Thomas Jefferson WITHERS

1804

Rock Hill, New York, United States

He attended Ebenezer Academy and graduated second in the class of 1828 at South Carolina College. He moved to Camden, South Carolina, and was admitted to the bar in 1829. In 1831, he married Elizabeth Tunstall Boykin, sister of Mary Boykin Chesnut, and the following year he became solicitor of the circuit. He was a Democrat and also owned a plantation during the antebellum period. From 1846 to 1860, he served as a common law judge and he was also a member of the Court of Appeals. He was editor of the Columbia Telescope for a time in the 1850s. Withers, who had been opposed to single state secession, was a delegate to the South Carolina secession convention and was one of the leaders of the provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, which he helped to organize. Elected to the first Confederate Senate, he refused to serve, returning instead to his judgeship in Camden. Withers, who did not think of himself as a politician, wanted delegates to the Montgomery convention to be ineligible for other than diplomatic offices in the Confederacy. Though his brother-in-law, James Chesnut, had coerced him into supporting Jefferson Davis for president, his inability to get along with Davis no doubt influenced his decision to return to South Carolina. Yet, as a judge, he was only moderately states' rights and largely an administration defender. The war destroyed much of his estate, and Withers died a poor man on November 7, 1865, in Camden, South Carolina.

Thomas Jefferson WITHERS

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congressman judge lawyer planter

Background

WITHERS, Thomas Jefferson was born in 1804 in Rock Hill, York County, South Carolina, United States, United States. Son of Randolph and Sarah (Bailey) Withers.

Education

Private school, southern university.

Career

He attended Ebenezer Academy and graduated second in the class of 1828 at South Carolina College. He moved to Camden, South Carolina, and was admitted to the bar in 1829. In 1831, he married Elizabeth Tunstall Boykin, sister of Mary Boykin Chesnut, and the following year he became solicitor of the circuit.

He was a Democrat and also owned a plantation during the antebellum period. From 1846 to 1860, he served as a common law judge and he was also a member of the Court of Appeals. He was editor of the Columbia Telescope for a time in the 1850s.

Withers, who had been opposed to single state secession, was a delegate to the South Carolina secession convention and was one of the leaders of the provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, which he helped to organize. Elected to the first Confederate Senate, he refused to serve, returning instead to his judgeship in Camden. Withers, who did not think of himself as a politician, wanted delegates to the Montgomery convention to be ineligible for other than diplomatic offices in the Confederacy.

Though his brother-in-law, James Chesnut, had coerced him into supporting Jefferson Davis for president, his inability to get along with Davis no doubt influenced his decision to return to South Carolina. Yet, as a judge, he was only moderately states' rights and largely an administration defender. The war destroyed much of his estate, and Withers died a poor man on November 7, 1865, in Camden, South Carolina.

Religion

"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.

Politics

Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.

Connections

Spouse Elizabeth Tunstall Boykin.

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Thomas Jefferson WITHERS

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