Robert Witherspoon | |
Birth Date: | 29 January 1767 |
Birth Place: | near Kingstree, Province of South Carolina, British America |
Death Place: | near Mayesville, South Carolina, U.S. |
Office1: | Member of the South Carolina Senate from Claremont District |
Term1: | November 27, 1821 - December 20, 1821 |
Predecessor1: | Charles Miller |
Successor1: | Stephen Decatur Miller |
Office2: | Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Williamsburg District |
Term Start2: | November 24, 1806 |
Term End2: | June 29, 1808 |
Term Start3: | November 22, 1802 |
Term End3: | May 16, 1804 |
Term Start4: | November 26, 1792 |
Term End4: | May 12, 1794 |
State5: | South Carolina |
District5: | 3rd |
Term Start5: | March 4, 1809 |
Term End5: | March 3, 1811 |
Predecessor5: | David R. Williams |
Successor5: | David R. Williams |
Office6: | Treasurer of South Carolina |
Term Start6: | 1800 |
Term End6: | 1802 |
Governor6: | John Drayton |
Party: | Democratic-Republican |
Profession: | planter, politician |
Robert Witherspoon (January 29, 1767October 11, 1837) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from South Carolina.
Witherspoon was born near Kingstree in the Province of South Carolina as the son of a Scots-Irish father, Robert Witherspoon (1728–1778) who was born in County Down, Ireland and settled in the Province of South Carolina. His mother was Elizabeth Heathly Witherspoon (1740–1820), who was born in South Carolina. Robert Witherspoon attended local schools.
Witherspoon was elected State treasurer in 1800 and served one term. He was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1792 to 1794 from 1802 to 1804 and from 1806 to 1808.
Witherspoon was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eleventh Congress (March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1811). He declined to be a candidate for reelection. He had large slave planting interests in Sumter County, South Carolina.[1] He opposed the nullification act in 1832.
He died near Mayesville, South Carolina, October 11, 1837. He was interred in the Salem Brick Church Cemetery.
He was great-great-grandfather of Robert Witherspoon Hemphill.