Button Gwinnett
In Georgia's turbulent politics of 1776-1777, Button Gwinnett signed the Declaration of Independence and briefly steered the new state through constitution-making and war.
Born April 10, 1735 / Died May 19, 1777
On April 10, 1735, in Down Hatherley, Gloucestershire, England, Button Gwinnett was born before making his way into Atlantic commerce. He settled in Georgia as a merchant and planter, entered the colonial assembly, and quickly embraced the Patriot cause as imperial rule collapsed. Local political rivalry in Savannah and St. John's Parish shaped the abrupt rise of his career.
Gwinnett entered the Continental Congress in 1776 and signed the Declaration of Independence as one of Georgia's representatives. Back in state politics, he helped drive the Georgia constitution of 1777 and then became president of the state, giving him executive responsibility in wartime. A bitter feud with General Lachlan McIntosh ended in a duel in May 1777, and the wound killed him within days.
Gwinnett's brief career linked the Declaration to the unstable process of state-building in Revolutionary Georgia. The 1777 Georgia constitution and the continuing fascination with his rare signature kept his name alive long after his short public life ended.
Key Contributions
- Additionally, U.S. founding documents such as the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution did not expressly forbid the institution of slavery.
- Button Gwinnett was born on April 10, 1735.
- Button Gwinnett was a British-born American Founding Father who, as a representative of Georgia to the Continental Congress, was one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Related Events
Declaration of Independence adopted
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and ordered the document printed as the public case for separation.
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