Nathan Dane

Nathan Dane (painting by Chester Harding )

Nathan Dane (born December 29, 1752 in Ipswich , Essex County , Province of Massachusetts Bay , †  February 15, 1835 in Beverly , Massachusetts ) was an American politician . Between 1785 and 1788 he was a delegate for Massachusetts at the Continental Congress .

Career

In his youth, Nathan Dane worked on his parents' farm. He then studied until 1778 at Harvard University . After that he taught as a teacher for some time. After studying law and his admission as a lawyer in 1782, he began to practice in Beverly in this profession. At the same time he embarked on a political career. Between 1782 and 1785 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts . He then represented this state in the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1788. There he was involved in the drafting of the Northwest Ordinance , through which the Northwest Territory was established. Dane made sure that slavery was banned in the area. He had concerns about the United States Constitution . Nevertheless, he campaigned for their ratification and hoped for additions that should have the content of the Bill of Rights and which then followed.

Nathan Dane served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1790 and 1791 and from 1794 to 1797 . In 1794 he became an Appeals Judge in Essex County. A year later he was the Massachusetts State Commissioner for the Revision of Legislation. Otherwise he worked as a lawyer again. Politically, he joined the Federalist Party founded by Alexander Hamilton . In 1814 he took part as a delegate at the Hartford Convention , where the federalists of the New England states expressed their protest against the British-American War of 1812 and even threatened to leave the Union. Dane later wrote a few legal treatises. He died in Beverly on February 15, 1835.

Web links

• Nathan Dane in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Nathan Dane in the database of Find a Grave (English)