Gustavus Scott was an American lawyer and public official. He was one of the commissioners to superintend the erection of the public buildings in Washington, from 1794 to 1800.
Background
Scott was born in 1753 at in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, the son of James Scott and Sarah (Brown) Scott. His father had emigrated to America before the middle of the eighteenth century, and was rector of Dettingen Parish, Prince William County, Virginia, from 1745 until his death in 1782.
Education
Gustavus, with his elder brother, John, went to Scotland in 1765, and is said to have studied at King's College, Aberdeen. Two years later he entered Essex Court, Middle Temple, London, where he was engaged in the study of law until 1771.
Career
Scott was called to the English bar in November 1772. On his return to America he began to practise law with marked success in Somerset County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He became a leader of the liberal party, was elected a delegate to the Maryland Convention, and took his seat in that body on August 7, 1775.
He joined the Association of the Freemen of Maryland for resistance to attempts to enforce acts of Parliament by military power, and served as spokesman for the committee of observation relative to military affairs in his county.
In January 1781 he joined in an appeal to the governor of the state for such arms, ammunition, and supplies as would afford more adequate military protection for his county and the entire Eastern Shore. Dorchester County elected him a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1780. He took his seat on November 20, for a term of one year, and served again from December 1783 until January 1785. There is no evidence of active or important service during his first term, but in the second he became one of the more prominent leaders, serving on the committees which drafted the most important bills.
The Maryland Assembly, on December 4, 1784, elected Scott a delegate to the Continental Congress for a term of one year, but his health was impaired at this time, and, although his credentials were presented, there is no record of his service in that body.
He retired to private life and resumed the practice of law until 1793, when he was appointed chairman of a committee to combat the yellow fever in Baltimore. The following year President Washington appointed Scott to a vacancy in the board of commissioners for the city of Washington.
He died at his home "Rock Hill, " Washington, District of Columbia.
Achievements
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
President Washington characterized him as "a gentleman eminent in the profession of the Law - a man of character & fortune. "
Connections
Scott was married to Margaret Hall Caile on February 16, 1777, and they had five sons and four daughters. William Lawrence Scott was his grandson.