George Bryan

George Bryan

George Bryan (born 1731 in Dublin , Ireland , † January 27, 1791 ) was an American politician . In 1778 he was the acting president of Pennsylvania .

Career

The exact date of birth and place of death of George Bryan are unknown. In 1752 Bryan emigrated to the then British colonies in America. He settled in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, where he did business with his father. This partnership soon broke up, but the young George became a successful businessman in the import and export business. He was also active in the Presbyterian Church, where he mediated between two opposing factions in the 1750s and 1760s.

Bryan was an early supporter of the independence movement. As early as 1765 he was active against the stamp law , which led to his financial ruin in the meantime, since he joined a trade boycott. At the beginning of the 1770s he held back a little politically because of his bad health at the time. After the Pennsylvania Constitution was passed, he was elected the first vice president of the then independent state on March 5, 1777. He was Thomas Wharton's representative . This office corresponded to the later office of the lieutenant governor . After Wharton's death, Bryan assumed the presidency on May 23, 1778, according to the constitution. His official title was controversial in Pennsylvania at the time. It was about constitutional questions such as whether he should be a regular or just acting ( acting ) president. Other politicians did not even want to give him this title and continued to dub him vice-president. This is reminiscent of the later discussions about President John Tyler , who succeeded the late William H. Harrison in 1841 , and whose status was also controversial at the time. In any case, he was between May 23, 1778 and December 1, 1778 head of state of Pennsylvania.

In June 1778, the Pennsylvania government returned from Lancaster to Philadelphia, which it had fled from the advancing British nine months earlier. At that time the War of Independence was still in full swing. On December 1, 1778, Bryan was clearly defeated by Joseph Reed in the Pennsylvania presidential election , but he was re-elected vice president. He held this office until his resignation on October 11, 1779. Afterwards he was a judge at the Supreme Court and became a member of the general assembly of that state. Bryan was an early opponent of slavery . In 1787 he opposed ratification of the constitution because he did not consider the two-chamber system with a House of Representatives and a Senate to be good. Bryan was also a curator for the University of Pennsylvania . From 1779 to 1788 he was treasurer of the board of trustees.

He was an elected member of the American Philosophical Society .

Web links

• George Bryan in the database of the National Governors Association (English)
• George Bryan in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Member History: George Bryan. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 23, 2018 .