Middleton, Henry, 1717-1784

Henry Middleton (1717 – June 13, 1784) was a planter, public official, and a Founding Father of the United States from South Carolina. A member of the colonial legislature, during the American Revolution he attended the Continental Congress and served as that body's presiding officer for a few days in 1774. He signed the Continental Association but left Congress before it declared independence. Back in South Carolina, he served as president of the provincial congress and senator in the newly created state government. After his capture by the British in 1780, he accepted defeat and returned to the status of a British subject until the end of the war.

Born on "The Oaks", his family's plantation near Charleston in the Province of South Carolina, Middleton was educated at home and in England before returning to South Carolina tro inherit his father's plantation. Middleton served in a variety of public offices in South Carolina. He was a justice of the peace and a member of the Commons House of Assembly, where he was elected speaker in 1747, 1754, and 1755. He was a member of provincial council but resigned in 1770 in opposition to British policy. In 1774, at the outset of the American Revolution, Middleton was selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He served as that body's president during the last few days of the First Continental Congress, following the departure of Peyton Randolph.

Middleton opposed declaring independence from Great Britain and resigned from the Second Continental Congress in February 1776 when more radical delegates began pushing for independence. He was succeeded in Congress by his son Arthur who was more radical than his father and became a signer of the Declaration of Independence. After Middleton's return to South Carolina, he was elected president of the provincial congress and, beginning on November 16, 1775, served on the council of safety. In 1776, he and his son Arthur helped frame a temporary state constitution. In 1779, he became a state senator in the new government. When Charleston was captured by the British at the Siege of Charleston in 1780, Middleton accepted defeat and status as a British subject. This reversal apparently did not damage his reputation in the long run, because of his previous support of the Revolution, and he did not suffer the fate of having his estates confiscated, as many Loyalists did after the war.

Middleton died in Charleston and was buried at Goosecreek Churchyard, St. James Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina.