Richard Caswell

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Richard Caswell (born August 3, 1729 in Baltimore County , Province of Maryland , † November 10, 1789 in Fayetteville , North Carolina ) was an American politician and the first and fifth governor of North Carolina.

Early years and political advancement

Richard Caswell had lived in what was then the British colony of North Carolina since 1746. After elementary school, he studied law and became a lawyer in Hillsboro. From 1752 to 1754 he was an employee of the Orange County court . His political career began in 1754 when he became a member of the Colonial Delegate Assembly of the North Carolina Colony. He kept this mandate until 1771. During the last two years in this body, he was even its chairman ( speaker ). In 1774 and 1775 he was a delegate to the American Continental Congress . In the American War of Independence , which began soon after , Caswell fought temporarily as an American officer against the British. He participated in a few battles, but his main field remained politics.

The North Carolina Constitution

In 1776, the year the United States declared independence, a constituent assembly met in North Carolina to give the former colony a democratic order. Richard Caswell was named President of the congregation. In addition, he was appointed acting governor of North Carolina until the election of the first governor by the Chamber of Deputies. The new constitution provided for one-year terms of office for the office of governor, with the possibility of a total of three consecutive terms of office. The governor, as well as most other officials, were not elected by the people under this constitution, but by the North Carolina House of Representatives. The office of lieutenant governor has only existed in North Carolina since the second constitution was passed in 1868. Universal suffrage was not part of this constitution, but human rights ( Declaration of Rights ) were. The separation of powers was enshrined in the constitution, even though the Chamber of Deputies was given greater power than the governor's government. Public offices were tied to land ownership under the 1776 constitution. This constitution remained officially in force until 1868, but has since been modified several times. From about 1835 the governor was elected by the people.

North Carolina Governor

After his appointment by the Constituent Assembly in December 1776 as incumbent governor, Caswell was elected by the MPs as the first official governor of North Carolina in April 1777. He was re-elected in the following three years, according to the constitution. His term of office finally ended on April 20, 1780. The focus of his first years as governor was the ongoing war against England for American independence. North Carolina had to provide troops for the army and provide them with weapons and provisions. In the country itself, as in many other former British colonies in North America, conflicts arose between the loyalists, the supporters of the British colonial empire, and the American patriots. There were also some regular battles between the Americans and British in North Carolina. In the following years, from 1782 to 1784, Caswell was a member of the Senate of North Carolina and temporarily Secretary of the Treasury ( Comptroller ) of this country. He was also appointed Commander-in-Chief of the militia by Parliament, which created tension between the new Governor Abner Nash and the House of Representatives. In 1785 he was again elected governor of his country. He remained in office until December 20, 1787 through subsequent re-election. It was the time when there was a dispute over the country's western border. The present state of Tennessee originally belonged to North Carolina. However, five counties split off from North Carolina in 1784 and formed the so-called State of Franklin . The residents of the new country elected John Sevier , who later became the first governor of Tennessee, to be their head of state. As a result, the State of Franklin dissolved again. From 1790, after Caswell's death, the federal government founded the Southwest Territory in the west from former areas of North Carolina that the state had renounced, from which the state of Tennessee emerged in 1796.

Further career and death

After the end of his tenure, Caswell was to attend the federal conference for the adoption of the US Constitution for North Carolina. But he hadn't accepted this assignment. At the end of his political career, he became an MP and President of the North Carolina Parliament . Richard Caswell died in November 1789. He was married to Mary Mackilwean and the couple had three children.

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personal data
SURNAME Caswell, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician and governor of North Carolina
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1729
PLACE OF BIRTH Baltimore County , Maryland
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1789
Place of death Fayetteville , North Carolina