Mount Pleasant Magazine May/June 2019

33 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.ReadMPM.com BY MARY COY P icnics, beach, cookouts and fireworks. These fun-filled activities are synonymous with our celebrations of the Fourth of July. You likely learned in school that the reason for all the celebrating is that it’s our nation’s birthday — the day given to honor the Declaration of Independence. … But did you know that four men who signed that important document hailed from the Lowcountry and one of them, Edward Rutledge, had a family plantation in Mount Pleasant? Rutledge was a mere 26 years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence and was the youngest man to do so. Initially, Rutledge was a moderate when it came to the break with England, and he partnered with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to try to iron out differences the colonies had with Parliament. But realizing that independence was imminent, Rutledge persuaded the other three delegates from South Carolina to vote for it — after they had initially voted against it. During the war, Rutledge continued to serve in politics, as well as with the militia and was captured during the British occupation of Charles Town. He was imprisoned at St. Augustine with fellow signer Thomas Heyward Jr. and 28 other Charlestonians who had refused