“M” is for Middleton, Henry (1770-1846)

“M” is for Middleton, Henry (1770-1846). Legislator, governor, congressman, diplomat. Born in South Carolina, Middleton was sent to England by his uncles in the 1780s. In 1799 he returned to South Carolina, to assume management of his family’s properties. In 1802 he began a long career in South Carolina politics representing the Parishes of St. Philip’s and St. Michael’s in the House of Representatives. He was elected governor in 1810. Middleton served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1815-1819). In 1820 he was appointed minister to Russia. Fluent in French, he was a successful diplomat—persuading Russia to withdraw its claim to the Pacific northwest below the 54°40’, thus protecting American fishing and trading rights. Upon returning home in 1830 Henry Middleton was appalled by the danger to the Union by the “baneful doctrine of nullification.”