William Richardson Davie

William Richardson Davie

William Richardson Davie (born June 20, 1756 in Cumberland England , † November 5, 1820 on his property Tivoli, South Carolina ) was an American politician and the tenth governor of North Carolina .

Early years

The young William Davie came to South Carolina with his parents from England in 1764 . At that time the country was still a British colony. The family built a farm in what is now Lancaster County , South Carolina. William was heavily influenced by his uncle, a Presbyterian preacher. William later attended the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University . There he graduated in 1776. A subsequent law degree in Salisbury, North Carolina, was temporarily interrupted by the American Revolutionary War, which had now broken out . Davie supported the American Revolution and joined the army. There he made it to the Colonel. He fought in several battles and was wounded in the process. During the final years of the war, he was in charge of army supplies in the North Carolina area. After the war and law exams, he ran a prosperous law firm in Halifax, North Carolina.

Political rise

Between 1786 and 1798 Davie was a member of the North Carolina Parliament . In 1787 he was a delegate at the Congress that passed the US Constitution and then he was also one of the delegates in North Carolina who ratified the new US Constitution for their country. He was also instrumental in founding the University of North Carolina.

North Carolina Governor

In 1798 he was elected governor of his country by the MPs to succeed Samuel Ashe . During his only one-year term in office, there were some heated discussions about the border line with the neighboring states of Tennessee and South Carolina . In November 1799 he resigned as governor because he was appointed by President John Adams to a peace commission that was sent to France to end the quasi-war between the two countries.

Further career and death

Even after his return, the federalist Davie remained politically active. In 1803 he ran unsuccessfully for the US Congress. Until 1807 he was a curator at the University of North Carolina . He had already assumed this office in 1789. In 1812 he was proposed as a candidate for the vice-presidency by a minority of his party. Even this plan was unsuccessful. In the war of 1812 he took part in the rank of general. President James Madison wanted him to be in command of the Army, but Davie refused. After retiring from public life, he retired to his property called Tivoli in South Carolina. He died there in 1820. William Richardson was married to Sarah Jones and had six children with her.

literature

• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 2, Meckler Books, Westport, Conn. 1978, 4 volumes.

Web links

• William Davie at the National Governors Association (English)
• William Richardson Davie in the database of Find a Grave (English)