He graduated from
Harvard University in 1810, studied law, was admitted to the
bar and practiced in Charleston and
Columbia. In the 1820s de Saussure served two terms as Intendent, or Mayor, of the City of Columbia. He was a member of the
South Carolina House of Representatives in 1846 and a judge of the
chancery court in 1847. In 1847 he was signatory to a letter advocating for the creation of more pro-slavery media environment in
Washington, D.C. The letter is known only because it was republished in abolitionist newspaper
The Liberator, reads in part: "The object of this communication is to obtain your aid and active co-operation, in establishing, at Washington, a Paper which shall represent Southern views on the subject of SLAVERY —Southern views of Southern Rights and Interests." as a
Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
R. Barnwell Rhett and served from May 10, 1852, to March 4, 1853. He resumed the practice of law in Columbia, and was a trustee of South Carolina College (now the
University of South Carolina) at Columbia for many years. In December 1860 he was a delegate to South Carolina's Secession Convention and became a signer of the
Ordinance of Secession which led directly to the opening hostilities of the Civil War. == Death ==