{{Short description|American politician}} {{More footnotes needed|date=February 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} <!-- This article was automatically created by User:polbot from http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000661. The prose may be stilted, and there may be grammatical and Wikification errors. Please improve in any way you see fit. -->{{Infobox officeholder |name = Robert Witherspoon |image = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1767|01|29}} |birth_place = near Kingstree, Province of South Carolina, British America |death_date = {{Death date and age|1837|10|11|1767|01|29}} |death_place = near Mayesville, South Carolina, U.S. |resting_place = |office1 = Member of the South Carolina Senate from Claremont District |term1 = November 27, 1821 – December 20, 1821 |predecessor1 = Charles Miller |successor1 = Stephen Decatur Miller |office2 = Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Williamsburg District |term_start2 = November 24, 1806 |term_end2 = June 29, 1808 |term_start3 = November 22, 1802 |term_end3 = May 16, 1804 |term_start4 = November 26, 1792 |term_end4 = May 12, 1794 |state5 = South Carolina |district5 = 3rd |term_start5 = March 4, 1809 |term_end5 = March 3, 1811 |predecessor5 = David R. Williams |successor5 = David R. Williams |office6 = Treasurer of South Carolina |term_start6 = 1800 |term_end6 = 1802 |governor6 = John Drayton |party = Democratic-Republican |profession = planter, politician }} '''Robert Witherspoon''' (January 29, 1767{{spnd}}October 11, 1837) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from South Carolina.
Witherspoon was born near Kingstree in the Province of South Carolina as the son of a Scots-Irish father, Robert Witherspoon (1728–1778) who was born in County Down, Ireland and settled in the Province of South Carolina. His mother was Elizabeth Heathly Witherspoon (1740–1820), who was born in South Carolina. Robert Witherspoon attended local schools.
Witherspoon was elected State treasurer in 1800 and served one term. He was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1792 to 1794 from 1802 to 1804 and from 1806 to 1808.
Witherspoon was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eleventh Congress (March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1811). He declined to be a candidate for reelection. He had large slave planting interests in Sumter County, South Carolina.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Weil |first1=Julie Zauzmer |last2=Blanco |first2=Adrian |last3=Dominguez |first3=Leo |title=More than 1,800 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/ |access-date=2023-02-20 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en}}</ref> He opposed the nullification act in 1832.
He died near Mayesville, South Carolina, October 11, 1837. He was interred in the Salem Brick Church Cemetery.
He was great-great-grandfather of Robert Witherspoon Hemphill.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== {{CongBio|W000661}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box |state=South Carolina |district=3 |before=David R. Williams |years=1809–1811 |after=David R. Williams}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Witherspoon, Robert}} Category:1767 births Category:1837 deaths Category:Members of the South Carolina House of Representatives Category:People from Williamsburg County, South Carolina Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States representatives from South Carolina Category:People from Mayesville, South Carolina Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly