William Jackson (secretary)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Jackson
Miniature of Major Jackson, 1793, unknown artist
Born	March 9, 1759 Cumberland, England
Died	December 17, 1828 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation	Military officer, Merchant, Lawyer, Secretary, Civil servant, Editor
Spouse	Elizabeth Willing

William Jackson's signature on the U.S. Constitution

William Jackson (March 9, 1759 – December 17, 1828) was a figure in the American Revolution, most noteworthy as the secretary to the United States Constitutional Convention. He also served with distinction in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. After the war he served as one of President George Washington's personal secretaries.

[edit] Early life and military career

Born in the county of Cumberland in England, Jackson emigrated to Charleston in South Carolina following the death of his parents. He was raised by a family friend and prominent merchant, Owen Roberts. Roberts was the commander of a militia battalion. After the war broke out in 1775, Roberts joined the Patriot side, and Jackson followed. Roberts probably helped Jackson to obtain a position as a cadet in the 1st South Carolina Regiment. In May of 1776 Jackson was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

Jackson first saw action near Charleston in June 1776, when his regiment fought off General Sir Henry Clinton's attempted attack on Fort Sullivan. The unit then spent a long period garrisoning the city of Charleston, during which noted Patriot Charles Cotesworth Pinckney assumed command of the 1st South Carolina. Late in 1777, Jackson was part of the detachment that made an ill-conceived expedition against St. Augustine in British East Florida under Major-General Robert Howe. The expedition was a colossal failure, and the American force was struck by disease. Jackson survived to return to South Carolina in 1778.

After the return from Florida the Southern regiments were placed under the command of Major-General Benjamin Lincoln, from Massachusetts. Pinckney convinced Lincoln that as a Northerner, he needed an aide to assist him in relating to his Southern troops. Jackson was chosen for this position and was temporarily promoted to the rank of major. As Lincoln's aide he saw action in the Battle of Stono Ferry and the Siege of Savannah in 1779. In 1780 General Lincoln surrendered his troops after the lengthy Siege of Charleston. As a captured officer, Jackson was shipped to Philadelphia. After a few months he was returned to the Continental Army in an exchange of prisoners.

A skilled staff officer, Jackson was then assigned to General Washington's staff, serving as secretary to the general's aide John Laurens. He spent much of the duration of the war with Laurens in Europe and returned to America to briefly serve as Washington's aide-de-camp and Lincoln's assistant secretary of war. Jackson left the army when the war ended in 1783.

[edit] Constitutional Convention

Jackson (standing, center, in red) features prominently in this painting of the Constitution's signing by Howard Chandler Christy.

A few years after the war, in 1787, Jackson wrote to Washington applying for the post as secretary to the Philadelphia Convention. On the Convention's first day of business, May 25, 1787, Alexander Hamilton nominated Jackson to the post, and the delegates chose him over William Temple Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's grandson, despite the latter's experience serving as his grandfather's secretary during the Treaty of Paris negotiations.

As the Convention secretary, Jackson had a number of duties, including maintaining the secrecy of the Convention's proceedings, keeping official minutes, and destroying many of the proceedings' other records. He signed the document "Attest William Jackson Secretary" to attest to the delegates' signing. With his signature Jackson became the fortieth signer of the U.S. Constitution.

Jackson also had the honor of reading the Constitution aloud to the United States Congress assembled in New York City just days after the signing, on September 20, 1787.

[edit] Life after the Convention

Jackson had been studying law before the convention, and he was admitted to the bar in 1788. When George Washington assumed the Presidency in 1789, he chose Jackson to be his personal secretary. He resigned the post in 1791 and went on to a career in the civil service and law, besides serving for a time as editor of the Federalist newspaper, the Political and Commercial Register of Philadelphia. Jackson married in 1795, at the age of thirty-six. He remained an active veteran, serving as national secretary of the Society of the Cincinnati from 1800 until his death in 1828.

[edit] References