William Bingham

William Bingham

William Bingham (born March 8, 1752 in Philadelphia , Province of Pennsylvania , † February 7, 1804 in Bath , Somerset , England ) was an American politician . Between 1795 and 1801 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US Senate .

Career

Company of the Lancaster and Turnpike Road share dated March 16, 1795, signed by William Bingham

William Bingham grew up during the British colonial era. In 1768 he graduated from Philadelphia College , from which today's University of Pennsylvania emerged . In the 1770s he joined the American Revolution. Between 1777 and 1780 he was an agent of the Continental Congress in Martinique and St. Pierre in the West Indies during the American Revolutionary War . With the help of his connections he succeeded in bringing up some British ships and allowing the loot, including weapons and ammunition, to be given to the Americans. Privately, he bought large areas of land in other states such as B. New York . In the 1780s he was considered one of the richest men in Pennsylvania. He was involved in various companies. Among other things, he owned the trading house Bingham, Inglis, and Gilmore . In 1781 he founded the Pennsylvania Bank. In 1791 the Company of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was founded , of which he was the first president.

At the same time he began a political career. Between 1786 and 1788 he was a member of the Continental Congress and from 1790 to 1791 he was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives , of which he was President in 1791. In 1794 and 1795 he was a member of the State Senate . He also held the office of President in this body. Politically, he became a member of the Federalist Party founded by Alexander Hamilton in the late 1790s . Since 1787 he was a member of the American Philosophical Society .

In 1794 William Bingham was elected to the US Senate, where he succeeded Robert Morris on March 4, 1795 . Since he renounced another candidacy in 1800, he left the Congress on March 3, 1801 after his six-year term had expired . During this time, the new federal capital Washington, DC was moved into in 1800 . Between 1795 and 1797 Bingham was the incumbent President of the Senate.

After his time in Congress ended, he retired from politics and devoted himself to his private businesses. A little later he moved to Bath in England, where he died on February 6, 1804. He was married to Ann Willing Bingham (1764-1801). This was the daughter of Thomas Willing (1731-1821), the delegate in the Continental Congress and later President of the Bank of North America and then the First Bank of the United States .

Web links

Commons : William Bingham  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• William Bingham in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Commerzbank - The American Founders on Stocks and Bonds, pp. 14–15, 1987
2. ^ Member History: William Bingham. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 2, 2018 .