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Edmund Pendleton
Edmund Pendleton (September 9, 1721 – October 23, 1803) was an American planter, politician, lawyer, and judge. He served in the Virginia legislature before and during the American Revolutionary War, becoming the first speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates (which succeeded the House of Burgesses terminated by Virginia's last colonial Governor, Lord Dunmore). Pendleton attended the First Continental Congress as one of Virginia's delegates alongside George Washington and Patrick Henry, signed the Continental Association, and led the conventions both wherein Virginia declared independence (1776) and adopted the United States Constitution (1788).
Unlike his sometime political rival Henry, Pendleton was a moderate who initially hoped for reconciliation rather than revolt. With Thomas Jefferson and George Wythe, Pendleton revised Virginia's legal code after the break with Britain. To contemporaries, Pendleton may have distinguished himself most as a judge, particularly in the appellate roles in which he spent his final 25 years, including leadership of what is now known as the Supreme Court of Virginia.
On hearing of his death, Congress agreed to wear badges of mourning for 30 days and expressed "their regret that another star is fallen from the splendid constellation of virtue and talents which guided the people of the United States, in their struggle for independence".
Pendleton was born in Caroline County, Virginia, to Mary Bishop Taylor, whose young husband (and father of her six other children), Henry Pendleton, had died four months earlier. Pendleton's maternal grandfather, James Taylor, was a large landowner in nearby Rappahannock County and may have helped raise the children until the widow remarried Edward Watkins two years later. James Taylor was born near Winchester in Hampshire, England in 1671 and had emigrated to America as a child with his parents in 1679. Pendleton's paternal grandfather, Philip Pendleton was born in Norwich, England in 1650 and emigrated to America in 1674. When Edmund was 14 years old, he became apprenticed to Benjamin Robinson, clerk of the Caroline County Court, which is where he learned about political issues and soon began reading law books and learning legal procedures. In 1737, Pendleton was made clerk of the vestry of St. Mary's Parish in Caroline, which began his involvement with practical church-related matters which would continue throughout his life.
Pendleton received a license to practice law in April 1741. His success before nearby county courts, including as the prosecuting attorney for Essex County, allowed Pendleton to become a member of the General Court bar in October 1745. When attorneys were forbidden to practice before both courts, Pendleton chose the General Court and wrapped up his lower court practice—which allowed him to accept appointment as a justice of the peace for Caroline County in 1751. Pendleton also trained many young lawyers, including his nephews John Penn (later one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) and John Taylor of Caroline (who became a U.S. Senator).
From 1752 to 1776, Pendleton represented Caroline County in the House of Burgesses. In May 1766, his mentor, the powerful speaker John Robinson died, and Pendleton was appointed one of the executors, thus becoming involved in the John Robinson estate scandal throughout the rest of his legal career.
Pendleton was on the Virginia Committee of Correspondence in 1773 and was a delegate to Continental Congress from Virginia in 1774. A moderate among the revolutionaries, in a resolution at the Second Continental Congress he said: "The ground and foundation of the present unhappy dispute between the British Ministry and Parliament and America, is a Right claimed by the former to tax the Subjects of the latter without their consent, and not an inclination on our part to set up for independency, which we utterly disavow and wish to restore to a Constitutional Connection upon the most solid and reasonable basis."
Pendleton served as president of the Virginia Committee of Safety from August 16, 1775, to July 5, 1776 (effectively serving as governor of the colony), and as president of the Virginia Convention which authorized Virginia's delegates to propose a resolution to move for the break from Britain and create a Declaration of Independence. The Convention debated the Virginia Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason, which served as a model for the Declaration of Independence. Pendleton proposed the modification in the statement of universal rights in Virginia's declaration to exclude slaves, thus winning support of slave owners.
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Edmund Pendleton
Edmund Pendleton (September 9, 1721 – October 23, 1803) was an American planter, politician, lawyer, and judge. He served in the Virginia legislature before and during the American Revolutionary War, becoming the first speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates (which succeeded the House of Burgesses terminated by Virginia's last colonial Governor, Lord Dunmore). Pendleton attended the First Continental Congress as one of Virginia's delegates alongside George Washington and Patrick Henry, signed the Continental Association, and led the conventions both wherein Virginia declared independence (1776) and adopted the United States Constitution (1788).
Unlike his sometime political rival Henry, Pendleton was a moderate who initially hoped for reconciliation rather than revolt. With Thomas Jefferson and George Wythe, Pendleton revised Virginia's legal code after the break with Britain. To contemporaries, Pendleton may have distinguished himself most as a judge, particularly in the appellate roles in which he spent his final 25 years, including leadership of what is now known as the Supreme Court of Virginia.
On hearing of his death, Congress agreed to wear badges of mourning for 30 days and expressed "their regret that another star is fallen from the splendid constellation of virtue and talents which guided the people of the United States, in their struggle for independence".
Pendleton was born in Caroline County, Virginia, to Mary Bishop Taylor, whose young husband (and father of her six other children), Henry Pendleton, had died four months earlier. Pendleton's maternal grandfather, James Taylor, was a large landowner in nearby Rappahannock County and may have helped raise the children until the widow remarried Edward Watkins two years later. James Taylor was born near Winchester in Hampshire, England in 1671 and had emigrated to America as a child with his parents in 1679. Pendleton's paternal grandfather, Philip Pendleton was born in Norwich, England in 1650 and emigrated to America in 1674. When Edmund was 14 years old, he became apprenticed to Benjamin Robinson, clerk of the Caroline County Court, which is where he learned about political issues and soon began reading law books and learning legal procedures. In 1737, Pendleton was made clerk of the vestry of St. Mary's Parish in Caroline, which began his involvement with practical church-related matters which would continue throughout his life.
Pendleton received a license to practice law in April 1741. His success before nearby county courts, including as the prosecuting attorney for Essex County, allowed Pendleton to become a member of the General Court bar in October 1745. When attorneys were forbidden to practice before both courts, Pendleton chose the General Court and wrapped up his lower court practice—which allowed him to accept appointment as a justice of the peace for Caroline County in 1751. Pendleton also trained many young lawyers, including his nephews John Penn (later one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) and John Taylor of Caroline (who became a U.S. Senator).
From 1752 to 1776, Pendleton represented Caroline County in the House of Burgesses. In May 1766, his mentor, the powerful speaker John Robinson died, and Pendleton was appointed one of the executors, thus becoming involved in the John Robinson estate scandal throughout the rest of his legal career.
Pendleton was on the Virginia Committee of Correspondence in 1773 and was a delegate to Continental Congress from Virginia in 1774. A moderate among the revolutionaries, in a resolution at the Second Continental Congress he said: "The ground and foundation of the present unhappy dispute between the British Ministry and Parliament and America, is a Right claimed by the former to tax the Subjects of the latter without their consent, and not an inclination on our part to set up for independency, which we utterly disavow and wish to restore to a Constitutional Connection upon the most solid and reasonable basis."
Pendleton served as president of the Virginia Committee of Safety from August 16, 1775, to July 5, 1776 (effectively serving as governor of the colony), and as president of the Virginia Convention which authorized Virginia's delegates to propose a resolution to move for the break from Britain and create a Declaration of Independence. The Convention debated the Virginia Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason, which served as a model for the Declaration of Independence. Pendleton proposed the modification in the statement of universal rights in Virginia's declaration to exclude slaves, thus winning support of slave owners.