MUSC Office of the President

Thank you for that kind welcome. It is a pleasure for me to be with you this evening. Since my wife, Leah, serves on the Board of the Trust, I recognize that my appearance here smacks of rank nepotism. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I have been given to understand that it is not necessary to have conjugal relations with a Board member to be invited to speak here. I would like to elaborate further on the subject of conjugal relations, but I have been told that the I'On Trust Board (or at least one member of the Board) has strict policies against such discussions. You will, therefore, have to be guided by your own imaginations.

In the absence of conjugal relations, well, in all likelihood for tonight at least, let me turn now to my chosen topic. The title of my talk is: Can a Lawyer be a Savior? First of all, in the spirit of full disclosure and in order to limit the risk of subsequent litigation, do we have any lawyers in the house tonight? And I thought that I'On was supposed to be such an idyllic place to live!

It would be tempting at this point for me to insert a few token lawyer jokes, but it is far too early in this talk for me to show desperation and resort to lawyer humor. That part, in all probability, will come later. For the moment, let us focus on a far more sober topic - our beloved state of South Carolina. Admittedly, that may be the first time that you have heard the words sober and South Carolina used in the same sentence. In that spirit, maybe you have heard my favorite description of the Palmetto State. It has been said that: "South Carolina is too small for a republic, and too large to be an insane asylum."

I must confess to having used that line shamelessly and repeatedly in my talks for years now, and it never fails to get a response. My guess is that some of you have heard it before, but few of you know to whom it is attributed. The man responsible for that quote was James Louis Petigru, and until a few months ago, I knew virtually nothing about him. Prompted mostly by curiosity about that quote, I began reading about Petigru and I haven't stopped since. My fascination with this man has brought me, among other places, to his gravesite and to a number of rare document collections around the state. What I have just characterized as fascination, might actually border on obsession. Either way, I am here to plead the Petigru-induced insanity defense.

For most of us, Petigru, a contemporary of Jacob Bond I'On, is at best a footnote to the history of our state. Admittedly, the pantheon of great South Carolinians is so large that there must be many notable men and women who have slipped, like Petigru, from our collective memories. The more that I have learned about him, however, the more I am convinced that he stands out and warrants a special place in the annals of our state, if not our nation. If the following remarks do any justice at all to his life, surely you will leave with the same sentiments.

James Louis Petigru was born May 10, 1789, just a few weeks after George Washington took office as President. Without doubt, his world view was shaped by the fact that his first breaths were taken almost simultaneously with those of the new nation. His father, William, a revolutionary war veteran, was the 13th child born to an Irish immigrant. William owned a small farm in the Abbeville area, but a combination of fondness for the bottle and horse racing led to his financial ruin at the dawn of the nineteenth century.

It is hard to imagine coming from more modest circumstances than did young James Petigru - the son of a drunk, broke gambler. As if that somehow wasn't enough of a cosmic curse, the young boy reportedly was clumsy and stuttered. How then, could he go on to become a man who would be remembered almost 30 years after his death as: "the greatest private citizen that the South has ever produced?" (Pope, 1891)

The change in Petigru's fortune occurred when he came to the attention of the Reverend Moses Waddel, the founder and master of the Willington Academy. Here I must digress for a moment, because Waddel and the Willington Academy, also long forgotten by most Carolinians, warrant more than a passing reference.

If a teacher can be judged by the quality of the accomplishments of his former students, then Moses Waddel surely is without peer. His alumni included 32 members of the U. S. Congress, three Secretaries of State, three Secretaries of War, one Attorney General, and one Vice President. Among his graduates also were 11 governors and eight college presidents (MacLeod, 1985).

Waddel founded the Willington Academy near Abbeville around the turn of the nineteenth century. If you think that Abbeville is small town South Carolina today, imagine it 200 years ago. To say that it was the frontier of the state would be an understatement. It is amazing that a great center of education could emerge in log cabins in primitive, backwoods surroundings. Waddel ran the Academy for almost two decades before he left to assume the presidency of Franklin College, the forerunner of the University of Georgia. During Waddel's tenure at Willington about 4,000 boys were educated there. Waddel described the student body in the following manner: "Our typical boy is from moderate circumstances, a farming background usually. What they all have in common is an overwhelming desire to possess the power of knowledge and the ambition to be leaders of this new republic of ours" (MacLeod, 1985).

It is clear from the profile mentioned earlier that many of his alumni did go on to become leaders of the republic. Whether their success was driven by their own or Waddel's ambition is, no pun intended, an academic question. Whatever the explanation, so many alumni went on to illustrious careers that Willington would become known as 'the American Eton.'

It was Waddel who saw the potential in the young Petigru hidden under the rough farm boy exterior. At the age of 15, on October 14, 1804, Petigru arrived at Willington. Near the end of his life, he would write to his daughter on the anniversary of that date: "This day my dear Carey, marks an important epoch in my life . . . 58 years ago I was well received into the school at Willington . . . where a Latin grammar, as a substitute for the plough, was placed in my hands."

