Biography of pierce butler

One of the most aristocratic delegates at the convention, Butler was born in in County Carlow, Ireland. His father was Sir Richard Butler, member of Parliament and a baronet.

Like so many younger sons of the British aristocracy who could not inherit their fathers' estates because of primogeniture, Butler pursued a military career.

He became a major in His Majesty's 29th Regiment and during the colonial unrest was posted to Boston in to quell disturbances there. In he married Mary Middleton, daughter of a wealthy South Carolinian, and before long resigned his commission to take up a planter's life in the Charleston area.

Pierce butler constitutional convention

The couple was to have at least one daughter.

When the Revolution broke out, Butler took up the Whig cause. He was elected to the assembly in , and the next year he served as adjutant general in the South Carolina militia.

While in the legislature through most of the s, he took over leadership of the democratic upcountry faction in