“P” is for Petigru, James Luis (1789-1863)

“P” is for Petigru, James Luis (1789-1863). Lawyer, politician. A native of Abbeville County, Petigru graduated from South Carolina College, read for the law and was admitted to the bar. In 1819, he established a successful law practice in Charleton. In 1822 he was appointed South Carolina attorney general. Petigru resigned in 1830 and was elected to the state House of Representatives as a leader of the Unionist faction. He remained a major spokesman for the state’s Unionists until the repeal of nullification in 1834. It was Petigru’s preeminence as a lawyer that made him a public figure. And, he remained a staunch Unionist until his death. When asked about the state’s seceding from the Union in 1860, James Louis Petigru replied: “South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.”