William Henry Drayton began as a South Carolina planter and defender of royal authority. Elected to the assembly in 1765, he attacked nonimportation in essays collected as The Letters of Freeman. A visit to Britain brought appointment to the Provincial Council. Patronage disputes and opposition to the Coercive Acts helped turn him toward resistance.

In 1774 Drayton's Letter from Freeman denied Parliament's jurisdiction over the colonies and proposed a reformed imperial relationship. His judicial addresses urged resistance, leading to suspension from the royal council. Elected to the Provincial Congress in 1775, he helped seize arms and official correspondence and traveled through the backcountry to confront Loyalist opposition. He obtained a neutrality agreement at Ninety Six and became president of the Provincial Congress. In February 1776 he openly urged a separate government and a break with Britain.

Drayton became chief justice under the new state government and helped shape South Carolina's constitutions of 1776 and 1778. He proposed Articles of Confederation revisions protecting state authority and southern interests. Sent to the Continental Congress in 1778, he served on committees and wrote against British reconciliation proposals. He collected documents for a history of the Revolution, but died in Philadelphia in September 1779 before completing it. His son John later used the materials in published memoirs. He remained a planter defending slaveholding interests.