Rufus King fought for America during the Revolutionary War, served as a delegate at the Constitutional Convention, and was nominated twice for the office of Vice president. In the Monroe landslide of 1816 he received 34 electoral votes. 

He was born in the Massachusetts territory of Scarborough Maine on March 2nd 1755. Young Rufus was attending boarding schools until his stepmother encouraged him to enroll at the Dummar Academy in Byfield Massachusetts when he was 12. His hard work and study paid off and he graduated first in his class from Harvard University in 1777. He then went to Newburyport where he had the privilege of studying law under Theophilis Parson, who would later serve as Massachusetts Chief Justice, one the great legal philosophers of his time

After his father’s untimely death the family business faltered and King had to take responsibility for the care of his stepmother and the younger children still living at home. Fortunately he was able to bring some stability to the family by investing in the lumber trade. 

He had hoped to start his legal career and was postponing any military service, however local supporters of the rebel cause, remembering King’s father, began to question Rufus King’s loyalty. Back in 1766 the elder King had been a strong supporter and defender of the Stamp Act and in retaliation The Sons of Liberty invaded and ransacked the family home. In 1774 King’s father was still remaining loyal to the British Crown, and this time soldiers from the local militia entered the house and demanded that he disavow any loyalty to Britain. That was too much stress and strain for an old man. Would Rufus King support the Revolution even though the actions of the militiamen may have caused the early death of his father? 

By 1778 the American victory at Sarasota ended any threat of an invasion from Canada, and the French Navy had joined the fight. King joined the Continental Army and was commissioned a Major in the Infantry. His unit built siege lines at Newport Rhode Island, but their defenses were too weak to hold back the British attack. He almost lost his life during the retreat. It was the last battle he would fight in during the War.

King returned to Massachusetts and passed the state bar in 1780. He opened a law practice in Newburyport. His association and support of local Federalist earned him an appointed to the Massachusetts General Court and he served from 1783 to 1785. During the Articles of Confederation he served in the Continental Congress from 1784 to 1787. In 1786 he married Mary Alsop, the daughter of a financially successful New York Merchant. 

The large section of western land, originally ceded to the states by the British at the end of the Revolution, known as the Northwest Territory, was to be opened for new settlements and eventually divided up into new states. As a Continental Congressman King led the fight to ban slavery in the new territory. The final agreement on the Northwest Ordinance resulted in Article 6: “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid.” Later in his career King would favor freeing the Negro slaves and moving them to colonies outside of the United States, but at that time he had to settle for keeping slavery restricted to the South. The agreement on lawfully claimed labor or services certainly set a precedent for future fugitive slave laws. 

When the Congress agreed to hold a convention at Philadelphia to discuss ratifying the Articles of Confederation Massachusetts send Rufus King to be one of its representatives. He was only 32 years old making him one of the youngest delegates in attendance. He never missed a session and served on The Committee of Postponements, and The Committee of Style. Originally he was opposed to any major changes in the Articles of Confederation, but during his debates with James Madison he began to see the advantages offered by a strong national constitution. After the Convention he returned to Massachusetts where he served at the state convention that ratified the Constitution. 

In 1788 he quit his Massachusetts law practice and moved to New York. He was elected to the state legislature, and they elected him to the US Senate in 1789. As a senator he was a strong advocate of the fiscal policies of Alexander Hamilton making him a favorite among the Federalist in Congress. In 1791 he became one of the directors of the new Bank of the United States. 

In 1794 John Jay negotiated a treaty with Great Britain to deal with violations of The Treaty of Paris, and the rights of ships and their crews on the high seas. When the treaty was presented in the United States Jay was burned in effigy, and a crowd threw stones at Alexander Hamilton when he read it to them. It contained no guarantee that American sailors could not be “impressed” by the British navy, and there was no definite recognition of international maritime law. Some plantation owners were angry because they were to receive no compensation for their property (slaves) that had been taken by evacuating British soldiers at the end of the Revolutionary War. King supported the treaty believing that peace between the United States and Great Britain was in the best interest of both nations. It earned him the respect of Hamilton and the Federalist but no doubt alienated him from all those who mistrusted the British. He was appointed minister to Great Britain in 1796 and served until 1803. 

