History of Mayfield, (Caldwell County) North Carolina United States of America

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William Lowndes, statesman, was born in Colleton district, S.C., Feb. 11, 1782; son of Governor Rawlins and Sarah (Jones) Lowndes. He attended a school in London, England, 1789-92, where he contracted rheumatic fever that forced his return to South Carolina and affected his health throughout his life, causing his premature death. He continued his studies in South Carolina at private schools; entered the office of De Saussure & Ford, and was admitted to the bar in 1804. He was married in 1802 to Elizabeth Brewton, daughter of Gen. Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina. He gave up the practice of law after six months, and retired to his plantation near Charleston. He wrote a series of papers defending the proposition that free ships made free goods, and his views led to his election as a representative in the state legislature, where he served, 1806-11. In 1809 on the formation of the Washington light infantry of Charleston, S.C., he was elected captain of the organization. He was elected a representative from the Beaufort and Carleton districts to the 12th-17th congresses, 1811-23, but resigned in 1822, on account of continued ill-health. He was chairman of the committees on ways and means, 1815-18, coins and weights, 1818-19, and foreign affairs, 1819, and was a conspicuous advocate of the measures that led to the war of 1812. He was chairman of the naval committee, 1814, and moved the vote of thanks to Commodore Perry and other naval heroes and subsequently obtained a pension for the widow of Commodore Perry. He opposed privateering, devised the sinking fund, favored the Missouri compromise and was chairman of the committee to report on that measure. In the contest over the act of General Jackson in executing Arbuthnot and Ambrister, Representative Lowndes pursued a conciliatory course and gained the title "mediator of the house." His retirement caused the regret of the entire congress, irrespective of political affiliation. At his death Mr. Clay pronounced him the wisest man he had ever met; Speaker John W. Taylor, of New York, said that had Mr. Lowndes lived he would have been President of the United States and this belief was largely held both in and out of congress; and in after years Mr. Buchanan spoke of him in highest praise. He declined important cabinet positions and foreign missions from Presidents Madison and Monroe, on the ground that he was "of more use to the country" in the house of representatives. In 1821 the legislature of South Carolina nominated him for President by a very large vote, notwithstanding that Mr. Calhoun had accepted the nomination presented by the legislature of Pennsylvania, and it was on this occasion that Mr. Lowndes made his celebrated remark: "The Presidency is not an office either to be solicited or declined." He urged his friends to cast the vote of South Carolina for Calhoun if the vote of the state would nominate him. He visited Europe in 1819 and on Oct. 21, 1822, sailed from Philadelphia for England on the ship Moss, with his wife and daughter, hoping to regain his health, but died at sea six days later. On learning of his death, congress, notwithstanding he was not a member at the time, voted that both houses honor his memory by wearing mourning for thirty days. See "Life and times of William Lowndes, of South Carolina, 1782-1822 "(1900), by his granddaughter, Mrs. St. Julien Ravenel. He died at sea, Oct. 27, 1822.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Mayfield, (Caldwell County) North Carolina

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