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Robert Olwell, William Henry Drayton: South Carolina Revolutionary Patriot, Journal of American History, Volume 89, Issue 3, December 2002, Pages 1027–1028, https://doi.org/10.2307/3092368
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No patriot as prominent as William Henry Drayton, and certainly none as zealous for independence, changed sides so late into the struggle. At the start of March 1775, Drayton was a member of the South Carolina Governor's Council. By the end of April, Drayton chaired all three of the committees through which the South Carolina Provincial Congress controlled the colony. For the next year, he stood at the head of the revolutionary movement in South Carolina. How can Drayton's sudden conversion be explained? Likewise, how did a recent convert so quickly assume a leadership role? Keith Krawczynski aims to answer these questions and to rescue Drayton “from the ash heap of history” by teasing out the thread of principle that held together his seemingly contrary political positions. Drayton stood still, Krawczynski asserts; it was the world around him that turned. This study of Drayton's short career (he died in 1779) illuminates the paradoxical character of the revolution in South Carolina, at once conservative and radical.
