JOHN MORIN SCOTT

'John Morin Scott' (1730 – September 14, 1784) was a lawyer, military officer, and statesman before, during and after the American Revolution.
The son of New York City merchant John Scott and Mary Morin, he was born in Manhattan, attended public school there, and graduated from Yale in 1746, at the age of 16. He was admitted to the New York bar association in 1752, and practiced law in Manhattan, where he also served as an alderman from 1756 to 1761.
During the Revolutionary War, John Scott served under George Washington in the New York and New Jersey campaign as a brigadier general, commanding the 1st New York Independent Battalion, the 2nd New York County Battalion, and several New York Militia Regiments. He fought with Putnam's division at the Battle of Brooklyn on August 27, 1776, and was the last of Washington's generals to argue against surrendering Manhattan to the British, possibly due to his landholdings there, including what is now Times Square and New York City's Theater District. Twenty days later, on September 16, 1776, Scott led the same battalions and regiments at the Battle of Harlem Heights, an American victory.
After the war, Scott regained his Manhattan estate and was a candidate for the first governorship of New York State, losing to George Clinton. He became, instead, New York's first Secretary of State, a state senator, and also served as an active delegate to the Continental Congress.
General John Morin Scott was born, lived, and died in New York City. His body is interred at the north entrance of Trinity Church, New York. His inscribed slab is visible from the corner of Wall Street and Broadway. An equestrian statue is erected in his honor in upper Manhattan.

Contents

Offices, titles, and affiliations

References

External links

Offices, titles, and affiliations

★ Sons of Liberty founding member

★ New York alderman (1756–1761)

★ New York General Committee member (1775)

★ Provincial Congress member (1775–1777)

★ Brigadier General of the New York Militia during the Revolutionary War

★ Member of the State of New York committee to author a state constitution (1776)

★ New York State Senator (1777–1782)

★ New York delegate in the Continental Congress (1780 and 1782)

★ Secretary of State of New York (1778–1784)
Additionally, Scott was elected Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court of New York in 1777, but declined.

References

★ Dillon, Dorothy R. ''The New York Triumvirate: A Study of the Legal and Political Careers of William Livingston, John Morin Scott, William Smith, Jr.''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1949.

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★ Reprint: 1968. ISBN 0-404-51548-7

External links

★ Biography and portrait at FamousAmericans.net

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