David Ramsay (April 2, 1749May 8, 1815) was an American physician, public official, and historian from Charleston, South Carolina. He was one of the first major historians of the American Revolutionary War. During the Revolution he served in the South Carolina legislature until he was captured by the British. After his release, he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1782–1783 and again in 1785–1786. Afterwards, he served in the state House and Senate until retiring from public service. In 1803, Ramsay was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. He was murdered in 1815 by a mentally ill man whom Ramsay had examined as a physician. He is the first American politician to be assassinated.
Early life and family
David Ramsay was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the son of a Scottish emigrant. His brother was Nathaniel Ramsey, a Congressman and a brother-in-law of painter Charles Willson Peale.
He attended college at Princeton and graduated in 1765. In 1773, he received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an honorary degree in 1780 while being held prisoner by the British. Ramsay settled in Charleston, South Carolina where he built a large practice as a physician.
Ramsay's first two marriages were brief, both ending with the death of his wife after one year. In 1775, he married Sabina Ellis (b. 1753), and in 1783, he married Frances Witherspoon (b. 1759). His second wife was the daughter of John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and president of Princeton (then the College of New Jersey).
On January 28, 1787, Ramsay married Martha Laurens (1759–1811), daughter of Henry Laurens, a wealthy Charleston planter and Revolutionary War statesman who had been president of the Second Continental Congress. Through this marriage, Ramsay also became related to Ralph Izard, John Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, Daniel Huger, Lewis Morris, and South Carolina governor Charles Pinckney. David and Martha Laurens Ramsay had eleven children, eight of whom survived to adulthood.
Military and political service
During the American Revolutionary War, Ramsay served from 1776 to 1783 as a member of the South Carolina legislature.
During the Siege of Charleston in 1780, when Charleston was attacked by the British, Ramsay served with the South Carolina militia as a field surgeon. He was captured when the British occupied Charleston, and was imprisoned for nearly a year at St. Augustine, Florida, until he was exchanged.
Ramsay served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786. In the absence of its chairman, John Hancock, Ramsay served as president pro tempore of the Congress of the Confederation from November 23, 1785 to May 12, 1786.
In the 1790s, Ramsay served three terms in the South Carolina Senate and was its president. During this time, Ramsay was nominated to the U.S. Senate, but his nomination was defeated on account of his abolitionist leanings.
Historical writing
In his own day, Ramsay was better known as a historian and author than as a politician. He was one of the American Revolution's first major historians, who wrote with knowledge and insights acquired by being personally involved in the events of the American Revolution.
His major historical works included: History of the Revolution of South Carolina (1785, two volumes) History of the American Revolution (1789, two volumes) A Dissertation on the Manners of Acquiring the Character and Privileges of a Citizen (1789) Life of Washington (1807) History of South Carolina (1809, two volumes) History of the United States (1816–1817, three volumes) – published posthumously Universal History Americanized (1819, twelve volumes, including History of the United States as the first 3 volumes)
In 1811, six weeks after the death of his wife Martha Laurens Ramsay, he published her diary and private letters under the title Memoirs of the Life of Martha Laurens Ramsay. Her memoirs remain historically valuable as a chronicle of the life of a well-educated Southern woman during the American Revolutionary War and the early years of the nation, including while she took her mother's place as hostess for her father's political gatherings in the 1780s.