What Petigru and the other boys studied at Willington was a curriculum typical of the day - very heavy in the classics, with ample side helpings of religious instruction. Petigru excelled and when he graduated in 1806, Waddel extended to him the rare offer to remain there as an assistant teacher. Petigru declined the offer, but it is clear that he left Willington with a tremendous debt of gratitude. A decade later, when he married, he chose Reverend Waddel to officiate at the ceremony. Near the end of his life, in an address at the University of Georgia, Petigru said: "It is not without emotion that I reflect that my venerable master long presided over this institution; and my mind delights to recall him as he was in days long past . . . Devoted to learning, but still more devoted to virtue - he trained his pupils to place the pride of intellect far below the value of moral responsibility" (McLeod, 1985).

From Willington, Petigru continued his education at the South Carolina College, the forerunner of USC. While at college, he supported himself by teaching school, barely making enough money to afford a single meal each day. Despite his humble circumstances, he excelled academically and graduated first in the class of 1809. He briefly pursued a career in teaching, but soon gravitated to the study of law. He was admitted to the Bar in 1812, but as with many young lawyers, his first few years of practice were lean.

Petigru's professional prospects took a decided turn for the better when he accepted an offer from James Hamilton to join as a partner in his Charleston law firm in 1819. As it turns out, Hamilton was more interested in politics than practicing law. He rose from the office of Mayor of Charleston, to the U. S. House of Representatives, and then to South Carolina Governor. In the Congress, he was known principally as an advocate for state's rights. As Governor, he became one of the leading supporters of the nullification act. As you may recall, nullification, was first espoused by John C. Calhoun and was based upon the belief that a state should be able to reject any federal legislation that it found objectionable.

At the same time that sent Hamilton to the U. S. Congress, Robert Hayne, then South Carolina's Attorney General and another prominent state's rights advocate, was elected to the United States Senate. On the strength of Hamilton's recommendation, the legislature appointed Petigru to succeed Hayne as South Carolina Attorney General in 1822, an office that he held for eight years until his opposition to nullification cost him political support.

Let me pause here to mention that Jacob Bond I'On was the President of the South Carolina Senate, when Petigru was appointed Attorney General. Although I have not discovered any evidence that these two men were friends, it is inconceivable to me that they did not know each other well. Through political debates, or plantation business, or social circles, there were many opportunities for them to interact. The fact that Petigru owned a summer home on Sullivan's Island where I'On was the mayor only increases the likelihood that they spent time in each other's company. Perhaps someone in the audience tonight can shed more light on that subject.

Let me return now to a topic about which there is ample evidence. Petigru was a Unionist who believed that the states did not have the right to choose which federal laws that they would obey. In Petigru's own words: "The wit of man could have devised no happier invention for the security of freedom, than the partition of sovereignty between the States as members of the Confederacy, and the Union as the superintending and controlling authority" (Petigru, 1834). In that same address in 1834, he makes the following prescient statement: "War between the States must inevitably follow their separation." Sadly, his prediction went unheeded almost three decades later, when secession led to Civil War.

It seems an interesting irony that Petigru, whose successful legal career owes much to his partnership with Hamilton, should have ended up on the exact opposite end of the political spectrum. Perhaps an even greater irony is the fact that Petigru is buried head-to-toe with Robert Hayne in the cemetery of St. Michael's church. They are positioned together there for all eternity, making one wonder whether the expression 'rest in peace' could ever really apply. I doubt that this issue is addressed in any of the ghost tours of Charleston, but one certainly can imagine some uneasy spirits in that graveyard.

It is worth noting that while politics separated these men ideologically, personal friendships reached across these political divides. Hamilton and Petigru, for instance, not only started as law partners, but became close business associates even after the fierce political fights of the nullification debates. They speculated together in cotton and land, bringing both to near financial ruin in the Panic of 1837. Their friendship survived the peaks and valleys of political and financial stresses. In fact, it was their friendship that allowed them to negotiate a compromise to the nullification dispute.

Hamilton was not the only contemporary who sustained Petigru's friendship in spite of political differences. Robert Barnwell Rhett, the secessionist to whom Petigru addressed the insane asylum remark, had studied as a youth under Petigru. Years later in a memorial address, Rhett offered the following tribute to his former mentor: "There are many tests of friendship; but the world recognizes one as paramount to all others -- money . . . (Petigru) gave me this test of friendship. In the commercial convulsions of 1837, I thought I was ruined by the misfortunes of others. I went to him and told him my troubles. He expressed to me his warm sympathy, and then said, 'I have no money; you know I cannot keep money: but my credit is yours, in any manner you choose to use it, to the last dollar of the property I possess'" (Rhett, 1866). Here, at the depths of his own financial collapse, Petigru was eager to do what he could to help a friend.

Loyalty was just one of the many virtues that Petigru demonstrated. Early in his law practice, he established a reputation for defending those who might otherwise go unrepresented. His clients included poor whites, as well as free and enslaved blacks. Even later when he was one of the leading members of the Charleston Bar, he accepted cases more on the basis of legal merit than on financial reward. A fellow member of the Bar, George Bryan, would describe Petigru's motivations in the following manner: "Justice . . . ruled all his noble life . . . this is what lifted him above the distinctions of class, wealth, of power, and made him so strong against the oppressor" (Bryan, 1866).

