he died in 1827.

King had five children who lived to adulthood, and he had many famous descendants.

Early life

King was born in Scarborough, Massachusetts, on March 24, 1755, but is now in Maine. He was the son of Isabella (Bragdon) and Richard King, a wealthy farmer-merchant, "lumberman, and sea captain" who had resided at Dunstan Landing in Scarborough, Maine, and had made a modest fortune by 1755, the year Rufus was born. His financial success sparked envy among his relatives, and, as the Stamp Act 1765 was introduced, and rioting became almost respectable, a crowd stormed his house and burned much of the furniture. No one was disciplined, and the mob burnt down his barn next year. As John Adams once referred to the time when the Constitutional Convention's "mob" was unveiled, he wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, in which he referred to the scene: "mob" for the Constitutional Convention.

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Education and early career

At the age of 12, King Dummer Academy (now The Governor's Academy) in South Byfield, Massachusetts, Massachusetts. He later attended Harvard College, where he graduated in 1777. He began to read under Theophilus Parsons, but his studies were interrupted in 1778, when King Benjamin volunteered for militia service during the American Revolutionary War. He was commissioned as an aide to General John Sullivan during the Battle of Rhode Island, and he served as an aide to him. During the war, the King returned to his apprenticeship under Parsons. In 1780, he was admitted to the bar and began a legal practice in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Political career

In 1783, King was first elected to the Massachusetts General Court and served there each year until 1785. From 1784 to 1787, Massachusetts sent him to the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787. He was one of the youngest men at the conference.

In 1787, King George was sent to the Constitutional Convention, which was held in Philadelphia. Despite his youth, the king maintained his position at the convention, "he ranked among the most versatile orators" among the most popular orators. "He became a leading figure in the nationalist movement," James Madison said. In addition, he attended every session. The King's primary positions included serving on the Committee on Postponed Questions and the Committee on Style and Arrangement.

Nevertheless, when he arrived at the convention, he was still unconvinced that significant revisions could be made in the Articles of Confederation's Constitution, but his views changed dramatically as a result of the debate. He served with Chairman William Samuel Johnson, James Madison, Gouverneur Morris, and Alexander Hamilton on the Committee of Style and Arrangement to produce a final version of the United States Constitution. The King was one of the most influential delegates, notably because he was "a key player in the creation of the fundamental governing character." The Constitution was signed on September 17 but states must be ratified by the states. After signing the Constitution, he returned home and went to work to get the Constitution ratified and unsuccessfully positioned himself to the Senate. The ratification process came within a narrow margin of 187–168. Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the constitution in early February 1788 with the ratification act.

The king was indirectly responsible for the adoption of this ratification because his "learned, informative, and persuasive speeches" persuaded a "famous, vain merchant, and politician-turned-politician" to abandon his anti-federalism and accept the new organic law.

Following his early political experiences at the Constitutional Convention, King decided to change his career by "abandoning] his law practice [in 1788] [and] moved from the Bay State to Gotham and into the New York political forum. King Hamilton travelled to New York City and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1789 at Hamilton's behest. He was elected as Senator from New York shortly after and re-elected in 1795. Edmund Randolph, the King, declined to postpone Edmund Randolph's appointment as Secretary of State. King helped Hamilton support the controversial Jay Treaty by writing articles for New York newspapers under the name "Camillus." King wrote eight numbers 23, 30, 34, and 35, which included articles on the treaty's maritime and commercial aspects. In 1795, he was re-elected in 1795, but he resigned on May 23, 1796, after being named U.S. Minister by George Washington to Great Britain. Despite the fact that King was an outspoken Federalist nationally, President Thomas Jefferson resisted recalling him after his ascension to the presidency. King Charles II relinquished his position in 1803 after voluntarily relinquished his office.

After a long time without much success, the king returned to elected politics, but he later returned to the Senate. King ran unsuccessfully for the Senate from New York in April 1804. King and another signer of the Constitution, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, were among the candidates for Vice President and President of the Democratic Nationalist Party in 1808, but they had no realistic hopes against Thomas Jefferson since they gained only 26.2 percent of the popular vote and lost by 56%. That was the longest recess in presidential history. Both candidates were nominated and defeated against James Madison in 1808, receiving 32 percent of the popular vote.

The unpopular War of 1812 against Great Britain in September 1812 helped the opposition Federalists regained their credibility in September, but King led an attempt at the Federalist Party caucus to nominate a ticket for the presidential election that year, but the Democratic-Republican DeWitt Clinton had the best chances to defeat his fellow party member Madison, which left no candidate in field. However, some attempted to get King the nominee to run under the Federalist banner on the ballot, and though little came of it, he came third in the popular poll, with around 2% of the total. After ten years of being elected to his "second term on Senate" in 1813, King Charles celebrated his first success after ten years.

In April 1816, he attempted to become governor of New York but fell short of Daniel D. Tompkins. He became the informal presidential nominee for the Federalist Party in the fall of that year, as it did not convene for a convention. He got only 29 percent of the popular vote and lost again, this time to James Monroe, whose running mate, coincidentively, was Tompkins. King was the last presidential candidate by the Federalists before their demise.

Even as the party was already disbanded and had only a small minority in the New York State Legislature, he ran for re-election to the Senate in 1819. However, no successor was elected to the Senate in 1819 because of the Democratic republicans' split, and the seat remained unoccupied until January 1820. Trying to mobilize the old Federalist voters to their side in the upcoming presidential election in April 1820, while both groups of the Democratic-Republican Party supported King, who served another term in the Senate until March 3, 1825. On the federal level, the Federalist Party had already begun to exist. During King's second term in the Senate, he continued his career as an anti-slavery protester, which he described as anathema to the Constitution's and Declaration of Independence principles. He spoke against accepting Missouri as a slave state in 1820 in what was deemed as his best address of his career.

King was appointed minister to Great Britain by President John Quincy Adams soon after his second term in the Senate ended, this time by US President John Quincy Adams. However, he was forced to return home a few months later due to his deteriorating health. He then resigned from public life.

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