Richard Dobbs Spaight | |
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.jpg) Portrait byEllen Sharples,c. 1800–1810. | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's10th district | |
| In office December 10, 1798 – March 3, 1801 | |
| Preceded by | Nathan Bryan |
| Succeeded by | John Stanly |
| 8thGovernor of North Carolina | |
| In office December 14, 1792 – November 19, 1795 | |
| Preceded by | Alexander Martin |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Ashe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Dobbs Spaight (1758-03-25)March 25, 1758 |
| Died | September 6, 1802(1802-09-06) (aged 44) New Bern, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Federalist (before 1799) Democratic-Republican (1799–1802) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingRichard |
| Education | University of Glasgow |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service | North Carolina Militia |
| Rank | Major |
| Battles/wars | American Revolutionary War • Battle of Camden Court House |
Richard Dobbs Spaight (March 25, 1758 – September 6, 1802) was an AmericanFounding Father, politician,planter, and signer of theUnited States Constitution, who served as aDemocratic-RepublicanU.S. Representative forNorth Carolina's 10th congressional district from 1798 to 1801. Spaight was the eighthgovernor of North Carolina from 1792 to 1795. He ran for theNorth Carolina Senate in 1802, andFederalistU.S. CongressmanJohn Stanly campaigned against him as unworthy. Taking offense, Spaight challenged him to aduel on September 5, 1802, in which Stanly shot and mortally wounded Spaight, who died the following day.
Spaight was the father of North Carolina GovernorRichard Dobbs Spaight Jr. and the grandfather of U.S. RepresentativeRichard Spaight Donnell.
Spaight was born inNew Bern, North Carolina, the son of the secretary of the Crown in the colony and grand-nephew of North Carolina GovernorArthur Dobbs. Orphaned at the age of eight, he was sent to live with his Dobbs relatives atCarrickfergus in Northern Ireland and later followed his cousin Richard Dobbs to theUniversity of Glasgow.[1] During theAmerican Revolutionary War Spaight returned to North Carolina, serving asaide-de-camp to Major GeneralRichard Caswell at theBattle of Camden.
The North Carolina General Assembly elected Spaight a delegate to theCongress of the Confederation between 1782 and 1785; he then served in the North Carolina House of Commons from 1785 to 1787 and was namedspeaker of the House. In 1787, he was a delegate to thePhiladelphia Convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution, and he signed the document when he was 29 years old.
Under theNorth Carolina Constitution of 1776, Spaight was nominated for governor in 1787 but was defeated by a majority in the General Assembly; he was nominated for the United States Senate in 1789 and was again defeated. In 1788, he was a member of the state convention, which voted not to ratify the Constitution, although Spaight supported ratification. On March 24, 1788, he married Mary Leach, who had the distinction of being the first lady to dance withGeorge Washington at a ball in Washington's honor at theGovernor's Palace, New Bern, in 1791.
Spaight retired from politics for several years because of ill health; he returned to the state House of Representatives in 1792. Also, in 1792, he was elected the first native-born governor of North Carolina[2] and was re-elected by the General Assembly for two further one-year terms. During his term as governor, sites were chosen for the new state capital ofRaleigh and the newly charteredUniversity of North Carolina. Spaight was chair of the university's board of trustees during his term as governor. He stepped down as governor in 1795, having served the constitutional limit of three one-year terms.
Spaight was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1798, filling the unexpired term ofNathan Bryan, whom Spaight previously lost to in 1796;[3] he was elected to a two-year term in 1799, serving until 1801, and though elected as a Federalist, his views on states rights led him to become associated with the Democratic-Republican Party ofThomas Jefferson. He lost his bid for re-election to Congress but returned to state government, serving in the North Carolina Senate beginning in 1801.
Spaight was part of theplanter class and an extensive enslaver. According to census records, he enslaved 71 people in 1790 and 83 people in 1800. At the time of his death in 1802, he was enslaving 89 people.[4] As a delegate to theConfederation Congress, Spaight led the successful effort to eliminateThomas Jefferson's proposed ban on slavery from theNorthwest Ordinance of 1784.[5]
Spaight died on September 6, 1802, following injuries sustained in a duel with John Stanly, the Federalist congressman who had defeated him in the election of 1800 for the House of Representatives. Spaight is buried at "Clermont," near New Bern, North Carolina. Spaight Street inMadison, Wisconsin, is named in his honor. Most of the main streets in downtown Madison are named aftersigners of the United States Constitution.
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| Preceded by | Governor of North Carolina 1792–1795 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's 10th congressional district 1798–1801 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
