Egbert Benson

Egbert Benson

Egbert Benson (born June 21, 1746 in New York City , † August 24, 1833 in Jamaica , New York ) was an American lawyer and politician . He represented New York State in the US House of Representatives between 1789 and 1793 and in 1813 .

Career

Egbert Benson grew up during the British colonial era and graduated from Kings's College (now Columbia University ) in 1765 . He studied law and began practicing law in New York City after receiving his license to practice. Benson was actively involved in the American independence movement. As a deputy he took part in the provincial convention in 1775. Then he sat on the Council of Safety in 1777 and 1778 . In 1777 he was appointed the first Attorney General of New York, a position he held until 1789. He was also a member of the New York State Assembly from 1777 to 1781 and 1788 . In the final year of the War of Independence , he was named one of three commissioners who directed the embarkation of the Tory refugees to the loyal British provinces. Between 1784 and 1801 he was an associate judge at the New York Supreme Court . Benson was a member of the Continental Congress in 1784, 1787 and 1788 . Last year he took part in the New York Constituent Assembly , which ratified the US Constitution . Politically, he belonged to the Pro-Administration Party .

In the congressional elections of 1789 , Benson was elected to the US House of Representatives, which was still in session in New York City at the time, in the third constituency of New York, where he began his service on March 4, 1789 as the first member of this district. He was re-elected once. Since he refused to run again in 1792 , he left the congress after March 3, 1793 . He then served as regent at New York University between 1789 and 1802 . On February 20, 1801, he was appointed associate judge at the Federal District Court for the second district. Between 1804 and 1816 he was the first president of the New York Historical Society . During this time he belonged to the Federalist Party . In 1812 he ran for a seat in Congress in New York's second constituency. After a successful election, he succeeded William Paulding Jr. and Samuel L. Mitchill on March 4, 1812 , who previously together represented the second district in the US House of Representatives. On August 2, 1813, he resigned from his congress seat. He died on August 24, 1833 in Jamaica and was then buried in Prospect Cemetery .

literature

• Kenneth R. Bowling and Donald R. Kennon: Neither Separate Nor Equal: Congress in the 1790s , Ohio University Press, 2000, pp. 61-90.
• Weed, Parsons & Co .: The New York Civil List , 1858, pp. 47, 61, 68, 70, 157-159, 164, 258, 335, 847.

Web links

• Egbert Benson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Egbert Benson in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Remarks

1. ^ Member of the board of directors of a university