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Benjamin Smith (North Carolina politician)

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Governor of North Carolina (1756–1826)

Benjamin Smith
16th Governor of North Carolina
In office
December 1, 1810 – December 11, 1811
Preceded byDavid Stone
Succeeded byWilliam Hawkins
Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of North Carolina and Tennessee
In office
December 16, 1808 – November 29, 1811
Preceded byJohn Hall
Succeeded byRobert Williams
1st Adjutant General of North Carolina
In office
1806–1807
Appointed byNathaniel Alexander
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byEdward Pasteur
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons
In office
1789–1792
1804–1805
Member of the North Carolina Senate
In office
1792–1800
Personal details
Born(1756-01-10)January 10, 1756
Charles Town,
South Carolina
DiedJanuary 26, 1826(1826-01-26) (aged 70)
Smithville, North Carolina, US
Political partyDemocratic-Republican
SpouseSarah Dry
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
BranchContinental Army
RankColonel
Battles

Benjamin Smith (January 10, 1756 – January 26, 1826) was the 16th governor of North Carolina from 1810 to 1811.

Early life

Smith was born in Charles Town, South Carolina into a socially prominent family, later moving to Brunswick County, North Carolina. His parents were Thomas Smith and Sarah Moore Smith. During the American Revolutionary War, Smith served an aide-de-camp to General George Washington and rose to the rank of colonel in the Continental Army.

Political career

In 1784, Smith was elected to the Continental Congress, although it is unclear whether he actually served. He was active in the North Carolina Constitutional Conventions of 1788 and 1789, and served a number of terms in the North Carolina General Assembly, in 1783 (Senate), 1789–1792 (House of Commons), 1792–1800 (Senate), 1801 (House of Commons) 1804–1805 (House of Commons) and 1806–1810 (Senate). From 1795 to 1799, Smith was the Speaker of the North Carolina Senate, and in 1798 he was the Federalist nominee for the U.S. Senate, losing to Jesse Franklin. During his political career, Smith also sat on the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and donated 20,000 acres (81 km) of land for the university's endowment; he chaired the trustees during his term as governor. As of 1789, he owned 221 slaves.

In 1810, aligned with the Democratic-Republican Party (he had earlier had Federalist leanings), Smith was elected governor by the North Carolina General Assembly. He served only a single one-year term, and emphasized reform of the state's criminal code and penitentiary system. Although Smith did seek re-election to the governor's seat in 1811, he polled behind William Hawkins on the first ballot and withdrew himself from consideration. He later returned to the North Carolina Senate in 1816.

Death

Smith died in Smithville, North Carolina in 1826 and is buried at the St. Philip's Church near Wilmington.

Honors

Smithville (present day Southport), North Carolina, was named after him.

References

  1. Alan D. Watson, General Benjamin Smith: A Biography of the North Carolina Governor, p. 5, McFarland, 2014, ISBN 9780786485284
  2. Lewis, J.D. "Members of the North Carolina General Assemblies 1777-1800". Carolana.com. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  3. "A New Nation Votes". elections.lib.tufts.edu. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  4. "Benjamin Smith (1756-1826) · Slavery and the University · Carolina Story: Virtual Museum of University History".

Further reading

  • Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978, Robert Sobel and John Raimo, eds. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. (ISBN 0-930466-00-4)

External links

Political offices
Preceded byWilliam Lenoir Speaker of the North Carolina Senate
1795–1799 		Succeeded byJoseph Riddick
Preceded byDavid Stone Governor of North Carolina
1810–1811 		Succeeded byWilliam Hawkins
Military offices
New office Adjutant General of North Carolina
1806–1807 		Succeeded byEdward Pasteur
Masonic offices
Preceded byJohn Hall Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of North Carolina and Tennessee
1808–1811 		Succeeded byRobert Williams
Governors and lieutenant governors of North Carolina
Governors
Lieutenant
governors
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