| Benjamin Smith | |
| Order: | 16th |
| Office: | Governor of North Carolina |
| Term Start: | December 1, 1810 |
| Term End: | December 11, 1811 |
| Predecessor: | David Stone |
| Successor: | William Hawkins |
| Office1: | Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina and Tennessee |
| Term Start1: | December 16, 1808 |
| Term End1: | November 29, 1811 |
| Predecessor1: | John Hall |
| Successor1: | Robert Williams |
| Order2: | 1st |
| Office2: | Adjutant General of North Carolina |
| Term Start2: | 1806 |
| Term End2: | 1807 |
| Appointer2: | Nathaniel Alexander |
| Predecessor2: | Office established |
| Successor2: | Edward Pasteur |
| Office3: | Member of the North Carolina House of Commons |
| Term3: | 1789–1792 1804–1805 |
| Office4: | Member of the North Carolina Senate |
| Term4: | 1792–1800 |
| Birth Date: | 10 January 1756 |
| Birth Place: | Charles Town, South Carolina |
| Death Place: | Smithville, North Carolina, US |
| Party: | Democratic-Republican |
| Spouse: | Sarah Dry |
| Allegiance: | United States |
| Branch: | Continental Army |
| Branch Label: | Branch |
| Rank: | Colonel |
| Battles: | |
| Battles Label: | Battles |
Benjamin Smith (January 10, 1756 – January 26, 1826) was the 16th governor of North Carolina from 1810 to 1811.
Smith was born in Charles Town, South Carolina into a socially prominent family, later moving to Brunswick County, North Carolina. His parents were Thomas Smith and Sarah Moore Smith.[1] During the American Revolutionary War, Smith served an aide-de-camp to General George Washington and rose to the rank of colonel in the Continental Army.
In 1784, Smith was elected to the Continental Congress, although it is unclear whether he actually served. He was active in the North Carolina Constitutional Conventions of 1788 and 1789, and served a number of terms in the North Carolina General Assembly, in 1783 (Senate), 1789–1792 (House of Commons), 1792–1800 (Senate), 1801 (House of Commons) 1804–1805 (House of Commons) and 1806–1810 (Senate). From 1795 to 1799, Smith was the Speaker of the North Carolina Senate.[2] During his political career, Smith also sat on the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and donated 20,000 acres (81 km2) of land for the university's endowment; he chaired the trustees during his term as governor. As of 1789, he owned 221 slaves.[3]
In 1810, aligned with the Democratic-Republican Party (he had earlier had Federalist leanings), Smith was elected governor by the North Carolina General Assembly. He served only a single one-year term, and emphasized reform of the state's criminal code and penitentiary system. Although Smith did seek re-election to the governor's seat in 1811, he polled behind William Hawkins on the first ballot and withdrew himself from consideration. He later returned to the North Carolina Senate in 1816.
Smith died in Smithville, North Carolina in 1826 and is buried at the St. Philip's Church near Wilmington.
Smithville (present day Southport), North Carolina, was named after him.