James Louis Petigru

Petigru, James Louis (May 10, 1789 - Mar. 9, 1863), lawyer and political leader, was born in Abbeville District, S. C. He was the son of William Pettigrew, a native of Virginia, and Louise Guy Gilbert, the daughter of a Huguenot minister. He bore the names of his two grandfathers: James Pettigrew, who came to Pennsylvania in 1740 from County Tyrone, Ireland, and moved successively to Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina; and Jean Louis Gibert, who brought a party of Huguenots to South Carolina in 1763. Since the family was large and means were small, he worked from childhood, securing such schooling as he could. In 1804 he entered the famous school of Dr. Moses Waddell at Willington, and two years later South Carolina College, where, supporting himself by teaching in Columbia, he finished the course and received the A.B. degree in 1809. About this time, apparently, he changed the spelling of his name (Carson, post, p. 35). He taught in St. Luke's Parish and at Beaufort for the next three years, studying law the while, and was admitted to the bar in 1812. In that year, although as an intense Federalist he opposed the war, he served for a short while in the militia. Settling at Coosawhatchie, in 1816 he was elected solicitor, and, on Aug. 17, he married Jane Amelia Postell, the daughter of a nearby planter. In 1819 James Hamilton, Jr. [q.v.] offered him an attractive partnership and he moved to Charleston, where he spent the rest of his life. Rapidly gaining reputation, in 1822 he was elected attorney general, a post much to his liking which he unwillingly resigned in 1830 to become a Union candidate for the state Senate. He was defeated, but within a few weeks was elected to fill a vacancy in the lower house. A thorough-going nationalist, he was an intense opponent of nullification, for which he could find no justification in law, logic, or morals. He wrote a friend, "I am devilishly puzzled to know whether my friends are mad, or I beside myself" (Carson, p. 79). He disliked politics but felt compelled to participate in such a crisis, and, making many speeches, writing numerous newspaper articles, and contributing much wise counsel, found himself in 1832 the leader of the Union party. He wrote the address to the people issued by the Union convention in September (Southern Patriot, Sept. 15, 1832) and the protest against the nullification ordinance in December. In the period which followed, he naturally opposed the imposition of the test oath and won the decision from the court of appeals which declared it unconstitutional (2 S. C., 1, 113). During the resulting bitter struggle, he and Hamilton, by cooperation, prevented any collision between their excited followers and finally effected a satisfactory compromise.

From the close of the nullification controversy to the end of his life Petigru held no office, save for two years that of United States district attorney, which he accepted as a matter of duty at the earnest request of President Fillmore when no one could be induced to do so. In 1859 he was elected code commissioner and by annual election retained the position until the completion of the work in 1863 (Portion of the Code of Statute Law of South Carolina, 1860-62). He opposed secession but was hopeless of checking the movement. Asked by a stranger in Columbia in December 1860 the location of the insane asylum, he pointed to the Baptist church where the secession convention had just assembled and said: "It looks like a church, but it is now a lunatic asylum; go right there and you will find one hundred and sixty-four maniacs within" (Lewis, post, IV, 71-72). But he could not always joke about it. Mistaking the bells for a fire alarm and being told that they announced secession, he exclaimed: "I tell you there is a fire; they have this day set a blazing torch to the temple of constitutional liberty, and please God, we shall have no more peace forever" (Ibid., p. 72). Yet coercion surprised and grieved him, and, in spite of his intellectual belief, passionately held, that the cause was bad, his heart was with the Southern rather than the Northern arms. But his heart was not with the Confederate government. He opposed the Confederate sequestration act in the district court, because, he said, he was free born. During the war his home in Charleston was lost by fire and a house on Sullivan's Island was destroyed in the erection of fortifications.

Petigru was known and admired all over the country. Lincoln seriously considered appointing him to the Supreme Court to replace Justice McLean or Justice Campbell but the difficulties in the way, combined with Petigru's age, dissuaded him. Petigru's position as "the greatest private citizen that South Carolina has ever produced," was unique. An admirer thus describes it: "He never occupied high public station, and yet he was a statesman. He never held judicial positions, and yet he was a great jurist. He never wrote books, and yet his life itself is a volume to be studied. He never founded a charity, and yet he was a great-hearted philanthropist" (Lewis, IV, 30-31). A superb advocate, he was the undisputed head of the state bar for nearly forty years. The profound legal learning he displayed in a case was matched by the simplicity of his deductive reasoning. He "turnpiked the legal pathway out of the most complicated labyrinth of law and fact" (Memorial, p. 11). In public affairs Petigru was doomed to the minority because of his nationalism. In other things he largely agreed with his neighbors. He opposed protection vigorously, and, while he did not like the institution of slavery, he was no abolitionist and owned slaves and approved of the domestic side of slavery. Politically, he was perhaps more sympathetic with free-soil ideas than his associates. A friend, always, of the lowly and oppressed, having a passion for mercy combined with his love of justice, he was ready in defence of the slave, the poor white, or the free negro who sought his aid. His manner was hearty, even inclined to be hilarious, but scrupulously courteous. He wrote well and had an unusual voice, capable of expressing every shade of feeling, that made him a really great speaker. In the heart of bitter controversy he retained the respect and the affection of his opponents, and the lasting quality of his fame is evidence of the dynamic character of his personality.