Robert Andrews (clergyman)

Robert Andrews (circa 1748–February 4, 1804) was a Colonial/American clergyman who became a military chaplain during the American Revolutionary War, then professor at the College of William and Mary as well as author and politician who represented James City County in the Virginia Ratification Convention, then represented Williamsburg in the Virginia House of Delegates (1790-1799).

[1][2] Born in the near Elkton, Maryland and that colony's border with Pennsylvania, to the former Letitia Cooke and her husband Moses Andrews.

[5][6] In late 1774, Andrews became one of the thirteen men (only a few clergymen), to sign a document drafted by eighty-nine former members of the House of Burgesses, which recommended a general congress as well as a non-importation association.

[8] When the college was reorganized in 1779 under the guidance of Thomas Jefferson and George Wythe (who became the country's first law professor), the grammar school was closed, the professorship of oriental languages was abolished and Rev.

However, Andrews retained his position, with the Law of Nature and Nations and the Fine Arts added to his teaching portfolio.

[9] In 1784 he accepted the important mathematical professorship (the college certifying all surveyors in the new Commonwealth), and retained his position as professor until his death.

His next elective office was as one of the delegates for James City County to the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788, which approved the United States Constitution.

[2] Beginning in 1790, Williamsburg voters elected and re-elected Andrews as their (part-time) representative in the Virginia House of Delegates (1790–1798), although the new state's capital had moved to Richmond.

[1] Reverend James Madison and Andrews both served on the federal commission that established the final border between Virginia and Pennsylvania.