King, Rufus (1755-1827), was an American statesman and a signer of the Constitution of the United States. He was noted for his early opposition to the expansion of slavery into the nation’s western territories.
While representing Massachusetts in the Congress of the Confederation from 1784 to 1786, King proposed that slavery be prohibited in the Northwest Territory. This prohibition became law in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (see Northwest Ordinance ). King served as a U.S. senator from New York from 1789 to 1796 and from 1813 to 1825. In 1819 and 1820, King opposed admitting Missouri to the Union as a slave state. But the territory was admitted with slavery in accordance with the Missouri Compromise (see Missouri Compromise ).
King was born on March 24, 1755, in Scarboro, Maine, then a part of Massachusetts. He moved to New York City in 1786. King represented Massachusetts at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and helped gain the state’s approval of the Constitution. He served as ambassador to Britain (later the United Kingdom) from 1796 to 1803 and in 1825 and 1826. He was the Federalist candidate for vice president in 1804 and 1808 and for president in 1816. King died on April 29, 1827.
