Thomas Heyward Jr. (July 28, 1746 – March 6, 1809) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, jurist, and politician.

As a member of the Continental Congress representing South Carolina, he signed the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation.

Heyward's imprisonment in Florida by the British for nearly a year and the loss of a considerable number of slaves led to his being proclaimed a martyr of the revolution.

[4] He was educated at home, then traveled to England to study law where he was a member of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple.

Notable descendants include DuBose Heyward, whose novel and later stage play Porgy portrayed Black African-Americans and was transformed by George Gerswhin into Porgy and Bess, an American opera that achieved both credit as a musical masterpiece and criticism for pervasive racism.

[16][17] In addition to his wives, he impregnated at least one of the women he enslaved, making him the grandfather of Thomas E. Miller, one of only five African Americans elected to Congress from the South in the 1890s.