RUFUS KING

Scarborough, Massachusetts
March 24, 1755−April 29, 1827
Silent Partner

If anyone sat down in the mid-1700s and drew up a list of top ten prospects for the Founding Fathers’ roster, Rufus King might not have been considered among them. Yet, he completed law school, participated in the Revolutionary War, served in the Massachusetts legislature, the Confederation Congress and the U.S. Senate, and attended the federal Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. And, in a political maneuver that history books don’t cover, he established the precedent of moving from one state to another to earn election to the U.S. Senate. All that from a man whose father had fought for the British army in the French and Indian War and remained a Tory until he died! Rufus was as principled as his father—but on the opposite side.

A Promising Beginning

Rufus King graduated from Harvard in 1777 and began studying law under Theophilus Parsons, the man who convinced Samuel Adams and John Hancock to vote for ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

King took a break from his law studies to participate as a militiaman in the inconclusive Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1778. King served as an aide-de-camp to General John Sullivan in the skirmish, which was an unsuccessful American attempt to drive the British out of Newport, Rhode Island, which they had occupied since 1776. The British did not leave the city until October 1779, and even then they departed voluntarily.

After the battle ended, King returned to Boston, finished his law studies, and became a member of the state’s bar. His star began to rise.

FEDERAL FACTS

The Battle of Rhode Island was the first incident in the Revolutionary War in which French forces took part.

Is the Republic Ready for Independence?

In 1783, King was elected to the Massachusetts General Court for the first of three terms. He also served in the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787, where he was the youngest member.

One of King’s finest moments in the Congress occurred in 1784, when he supported a five-percent impost it asked from the states to fund its existence. The states did not have any desire to pay it, and Congress’s efforts to collect the levy fell on deaf ears. King took their failure to fulfill their obligations as a personal affront. He was frustrated at every turn, but he worked hard to get all the states to grant the requested money. His efforts were a turning point in waking state governments to the fact that the federal government could not function without the states’ contributions—financial and otherwise.

King worked hard for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, first as a delegate to the federal convention in Philadelphia in 1787, then as a Massachusetts representative in its ratification proceedings. He was not always sure the people of the United States really cared one way or the other if the Constitution was ratified, but he worked tirelessly anyway.

King was not entirely altruistic. He hoped that Massachusetts would appoint him to the U.S. Senate. It did not—but New York did.

After Massachusetts elected Tristam Dalton as its first U.S. Senator, King, who had hoped to win the seat, invented a time-honored tactic. King moved to another state that would elect him. In 1789, New York named him and Philip Schuyler as its first two U.S. Senators.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“I MYSELF HAVE BEEN AN ADVOCATE FOR A GOVERNMENT FREE AS AIR; MY OPINIONS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED UPON THE BELIEF, THAT MY COUNTRY MEN WERE VIRTUOUS, ENLIGHTENED, AND GOVERNED BY A SENSE OF RIGHT & WRONG. I HAVE EVER FEARED THAT IF OUR REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENTS WERE SUBVERTED, IT WOULD BE BY THE INFLUENCE OF COMMER[C]E AND THE PROGRESS OF LUXURY.”

—RUFUS KING

King served one full term in the U.S. Senate and was reelected in 1795, but President George Washington appointed him as the United States’ ambassador to Britain in 1796. He remained in that post until 1803, when he asked President Thomas Jefferson to bring him home.

More Ups and Downs than an Elevator

King ran unsuccessfully as the Federalist Party’s candidate for vice president in 1804 and 1808. He took a break from politics until 1813, when he was elected again to the U.S. Senate. He completed a six-year term, although he interrupted it to run for governor of New York and president of the United States in 1816. He lost both elections.

In the presidential election, James Monroe won 68.2 percent of the popular vote and 183 electoral votes, compared to King’s 30.9 percent and 34 respectively. King had the honor of being the last presidential candidate to be nominated by the Federalist Party.

Undaunted, King returned to the U.S. Senate and won another reelection in 1820. He spent his final term in the Senate campaigning against slavery, which was becoming a hot issue.

After he left the Senate in 1825, King undertook a voyage to England at President John Quincy Adams’s request to become the United States’ ambassador to England. King completed a year in England, but his seventy years of activity were beginning to wear him down and he returned home, dying shortly thereafter. His distinguished record in public service showed that perhaps he should have been on that “Top Ten Prospects” list after all.