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"L" is for Lynch, Thomas, Sr. (ca. 1727-1776)

South Carolina From A to Z
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"L" is for Lynch, Thomas, Sr. (ca. 1727-1776). Legislator, delegate to the Continental Congress. A prominent planter, Lynch was active in public affairs. He was a member of the Commons House of Assembly from 1752 until 1775. From an early date he opposed British encroachment on colonial autonomy. He was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress (1765) and a member of the Non-Importation Association (1769). As one of South Carolina’s best-known and most ardent patriots, Lynch became a great favorite of the Sons of Liberty. In 1774, he was elected to the First Continental Congress and re-elected to the Second. In both Congresses, he played an active role. While attending Congress in early 1776, Thomas Lynch, Sr., suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed and prevented him from signing the Declaration of Independence.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.