A biography from National Archives and Records Administration described King as being anti-slavery, but apparently not enough to keep from being nominated in 1804 as the Federalist candidate for Vice President when Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was nominated for President. It was Pinckney who argued that Negro slaves were a necessity and persuaded the Constitutional Convention to count 3/5ths of the slaves as part of a state’s population. The Federalist hoped their candidates would provide a good regional balance. Their opponent, President Thomas Jefferson, had barely won in the previous election, his “Embargo” was unpopular with many New England Merchants, and the Vice President Aaron Burr had killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. The Federalist also ran against the “Louisiana Purchase”. Jefferson won and New York’s George Clinton was to be the next Vice President. Four years later the ballots had the same candidates, except for Jefferson who was replaced by Secretary of State James Madison. 

During the war of 1812 the Federalist had held a convention in Hartford Connecticut to discuss their opposition to “Mr. Madison’s war. The attacks on Canada had failed and the Merchants of New England were suffering devastating losses. When the war ended John Quincy Adams said, “We have won nothing but peace”. “The treaty of Ghent ended the fighting but it did not resolve the problems that started the war in the first place“. That made no difference to the citizens celebrating General Andrew Jackson’s victory at New Orleans. The Federalist lost much of their popular support due to their opposition to the War. 

King was elected to the US Senate in 1813 and emerged as the leading possible candidate for the Federalist Party. 

At one time it appeared that Secretary of War William Crawford would win the nomination in 1816 to replace President Madison. King, believing that the popular and well known Crawford would be the nominee responded with, “The opposition which favors Mr. Crawford will submit”. Of course it wasn’t Crawford but Secretary of State Monroe who would be the nominee. Paul F. Boller in his book Presidential Campaigns quoted James Monroe saying of Rufus King, “He had the zealous support of nobody, and he was exempt from the hostility of everybody.” Monroe ran on his record, and the legacy of Jefferson and Madison, and had the support and endorsement of both former Presidents Adams and Jefferson. King failed to launch any kind of campaign. According to American Presidential Elections there was no evidence to indicate that Senator Rufus King even considered himself to be a candidate. There had been no formal convention or Congressional caucus to nominate Rufus King and no major newspapers announced or endorsed his candidacy. A letter King had written, after the electors had gathered, gave no indication that he considered himself to be candidate. Also, no single name stood out during the “campaign” as a candidate to oppose Monroe’s running mate, Daniel Thompkins, for Vice President. But not all of the electors wanted to vote for Monroe and King stood out as their only alternative. When the votes were tallied the electoral votes from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware all went Rufus King. 

Three years later King was again elected to the US Senate. In 1820 he was an outspoken opponent of the Missouri compromise and advocated an end to slavery. In 1825 President John Quincy Adams asked King to once again serve as the United States minister to Great Britain. He served for a short time but had to return home due to his failing health. 

Rufus King died in New York City on April 29th 1827 he is probably best remembered for his role in the keeping slavery out of the Northwest territories, but trivia buffs will remember him as the last of the Federalist. 

Rufus King was certainly an active participant in our nations formative years but should we ask, did Rufus King truly support the American Revolution or did the course of events force him to abandon any loyalty for Britain he must have learned from his father? There would be many more candidates for President of the United States, but don’t you think there should be a special place in history for the man who won three states without even acknowledging that he was a candidate? 

References

A Biography of Rufus King 1755-1827

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/rking/rking.htm

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.

http://www.bartleby.com/65/ki/King-Ruf.html

Presidential Elections. 1816, History Central

http://www.multied.com/elections/1816.html

Rufus Kings Writings and Biography

http://www.lexrex.com/bios/rking.htm

The Northwest Ordinance (1787)

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/5.htm

Rufus King Massachusetts

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/5.htm

Boller, Paul F. Presidential Campaigns. Oxford University Press, New York Oxford. 1996

Dinkin, Robert J. Campaigning In America, A History Of Election Practices. Greenwood 

Press. New York. 1989

Election of 1816. http://www.multied.com/elections/index.html

Cunliffe, Marcus, the editors of AMERICAN HERITAGE The magazine of History. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY. American Heritage Publishing Co. inc. Simon and Shuster 1968

Mc Cullough, David. John Adams. Simon and Shuyster New York. 2001

Encyclopedia of American History. Edited by Richard Morris. Harper & Row 1976

American Presidential Elections 1789-1968 Edited by Arthur Schlesinger. McGraw Hill 1971

Quotations:

" Mr. President, I approach a very delicate subject. I regret the occasion that renders it necessary for me to speak of it, because it may give offence where none is intended. But my purpose is fixed. Mr. President, I have yet to learn that one man can make a slave of another. If one man cannot do so, no number of individuals can have any better right to do it. And I hold that all laws or compacts imposing any such condition upon any human being are absolutely void, because contrary to the law of nature, which is the law of God, by which he makes his ways known to man, and is paramount to all human control." 
1819 Senate Floor