Philip Phillips: Encyclopedia II - Philip Phillips - Family and Early Life

Philip Phillips - Family and Early Life

Philip Phillips was born into a Jewish family in Charleston, South Carolina, the son of Aaron Pfeiffer from Ansbach, Bavaria, who changed his name to Phillips when he immigrated around 1800. The family were members of the Beth Eliohim Congregation in Charleston, and in 1825 Aaron Phillips was the first president of the Reformed Society of Israelites, early leaders in the Jewish Reform movement. Philip Phillips' mother, Caroline, was the daughter of Marks Lazarus, a veteran of Fort Moultrie, the siege of Savannah, and the siege of Charleston in the American Revolution; later, he was a British prisoner of war.

Educated at the Middletown Military Academy in Middletown, Connecticut, Phillips was a roommate of Thomas Hart Seymour, later the "hero of Chapultepec," Governor of Connecticut, Ambassador to Russia, and opponent of military action against the South. Phillips returned to Charleston in 1825 where he studied law under John Gadsden, the U.S. District Attorney, and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1829. He then began his legal practice at the town of Cheraw, South Carolina, living with his uncle, Joshua Lazarus.

From Cheraw, Phillips rode the circuit of the local courthouses, becoming the partner of John Coit. During the controversy in South Carolina regarding the Tariff of 1832, he was among the leaders in rallying what is now known as Chesterfield County to the Union cause, in opposition to nullification. He was a member of the Nullification Convention in the Nullification Crisis of 1832 and continued to represent Chesterfield County in the South Carolina General Assembly in 1834-35.

In 1835, Phillips began the practice of law at Mobile, Alabama, at a time when many South Carolinians were moving to that state. A year later, he returned to Charleston to marry Eugenia Levy. He was elected to the Alabama Legislature in 1844 and was Chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations. In 1840 and 1846, he published a digest of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Alabama, and in 1849 he was elected Chairman of the State Convention called for the purpose of promoting internal improvements.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Family and Early Life", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki