American statesman, born at West Nottingham, PA, on the 5th of December 1735; graduated at the College of Philadelphia in 1757; studied theology, and was licensed to preach in 1759. He preached a short time; was professor of mathematics in the College of Philadelphia (1760–63); studied medicine in Edinburgh and Utrecht, and practiced in Philadelphia. In 1772 and 1773 he was instrumental in maintaining the academy at Newark, DE. He served in the militia of North Carolina (1780–82), having commenced the practice of medicine in that state late in the ’70s. He was a member of the North Carolina house of commons in 1782; a member of the Continental Congress (1784–86); a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and of the North Carolina Ratification Convention in 1789. He was elected to the first and second congresses, serving till 1793, when he removed to New York and devoted himself to literary pursuits. Besides a series of essays on Paper Currency (1786), he published a Discourse on the Benefits of Civil History (1810); Observations on the Climate of America (1811); History of North Carolina (1812). He died in New York City on the 22nd of May 1819.
