Few, William, 1748-1828 - Social Networks and Archival Context (original) (raw)

William Few, Jr. (June 8, 1748 – July 16, 1828) was a farmer, a businessman, and a Founding Father of the United States. Few represented the U.S. state of Georgia at the Constitutional Convention and signed the U.S. Constitution. Few and James Gunn were the first Senators from Georgia.

Born in Baltimore County in the Province of Maryland asnd raised there and in Orange County, North Carolina, Few completed preparatory studies and studied law. Admitted to the bar, he commenced practice in Augusta, Georgia. Georgia organized its citizen-soldiers on a geographical basis, forming local companies into a regiment in each county. Few joined the Richmond County Regiment, which his older brother Benjamin commanded. Few was called to active duty in 1778, when Georgia faced the threat of invasion by a force of Loyalist militia and British regulars based in Florida. Throughout 1779 the regiment, with Few as second in command, frequently turned out to skirmish with probing British units, eventually forcing the enemy to abandon Augusta, which the British had captured soon after the fall of Savannah.

During the late 1770s Few won election to the House of Representatives in the Georgia General Assembly, sat on the state's Executive Council, acted as state surveyor-general, represented Georgia in negotiations with the Indians that succeeded in minimizing the danger of frontier attacks, and served as Richmond County's senior magistrate. Few's growing political prominence and undisputed talent for leadership prompted the state legislature in 1780 to appoint him to represent Georgia in the Continental Congress, which became the Congress of the Confederation after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation a year later. Few served in Congress less than a year when, in the wake of General Nathanael Greene's successful effort to drive the British out of most of Georgia, Congress sent him home to help reassemble Georgia's scattered government. This task accomplished, Few returned to Congress in 1782, where he remained to serve throughout most of the decade.

While a member of the Congress of the Confederation, Few was asked by his state to serve concurrently in the Constitutional Convention that met in Philadelphia in 1787. This dual responsibility caused him to split his time between the two bodies and therefore to miss portions of the constitutional proceedings. Nevertheless, Few firmly supported the effort to create a strong national government and worked hard to secure the Continental Congress' approval of the new instrument of government. He also participated in the Georgia convention in 1788 that ratified the document. Georgia promptly selected Few to serve as one of its original United States Senators. In the Senate, Few opposed the creation of the First Bank of the United States. Planning to retire from politics at the expiration of his term in 1793, he bowed instead to the wishes of his neighbors and served yet another term in the state legislature. In 1796, Few was appointed as a federal judge for the Georgia circuit. During this three-year appointment, he consolidated his reputation as a practical, fair jurist and became a prominent supporter of public education.

At the urging of his wife, a native New Yorker, Few left Georgia in 1799 and moved to Manhattan. Few's new neighbors promptly elected him to represent them in the New York State Assembly from 1802 to 1805 and later as a city alderman from 1813 to 1814. He also served as New York's inspector of prisons from 1802 to 1810 and as the United States Commissioner of Loans in 1804. There, he embarked on yet another career of public service, while supporting his family through banking and the occasional practice of law. He served as president of the City Bank of New York, the predecessor of present-day Citigroup, from 1813 to 1817. Few retired in 1815 to his country home in Fishkill, New York, in Dutchess County (present day Beacon, New York) where he died. Initially buried in the yard of the Reformed Dutch Church of Fishkill Landing, at the request of the state of Georgia, his remains were removed and reinterred at Saint Paul's Church in Augusta, Georgia in 1973.