was exchanged. Ramsay served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786. In the absence of its chairman, John Hancock, Ramsay served as president pro tempore of the Congress of the Confederation from November 23, 1785 to May 12, 1786. In the 1790s, Ramsay served three terms in the South Carolina Senate, and was its president. During this time, Ramsay was nominated to the U.S. Senate, but his nomination was defeated on account of his abolitionist leanings. Historical writing In his own day, Ramsay was better known as a historian and author than as a politician. He was one of the American Revolution's first major historians, who wrote with knowledge and insights acquired by being personally involved in the events of the American Revolution. His major historical works included: History of the Revolution of South Carolina (1785, two volumes) History of the American Revolution (1789, two volumes) A Dissertation on the Manners of Acquiring the Character and Privileges of a Citizen (1789) Life of Washington (1807) History of South Carolina (1809, two volumes) History of the United States (1816–1817, three volumes) – published posthumously Universal History Americanized (1819, twelve volumes, including History of the United States as the first 3 volumes) In 1812, six weeks after the death of his wife Martha Laurens Ramsay, he published her diary and private letters under the title Memoirs of the Life of Martha Laurens Ramsay. Her memoirs remain historically valuable as a chronicle of the life of a well-educated Southern woman during the American Revolutionary War and the early years of the nation, including while she took her mother's place as hostess for her father's political gatherings in the 1780s. Critical response Ramsay's History of the American Revolution was one of the first and most accomplished histories to appear in the aftermath of that event, according to Karen O'Brien in 1994. O'Brien wrote that Ramsay's history challenges American exceptionalist literary frameworks by presenting itself within the European Enlightenment historical tradition, reflecting Ramsay's belief that the United States would have no historical destiny beyond typical patterns of European political and cultural development. Epic portrayals of American history in the 19th century were more the product of New England's historiographic traditions coupled with German historical thought, treating national character as a historical agent, rather than a historical result, as Ramsay suggests. Ramsay's history, then, is better considered the last of the European