Eldred Simkins

Eldred Simkins (August 30, 1779 – November 17, 1831) was a Democratic-Republican U.S. Representative from South Carolina and a prominent early nineteenth-century lawyer and state legislator. He was born in Edgefield, South Carolina, then part of the backcountry region that would become a center of political influence in the state. Raised in a planter society that emphasized classical learning and public service, he came of age during the post-Revolutionary period when South Carolina was consolidating its political institutions and expanding its legal profession.

Simkins received his early education at Moses Waddel’s academy at Willington in the Abbeville District of South Carolina, one of the most noted classical schools in the South. Waddel’s academy was renowned for preparing many future Southern political and religious leaders, and Simkins’s attendance there placed him within an influential intellectual network. He continued his formal education at South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) in Columbia, an institution founded in 1801 to train the state’s future leaders. After completing his studies there, he pursued legal training at the Litchfield Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, where he studied for three years. Litchfield was the first formal law school in the United States and attracted students from across the country, giving Simkins exposure to a broader national legal and political culture beyond the South.

After completing his legal education, Simkins was admitted to the bar in 1805. He returned to his native Edgefield and commenced the practice of law there in 1806. Establishing himself as an attorney in a growing legal and commercial center of the upcountry, he quickly entered public life. His legal practice, combined with his educational background and family connections, helped position him for elective office in a state where the legal profession was closely intertwined with politics.

Simkins first served in the South Carolina House of Representatives, marking the beginning of a long career in state government. He subsequently advanced to the South Carolina Senate, in which he served from 1810 to 1812. His legislative work during this period coincided with rising national tensions that would culminate in the War of 1812, and South Carolina’s political leadership was increasingly engaged with questions of national policy and states’ rights. In 1812, Simkins was elected the twenty-fifth Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, serving from 1812 to 1814. In that capacity, he held one of the highest offices in the state, presiding over the Senate and standing in the line of succession to the governorship during a time of war and political realignment.

Simkins entered national politics when he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fifteenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John C. Calhoun, who had left the House to join President James Monroe’s administration. He took his seat on January 24, 1818, and was subsequently reelected to the Sixteenth Congress, serving continuously until March 3, 1821. During his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, he served as chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures in the Sixteenth Congress, a position that placed him at the center of congressional oversight of federal spending in the post–War of 1812 era. His service in Congress occurred at a time when issues such as internal improvements, fiscal policy, and the balance of power between the federal government and the states were increasingly contested. At the conclusion of his second term, he declined to be a candidate for renomination, choosing to withdraw from national office.

After leaving Congress, Simkins returned to South Carolina and resumed the practice of law in Edgefield. In addition to his legal work, he engaged in planting, reflecting the dual professional and agricultural pursuits common among Southern political leaders of his generation. He remained active in state politics and was again elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, serving from 1828 to 1829. His later legislative service took place during a period of mounting sectional tension and the early development of the states’ rights doctrines that would later define South Carolina politics.

Eldred Simkins spent his final years in Edgefield, continuing his legal and planting activities until his death. He died in Edgefield, South Carolina, on November 17, 1831. He was interred in Cedar Fields, the family burial ground near Edgefield, South Carolina, reflecting his enduring ties to the community and region in which he had been born, educated, and had built his career in law and public service.