Archibald Bulloch was born and educated in Charleston, SC, the son of James Bulloch and Jean Stobo Bulloch. He began to practice law in South Carolina and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the South Carolina Militia. His family moved to Georgia in 1758, and Bulloch moved to Savannah, GA in 1764. He was elected to the Commons House of Assembly of Georgia in 1768 as a member of the Liberty Party. His fellow assembly members appointed him as a delegate for Georgia in the Continental Congress in 1775.

Bulloch would have been a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but decided to return to Georgia to aid the revolution there. In 1776, he fought under the command of Colonel Lachian McIntosh in the Battle of the Rice Boats and the Battle of Tybee Island. On June 20, 1776, he was chosen to be the first President and Commander-in Chief of Georgia under the state's temporary republican government. When he signed the state constitution on February 20, 1777, his position transferred from president to governor of Georgia. He died in Savannah while preparing against British invasion of Georgia in 1777. There is some speculation that he was poisoned, though this has never been proven.

His son William Bellinger Bulloch later represented Georgia in the United States Senate. Archibald's great-great-grandson was President Theodore Roosevelt. His great-great-granddaughter was First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt's son Archibald was named after Bulloch. Bulloch County, Georgia was named in his honor.