Seventy-Six Association to Thomas Jefferson, [after 4 March 1815]
From the Seventy-Six Association
[after 4 Mar. 1815]
Sir
In obedience to the direction of the 76 association we transmit to you a copy of Mr White’s oration as an evidence of their continued esteem for your efforts in supporting the principles of the Republic
| J Jervey |  |
Committee |
| Wm Yeadon | ||
| Benjn Elliott | ||
| R. Y. Hayne |
RC (ViU); written entirely in an unidentified hand on verso of title page of TJ’s copy of enclosure; undated; at foot of text: “Hon: Thos Jefferson.” Enclosure: John Blake White, An Oration, Delivered in the Third Episcopal Church, before the Inhabitants of Charleston, South-Carolina, On the 4th March, 1815, in commemoration of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, By appointment of The ’76 Association, And published at the request of that Society (Charleston, 1815; Poor, Jefferson’s Library, 13 [no. 826]), extolling the adoption of the United States Constitution, the bounty of the nation’s farmers, the richness and vastness of America’s lands and rivers, the separation of powers established in the Constitution, the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, and the proposition that “all men are created equal,” which is the “adamant key-stone of our Constitution” (p. 11); and encouraging all Americans to learn the principles of the Constitution, to which all must “resort for the ‘security of life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’” (p. 8).
William Yeadon (1777–1849), attorney and public official, served as sheriff of Charleston, 1813–23, and keeper of the state arsenal, 1823–49. He was a longtime artillery officer in the state militia, including service during the War of 1812 (Thomas Smyth, A Pattern of Mercy and of Holiness, exhibited in the Conversion and Subsequent Character of Col. William Yeadon, Ruling Elder in the Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, S.C. [1849]; Hoff’s Agricultural & Commercial Almanac, calculated for the states of Georgia and the Carolinas; For … 1815 [Charleston, 1814], 43; DNA: RG 29, CS, S.C., Charleston, 1810–40; Charleston Courier, 13 Nov. 1849).
Benjamin Elliott (ca. 1787–1836), attorney and author, graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1806, was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1810, and thereafter practiced law and resided in his native Charleston. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1814–15, and rose from register to master in equity of the Court of Equity for the Charleston District between 1815 and his death. Elliott belonged to the Charleston Library Society, the Literary and Philosophical Society of South-Carolina, and the Seventy-Six Association, serving as president of the last in 1821. He was a zealous defender of states’ rights, Nullification, and the institution of slavery. Elliott’s writings included a letter “To Our Northern Brethren” in Edwin C. Holland, A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated against The Southern & Western States, respecting the institution and existence of Slavery among them (Charleston, 1822), 79–82, and reputedly Debates Which Arose in the House of Representatives of South-Carolina, on the Constitution framed for the United States (1831). He spoke regularly in public forums, and the Seventy-Six Association published two of his orations and sent them to TJ (; , 4:182–3; General Catalogue of Princeton University 1746–1906 [1908], 118; Lester D. Stephens, “The Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina: A Forum for Intellectual Progress in Antebellum Charleston,” South Carolina Historical Magazine 104 [2003]: 156, 159–60, 162; Seventy-Six Association to TJ, 26 Apr. 1813, 15 July 1817; Charleston City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 7 July 1821; Charleston Death Register, 11–18 Sept. 1836 [Sc]; Charleston Mercury, 27 Sept. 1836).
Index Entries
- An Oration, Delivered in the Third Episcopal Church, before the Inhabitants of Charleston, South-Carolina, On the 4th March, 1815, in commemoration of the adoption of the Federal Constitution (J. B. White) search
- Charleston, S.C.; Seventy-Six Association search
- Constitution, U.S.; Bill of Rights search
- Constitution, U.S.; J. B. White on search
- Declaration of Independence; quoted search
- Elliott, Benjamin; and Seventy-Six Association search
- Elliott, Benjamin; identified search
- Elliott, Benjamin; letter from search
- Hayne, Robert Young; and Seventy-Six Association search
- Hayne, Robert Young; letters from search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; works sent to search
- Jervey, James; and Seventy-Six Association search
- Jervey, James; letters from search
- Seventy-Six Association (Charleston, S.C.); forwards orations search
- Seventy-Six Association (Charleston, S.C.); letters from search
- White, John Blake; An Oration, Delivered in the Third Episcopal Church, before the Inhabitants of Charleston, South-Carolina, On the 4th March, 1815, in commemoration of the adoption of the Federal Constitution search
- Yeadon, William; and Seventy-Six Association search
- Yeadon, William; identified search
- Yeadon, William; letter from search