Edmund Pendleton was an American jurist and Revolutionary patriot.
Background
Edmund Pendleton was born on September 9, 1721 in Caroline County, Virginia, United States. His grandfather, Philip, a schoolmaster of Norwich, England, had emigrated in 1682, and the family became established in Caroline at an early date. One of Philip's daughters, Catherine, married John Taylor, grandfather of the well-known John Taylor of Caroline, while his son Henry married Mary Taylor, sister to John. Edmund was their youngest son. His father and grandfather both died in the year that he was born, and his mother married again.
Career
Left without paternal care, and apparently without property, Edmund Pendelton was apprenticed at the age of fourteen to Col. Benjamin Robinson, clerk of the court of Caroline and a kinsman of the powerful "Speaker" Robinson. When the lad was sixteen years of age, he became clerk to the vestry of St. Mary's Parish, and at nineteen was made clerk of the Caroline court martial. During these years he worked diligently to educate himself and at twenty was admitted to practise at the local bar. In 1745 he was admitted to practice before the general court. In 1751 he became a justice of the peace of Caroline County, and the next year was elected to the House of Burgesses. Judging by the number of his committee appointments, he was an active member of this body.
In 1765 the financial affairs of Speaker John Robinson, who was also treasurer of the colony, became involved, and his friends made an effort to relieve him by establishing a state loan office. Pendleton was active in this movement, but it failed. When the Speaker died within the following year, an effort was made by the reforming party to separate the office of speaker from that of treasurer. Pendleton strenuously opposed this move, and again was unsuccessful. It has been said that his stand with the conservative interests on these questions made him leader of the "Cavalier" party in Virginia, to which he was alien by birth. The Stamp Act was passed while these questions were being debated. Pendleton, always conservative and opposed to violent measures, did not favor Patrick Henry's stand on this issue. Nevertheless, he stated it as his view that the House of Commons lacked constitutional authority to pass the offending act, and, as justice of Caroline, he kept the court open and went as far as he could legally to nullify the effect of the legislation.
Though his name does not appear prominently again until the beginning of the Revolutionary struggle, his stand in 1765 clearly indicated what his policy would be when the storm broke. Immediately upon the approach of the crisis, Pendleton emerged as one of the foremost men in Virginia. His qualifications for leadership were considerable, yet his strategic position doubtless had much to do with his preferment. His place as a leader in the conservative group made his support of the Revolutionary movement highly important. Accordingly, he was selected for membership on the Committee of Correspondence when it was organized in 1773. In 1774 he was sent to represent Virginia in the first Continental Congress.
Edmund Pendleton was a member of all the Virginia Revolutionary conventions, and was president of the two which met in 1775. In that year he was made president of the Committee of Safety, which placed him at the head of the temporary government of the colony. In this position his policy was firm, though not aggressive, since it was his ardent hope that the struggle might be settled by a redress of grievances rather than by war. He opposed Patrick Henry's proposal to arm the militia at this time, but when the measure was carried, he, as county lieutenant of Caroline, helped to carry it into effect. When Henry was made commander-in-chief of the Virginia troops, Pendleton was instrumental in giving to Col. William Woodford the active command in the field, thereby bringing down upon himself the enmity of the popular hero of the day. His judgment of the military qualifications of the two men seems to have been just, although there is no question but that Pendleton looked upon Henry as a demagogue, and they were never on the same side of any question. The friction caused by this incident hurt Pendleton's popularity, and though he was reëlected president of the Committee of Safety in December 1775, it was by a reduced majority. It was doubtless on this account, too, that he had to contest with Philip Ludwell Lee election to the presidency of the famous Virginia convention of 1776.
Edmund Pendleton's inaugural speech on assuming the chair foreshadowed a declaration of independence, and it was he who drew up the resolves instructing Virginia's delegates in Congress to propose the measure. This convention also drew up Virginia's first constitution, and provided for a revision of the laws. Pendleton was placed on the committee charged with the latter function, and the work was completed in 1779 by Jefferson, Wythe, and himself. In the framing of the constitution and in the revision of the laws, Pendleton stood for conservative measures, opposing Jefferson's program of disestablishment of the church and abolition of primogeniture and entail. On the organization of the new state government, Pendleton became speaker of the House of Delegates. He was returned to that body in 1777, but his attendance was delayed by a fall from his horse, which crippled him for the rest of his life.
Edmund Pendleton returned to the autumn session of the House, and was made presiding judge of the newly organized court of chancery. When the supreme court of appeals was organized in 1779, he became its president and retained this post until his death. From this time forward, his interest in politics was keen but not active. He spent most of his time on his estate, "Edmundsbury, " in Caroline, making the journey to Richmond twice each year to attend the sessions of the court. Meanwhile he kept up a regular correspondence with his friends in Congress, particularly with James Madison. This semi-retirement was interrupted in 1788 when a convention was assembled in Virginia to decide upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
Pendleton was known to favor adoption, but was elected president of the convention without opposition. Despite his lameness and his official position, he took the floor on several occasions to defend the new instrument of government, and his political philosophy is revealed in these speeches as well as in his letters to Madison. Here he maintains his belief in the equality of man before the law, denies that he thinks government should be controlled by the well born, and advocates a liberal suffrage. No one familiar with his character could doubt the sincerity of this defender of established institutions.
Upon the formation of the new federal government, Washington offered him a district judgeship, which Edmund Pendleton declined. The longstanding friendship between the two was maintained, but Pendleton dissented from the foreign policy and the financial measures of Washington's administration. This attitude brought him into the Republican camp, and in 1799, at the request of Jefferson, he published a campaign document in support of the principles of his party. The conservative colonist and reluctant revolutionist ended his career as a supporter of the liberals, but his principles had hardly changed. Whatever else he was, he was first a Virginian, and the interests of Virginia as he saw them actuated his every move. Jefferson said he was the most able man whom he had ever met in debate, not bearing his opponent down with words, but forcing him to cover with his tenacious strategy.
As a judge, Edmund Pendleton was cautious, conservative, and sound. The only decision of his which was ever reversed was reversed by himself. There was hardly a greater man in Virginia than was Pendleton, but he was lacking in all qualities of showmanship and aggressiveness, and his fame has suffered because he confined his activities so largely to his native state. He died on October 23, 1803, leaving no issue.
Achievements
Views
Quotations:
"Avarice seems to have so pervaded our vital principles as to battle all hopes of a remedy but for peace and plenty. "
Personality
Edmund Pendleton was an individualist, never a partisan, and his decisions were made in the light of his personal judgment. He was a typical gentleman of his generation: tall, graceful, suave. Edmund Pendleton was methodical, assiduous, and a close rather than a broad legal student. He wrote as he spoke, clearly and convincingly.
Connections
In 1742 he married Elizabeth Roy, but the bride died in childbirth within the year and the infant son never breathed. On June 20, 1743, Pendleton married Sarah Pollard, with whom he lived happily until her death in 1794.