Edward Rutledge (November 23, 1749 – January 23, 1800), South Carolina statesman, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later governor of South Carolina.

Like his eldest brother John Rutledge, Edward was born in Charleston. He studied law at Oxford University, was admitted to the English bar (Middle Temple), and returned to Charleston to practice. He married and had three children with Henrietta Middleton, daughter of Henry Middleton. Rutledge had a successful law practice with his partner, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. He became a leading citizen of Charleston, and owned more than 50 slave.

Along with his brother John, Rutledge represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress. Although a firm supporter of colonial rights, he was initially reluctant to support independence from Great Britain, hoping instead for reconciliation with the mother country. Like other Southern planters, Rutledge did not want the American Revolution to change the basic social structure of the South. He worked to have African Americans expelled from the Continental Army, and led the successful effort to have wording removed from the Declaration of Independence that condemned slavery and the slave trade. Nevertheless, he signed the Declaration for the sake of unanimity, and at age 26 was the youngest to sign.

He returned home in November 1776 to take a seat in the South Carolina Assembly. He served as a captain of artillery in the South Carolina militia, and fought at the Battle of Beaufort in 1779. The next year he was captured by the British in the fall of Charleston, and held prisoner until July 1781.

After his release he returned to the state assembly, where he served until 1796. He was known as an active member and an advocate for the confiscation of Loyalist property. He served in the state senate for two years, then was elected governor in 1798. He barely finished his one term before he died.

Rutledge was immortalized in the musical play 1776. He was a key character, listed fifth after Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and Dickinson. He was portrayed by Clifford David in the original Broadway production and John Cullum in the 1972 film. He sings the song "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" about the Triangle Trade, and the view of slavery in the colonies.

Edward Rutledge's descendants include actresses Goldie Hawn and her daughter, Kate Hudson. Goldie Hawn's father, a musician in Washington, D.C., was in fact named Edward Rutledge Hawn in honor of their ancestor.

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