(March 24, 1755–April 29, 1827), was an attorney, politician and a diplomat. He was one of the signers of the Constitution of the United States; a member of the Continental Congress; a diplomat; a U.S. Minister to England; and a U.S. Senator from New York. He also served as an aide to General Sullivan during the Revolutionary War. At 32 years old, Rufus King, a graduate of Harvard, was one of the youngest delegates at the Constitutional Convention.
In a speech made before the Senate at the time Missouri was petitioning for statehood, Rufus King stated:
I hold that all laws or compacts imposing any such condition [as involuntary servitude] upon any human being are absolutely void because contrary to the law of nature, which is the law of God.1467