Home › K › King (RUFUS an American statesman)

King (RUFUS an American statesman)

RUFUS, an American statesman; born in Scarboro, Me., March 24, 1755. Studied at Harvard College in 1773, admitted to the bar in 1778; elected to Congress in 1784; elected to the United States Senate, serving 1789- 1796; was United States minister to Great Britain, 1796-1803; elected third time to Senate in 1813, and won renown as an orator by speech on the burning of Washington by the British. In 1819- 1825 member of Senate, then minister to England. He was the Federalist candidate for the vice-presidency in 1804 and 1808. With Hamilton, wrote the "Camillus Letters." He died in Jamaica, Long Island, N. Y., April 29, 1827.