Lemuel Benton Explained

Lemuel Benton
Birth Place:Granville County, Province of North Carolina, British America
Death Place:Darlington, South Carolina, US
Resting Place:Darlington County, South Carolina
State1:South Carolina
District1:3rd
Term Start1:March 4, 1793
Term End1:March 3, 1799
Predecessor1:Daniel Huger
Successor1:Benjamin Huger
Office2:Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from St. David's Parish
Term2:January 8, 1782  - November 4, 1788
Party:Anti-Administration (until 1795)
Otherparty:Democratic-Republican (1795 onward)
Profession:lawyer, politician
Branch:Continental Army
United States Army
Serviceyears:1777 - 1794
Rank:Colonel
Battles:American Revolutionary War

Lemuel Benton (1754May 18, 1818) was an 18th-century American slaveholder, planter and politician from Darlington County, South Carolina.[1]

He represented South Carolina in the United States House of Representatives for three terms from 1793 until 1799.

Biography

Benton was born in Granville County, North Carolina, in 1754. In his youth, he moved to what is now known as Darlington County, South Carolina. There, he engaged as a planter and later became a prominent landowner.

Revolutionary War

He served as a major of the Cheraw Regiment in 1777 and served throughout the Revolutionary War, being promoted to the rank of colonel in 1781. He resigned his commission in 1794.

Early political career

He served as a member of the State house of representatives from 1782 to 1788, and as a county court justice of Darlington County in 1785 and 1791. In 1787, he was escheator of Cheraw District (composed of what is now Chesterfield, Darlington, and Marlboro Counties). He was sheriff of Cheraw District in 1789 and 1791.

Delegate to constitutional conventions

He was a delegate to the State convention at Charleston that ratified the Federal Constitution in 1788. He then served as a delegate to the State constitutional convention at Columbia in 1790

Congress

He was elected as an Anti-Administration candidate to the Third Congress and reelected as a Republican to the Fourth and Fifth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1793, to March 3, 1799.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Sixth Congress in 1798.

Later career and death

After leaving Congress, he resumed agricultural pursuits and died in Darlington, Darlington County, South Carolina on May 18, 1818. His interment was on his estate, ``Stony Hill, near Darlington.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Weil . Julie Zauzmer . More than 1,800 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation. . 5 May 2024 . . 10 January 2022. Database at