When the second Continental Congress debated whether or not the thirteen United British Colonies of North America should break from their mother country, not all of the American delegates were in favor of independence. One of these men was Edward Rutledge.
On June 7, 1776, when Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed national independence, Rutledge led the moderates in securing a delay in the voting. He knew that independence was inevitable. In March, his colony South Carolina preceded only by New Hampshire, had adopted a constitution. Moreover, that same month the provincial assembly of South Carolina had empowered its delegates to vote for independence if they so desired. Yet Rutledge firmly believed that the colonies should first confederate and nurture foreign alliances to strengthen themselves for the perilous step they were about to take. When the vote on independence came up on July 1, he refused to yield and South Carolina balloted negatively. But nine of the colonies voted affirmatively. Rutledge, realizing that the resolution would probably carry anyway, proposed that the vote be recast the following day. He persuaded the other South Carolina Delegates to submit to the will of the majority for the sake of unanimity, and South Carolina reversed its position.
Today it is easy to understand Rutledge’s actions in the sense that although Rutledge did in fact initially oppose independence for the colonies, he was doing so under the prudence and logic of a father who was protecting his young until the youngster was able to “make it on their own.”