Abraham Nott

Abraham Nott (February 5, 1768 – June 19, 1830) was a United States representative from South Carolina, a prominent jurist, and a slaveholder. He was born in Saybrook in the Connecticut Colony, where he received his early education under the instruction of a private teacher. Raised in New England during the final years of the colonial era and the early years of the new republic, he pursued a classical education that prepared him for admission to Yale College. He graduated from Yale in 1787, at a time when the institution was a leading training ground for the professional and political elite of the new United States.

Shortly after completing his studies, Nott left Connecticut and moved south, reflecting the broader post-Revolutionary migration of educated Northerners into the developing regions of the South. In 1788 he settled in McIntosh County, Georgia, where he worked for one year as a private tutor. In 1789 he relocated to Camden, South Carolina, which was then an important inland commercial and legal center. There he undertook the study of law, reading in the office of established practitioners as was customary at the time. He was admitted to the bar in 1791 and began the practice of law in Union, South Carolina, building a reputation in the upcountry as a capable attorney.

Nott entered public life in the mid-1790s. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, serving from 1796 to 1797, during a period when the state was consolidating its post-Revolutionary institutions and expanding its plantation economy based on enslaved labor. Identified with Federalist principles, he supported a strong national government and closer alignment with the commercial and legal frameworks favored by Federalists in other parts of the country. His legislative service in Columbia helped to establish his standing as a public figure in South Carolina and paved the way for his election to national office.

In 1798 Nott was elected as a Federalist to the Sixth United States Congress from South Carolina. He served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1799, to March 3, 1801. During his tenure in Congress, he sat in the national legislature at a time of intense partisan conflict between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, including debates over foreign policy, internal taxation, and the scope of federal authority. Although not among the most prominent national figures of his party, his service reflected the presence of Federalist sentiment in South Carolina during the early national period. After the conclusion of his term he did not seek or did not secure reelection and returned to his legal career.

Following his departure from Congress, Nott resumed the practice of law and shifted his base of operations to Columbia, the state capital, in 1804. His professional stature continued to grow, and in 1805 he was elected a member of the board of trustees of the University of South Carolina (then South Carolina College), which had been recently established to provide higher education and civic leadership for the state. His role as trustee linked him to the intellectual and institutional development of higher education in South Carolina and reflected the esteem in which he was held by the state’s political and professional classes.

Nott also played a direct role in the civic governance of Columbia. In 1807 he was elected Intendant of Columbia, the equivalent of mayor, overseeing municipal affairs in the young capital city. His service as Intendant placed him at the center of local administration, including issues of urban development, public order, and regulation in a community increasingly shaped by the plantation economy and the presence of enslaved people. His combined experience in municipal leadership, higher education governance, and legislative service further enhanced his qualifications for judicial office.

In 1810 Nott was elected judge of the South Carolina Circuit Court, marking the beginning of a long and influential judicial career. As a circuit judge he traveled widely within the state, presiding over both civil and criminal matters and helping to shape the application of South Carolina’s laws during the early nineteenth century. His work on the bench coincided with the expansion of cotton cultivation and the entrenchment of slavery as the foundation of the state’s economy and legal order. In 1824 he was chosen president of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, then the state’s highest appellate tribunal, a position that confirmed his status as one of South Carolina’s leading jurists. He continued serving as a judge until his death, contributing to the development of the state’s jurisprudence over two decades.

Abraham Nott died in Fairfield County, South Carolina, on June 19, 1830. He was interred in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, a burial place for many of the city’s political and professional leaders. His family remained prominent in Southern intellectual and professional circles; he was the father of Josiah C. Nott, who became a noted physician and a controversial figure for his writings on race and slavery. Through his legislative, municipal, educational, and judicial service, Abraham Nott occupied a significant place in the political and legal life of South Carolina in the early republic.