David RAMSAY, Congress, SC (1749-1815)

RAMSAY, David, (brother of Nathaniel Ramsey), a Delegate from South Carolina; born in Dunmore, Lancaster County, Pa., April 2, 1749; attended the common schools, and was graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1765; was graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1773 and began practice in Cecil County, Md.; settled in Charleston, S.C., in 1773; member of the state house of representatives 1776-1783; served in the Revolutionary Army as surgeon of the Charleston Battalion of Artillery, state militia; captured at the fall of Charleston in May 1780 and imprisoned at St. Augustine, Fla., for eleven months; Member of the Continental Congress 1782-1783 and 1785-1786 and served as President pro tempore during the last term; unsuccessfully contested the election of William L. Smith to the First Congress (the first contested-election case); state historian and author of several historical works; member of the state senate of South Carolina and served as president of that body for seven years; shot by a maniac on May 6, 1815, in Charleston, S.C., and died in that city May 8, 1815.

Bibliography

Shaffer, Arthur H. To Be an American: David Ramsay and the Making of the American Consciousness. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1991.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present