 benjamin smith (january 10, 1756 â january 26, 1826) was the 16th governor of the u.s. state of north carolina from 1810 to 1811. ==biography== smith was born in charles town, south carolina into a socially prominent family, later moving to brunswick county, north carolina. 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 1784 (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. 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&nbsp;kmÂ²) of land for the university's endowment; he chaired the trustees during his term as governor. 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 behin
1756_births 1826_deaths Democratic-Republican_Party_state_governors_of_the_United_States Governors_of_North_Carolina Members_of_the_North_Carolina_House_of_Representatives North_Carolina_Democratic-Republicans North_Carolina_State_Senators