Drayton, William, 1776-1846

Member of the Continental Congress. Not a "Signer"

American politician.

U.S. Representative from South Carolina; born in St. Augustine, Fla.; attended preparatory schools in England; returned to the United States in 1790 and settled in Charleston, S.C.; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1797; member of the S.C. House of Representatives 1806-1808; during War of 1812, entered U.S. Army as lieutenant colonel of Tenth Infantry; four months later, promoted to colonel of the Eighteenth Infantry (July 1812); inspector general August 1, 1814, and served throughout the War of 1812; resumed the practice of law in Charleston; recorder of Charleston 1819-1824; elected to the Nineteenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Joel R. Poinsett; reelected as a Jacksonian to the Twentieth, Twenty-first, and Twenty-second Congresses and served from May 17, 1825, to March 3, 1833; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Twentieth through Twenty-second Congresses); declined the appointment of Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Jackson and also as Minister to England; opposed nullification in 1830; moved to Philadelphia, Pa., in August 1833; president of the Bank of the United States in 1840 and 1841.