Gadsden, Christopher, 1724-1805

<p>Christopher Gadsden (February 16, 1724 – August 28, 1805) was an American politician who was the principal leader of the South Carolina Patriot movement during the American Revolution. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, a merchant, and the designer of the Gadsden flag. He is a signatory to the Continental Association and a Founding Father of the United States.</p>

<p>Gadsden was born in 1724 in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the son of Thomas Gadsden, who had been in the Royal Navy before becoming customs collector for the Port of Charleston. He was sent to school near Bristol, England. He returned to America in 1740 and served as an apprentice at a counting house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He inherited a large fortune from his parents who died in 1741. From 1745 to 1746 he was a purser on a British warship during King George's War. He entered into mercantile ventures and by 1747 had earned enough to return to South Carolina and buy back the land his father had sold because he needed the money to pay off debts. He built Beneventum Plantation House in about 1750. There, although he showed ambivalence towards slavery, he kept slaves and traded them for use on his property as was common practice among plantation owners in South Carolina.</p>

<p>Gadsden began his rise to prominence as a merchant and patriot in Charleston. He prospered as a merchant and built the wharf in Charleston that bears his name. Between its completion in 1767 until 1787 and 1803 to 1808, it is estimated that 40% (about 100,000 enslaved people) were brought to America through his wharf. He was captain of a militia company during a 1759 expedition against the Cherokee. He was first elected to the Commons House of Assembly in 1757 and began a long friction with autocratic royal governors.</p>

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>01/24/1780 SC Lt. Governor - Special Election Won 0.00% (+0.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1775 SC Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1774 SC Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>09/01/1774 SC Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>10/06/1765 Delegate to the Stamp Act Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

GADSDEN, Christopher, a Delegate from South Carolina; born in Charleston, S.C., February 16, 1723; attended schools in England; employed in a commercial house in Philadelphia, Pa., 1742-1745; delegate to the Stamp Act Congress that met in New York in 1765; Member of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pa., 1774-1776; served as an officer in the Continental Army 1776-1783, and participated in the defense of Charleston in 1780; entered the service as colonel and subsequently attained the rank of brigadier general; was a framer of the State constitution in 1778; Lieutenant Governor 1778-1780; elected Governor of South Carolina in 1781, but declined; died in Charleston, S.C., September 15, 1805; interment in St. Philip's Churchyard.