These same attributes of loyalty and love of justice drove Petigru to embrace political positions that ran contrary to many around him. When he opposed secession, he stood virtually alone among Carolinians in the belief that his allegiance was first to his country and second to his state. Even within his own family, only his daughter Caroline shared his Unionist views. Caroline felt isolated in Charleston and left during the war to reside in the North and then in Europe. In contrast, her father remained in Charleston even when it was under siege by Union forces. Whatever his motivations for staying, it was interpreted as a sign of commitment by his fellow Carolinians, as would be written after his death: "He felt that his State was his mother . . . If it were not so, why at his advanced age, did he undergo hardships and privation among us, instead of imitating those craven spirits who took flight at the first note of danger?"

The State's faith in Petigru was demonstrated in 1859 when he was appointed by the General Assembly to codify the statutory laws of the State. This appointment, which came with significant remuneration, was renewed twice, even after the war erupted. Shortly after completing this task, he died on March 9, 1863. Yet another sign of his popularity was the fact that thousands of men and women, both white and black, paid their respects to him. The City of Charleston was closed to all commerce on the day of his funeral, which was attended by virtually every Confederate officer in besieged Charleston, including the commanding general.

Although many tributes to him were spoken and written, none is more beautifully articulated than that on the stone monument placed on his grave by his daughter Caroline. It reads:

Future times will hardly know how great a life
This simple stone commemorates --
The tradition of his Eloquence, his
Wisdom and Wit may fade;
But he lived for ends more durable than fame,
His Eloquence was the protection of the poor and wronged;
His learning illuminated the principles of Law --
In the admiration of his Peers,
In the respect of his People,
In the affection of his Family,
His was the highest place;
The just meed
Of his kindness and forbearance
His dignity and simplicity
His brilliant genius and his unwearied industry
Unawed by opinion,
Unseduced by flattery,
Undismayed by Disaster,
He confronted Life with antique Courage
And Death with Christian Hope.
In the great Civil War
He withstood his People for his Country
But his People did homage to the Man
Who held his conscience higher than their praise
And his Country
Heaped her honors on the grave of the Patriot,
To whom living,
His own righteous self-respect sufficed
Alike for Motive and Reward.

This brings me to the title of my talk and my final story. In the July, 1877 issue of Harper's Magazine, the following entry can be found under the Editor's Drawer. I read it for you now in its entirety:

"I was in Washington city at the time when . . . we thought our troops were about to gain possession of Charleston. I called upon President Lincoln . . . and in the course of conversation I said, "Mr. President, we of the North feel like punishing the Charlestonians a little, for they are arch-offenders."

"I feel a little so myself," he said; "but what shall we do with Mr. Petigru?" The latter was a staunch Union man, and remained so while the madmen raged around him.

The question suggested a "little story" to Mr. Lincoln. His eyes sparkled with humor, and he said, "A chap in Illinois was very fond of relating Scripture narratives. At one time he was telling the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the promise of the Lord to save the cities if a certain number of righteous men could be found in them.

'I don't now exactly remember,' said the narrator; 'I do know Abraham beat down the Lord a good deal.'

"So," said Mr. Lincoln, "they may beat us down to Mr. Petigru, and save Charleston."

I have no idea whether this story is apocryphal or not, but the mere fact that this conversation might have occurred says something about our protagonist. It seems almost certain that Petigru would not have seen himself as a savior. He would have assigned that role to a much higher authority, as expressed in the lines of a hymn penned much later by William Pierson Merrill:

"God of justice, save the people
From the clash of race and creed,
From the strife of class and faction,
Make our nation free indeed."

When you visit St. Michael's cemetery today, you just may hear Petigru singing these lines, full of grace and devotion.

The author gratefully expresses appreciation to Dean Paul Willis and Henry Fulmer of the South Caroliniana Library of the University of South Carolina and Gene Waddell of the College of Charleston Library for their assistance in securing original documents and manuscripts used in this talk.

Bryan, George S: In Memorial of the Late James L. Petigru. New York: Richardson & Company, 1866, p. 37.

Editor's Drawer: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, New York: Harper & Brothers, July, 1877, p. 318.

MacLeod, J: The Great Doctor Waddel, Pronounced Waddle. Greenville: Southern Historical Press, Inc., 1985.

Pease William H, and Pease, Jane H: James Louis Petigru: Southern Conservative, Southern Dissenter. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995.

Petigru, James Louis: An Oration Delivered Before the Washington Society on the Fourth July, 1834. Charleston: D. J. Dowling, 1834.

Pope, Joseph Daniel: James Louis Petigru: An Address Before the University Law Association of the University of South Carolina. Charleston: Walker, Evans & Cogswell Company, 1891, p. 3.

Rhett, R. Barnwell: In Memorial of the later James L. Petigru. New York: Richardson & Company, 1866, pp.19-20.