Benedict Hampton

Hampton during his Vice Presidency

2nd Vice President of the United States

**United States Secretary of the Navy**

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Virginia

Benedict Hampton (July 1, 1746 - November 22, 1822) Was an American Revolutionary, Statesman, Proprietor, Businessman, Expansionist and Founding Father. He was a delegate of Maryland in the constitutional convention.

### Early Political Career

He is known most for drafting an anti federalist alternative to the current constitution, that was narrowly defeated by the jeffersonian constitution in the convention. Once he reluctantly signed the constitution, he famously wrote in a letter to his anti federalist compatriot Andrew Jackson "With this new constitution, any hope of a agrarian union dies, along with any hope of State-Republicanism surviving, i helped kill my ideology, Andrew." After signing the constitution, he helped found the he collaborated in the creation of the Ultra Regionalists, a sub-faction of the Democratic Republican party in 1789. he stated in his book "The Republic After The Constitution, The Death Of Anti Federalism" Quote: "The new constitution did indeed kill anti federalism, but not decentralization, the union may prosper under it, but this is clearly only achievable if the adequate people achieve office, Democratic Republicanism is the new way of decentralization, and hopefully, it may guide our country into the future and prosperity"

### Personal Life

Hampton is a third generation American born into Virginian Slave Owning Tobacco planter family with English grandparents that came to the americas to pursue the business. He was raised in his grandparents's Virginia home, that was right next to the Maryland border, he received his education in Maryland by various tutors of high renown, and his own family members, he was the eldest of 4, And inheritor of the Hampton estate, which reportedly had 223 slaves and around 3000 acres of land, of which the vast majority were plantations, he inherited these lands after the death of his father in 1787, at the age of 65. He was married to Katherine Hampton and had 3 children with her, and one illegitimate child with an unnamed servant.

### Revolution

Hampton joined a militia under coronel Andrew Pickens in January 1779, and just one month later, Hampton and his 300 fellow militiamen, on February 14, 1779, helped overtake the larger British force of 700-800 men at the Battle of Kettle Creek in Wilkes County, Georgia just South of the Long Canes. The victory at Kettle Creek slowed the recruitment of the Loyalists. However, when the British defeated the Southern Continental Army in 1780 in the Siege of Charleston, and Pickens had to surrender a fort in the Ninety-Six District and he, along with his 300 militia men, on oath, agreed to sit out of the war. After this failure, The militiamen immediately broke the oath, Pickens and the men, Hampton included, would join Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter as the most well-known partisan leaders in the Carolinas. they saw action at the Battle of Cowpens, Siege of Augusta, Siege of Ninety-Six, and the Battle of Eutaw Springs. Pickens also led a campaign in north Georgia against the Cherokee Indians late in the war. the militia's victorious campaign led to the Cherokees ceding significant portions of land between the Savannah and Chattachoochee rivers in the Long Swamp Treaty signed in what is currently Pickens County, Georgia.

### Election of 1792

Benedict Hampton announced his presidency a year before the election proper, at the beginning of the campaign it was unclear who would run as the Democratic-Republican candidate, with a fierce debate between Hamptons's Regionalist Faction and the traditional Democratic-Republicans of Aaron Burr and Gleid Lagopus. After a month's worth of deliberation, Aaron Burr agreed to step down from his presidential race and urged the Democratic-Republicans to rally behind Hampton, whom himself seemed a clear front runner since the beginning of his campaign against Washington. But ultimately Washington won the election by a significant margin, with Democratic-Republicans voting for him as well. leaving Hampton as VP, and with this final division in the party, inspired Hampton, Andrew Jackson and Alexander Milošević to create a party separate of the democratic republicans, the regionalist faction split off to crate the **Populist Party.**

### Creation of the Populist Party

In the final year of his vice presidency, Hampton observed congress and the Democratic-Republicans, his own party members split into two factions, additionally, Aaron Burr had announced his vice presidency once again, splitting the democratic republican vote from regionalist Democratic-Republican nominee Milośević. And after many weeks of meetings and planning he stated in a resentful speech in DC

“For long we have been split as a party, split as democratic republicans. We have had to work with people that do not share our regionalist interests. People that don’t understand the whim of the farmer, the common man, and that his interests come before the elitist scum in our party. Today that comes to an end. I, together with my loyal compatriots, have decided we have stood up for the political bureaucracy for too long. It is time for truly popular ideas, ideas that the people of the United States can get behind to get a say in changing the nation. So I, Benedict Hampton, together with my compatriots Andrew Jackson and Alexander Milošević declare the creation of the ***Populist Party.*** A party of ideals and the individual, and not the schemings of a politician in a faraway state”

with this announcement made, the opposition slandered the Populists, saying they were extremists and would throw the system off balance, but as Milošević's campaign continued on, it seemed more and more likely that the first populist president would be inaugurated into office. And on election night, he did just that, beating all the other candidates with a staggering 73 electoral votes. With this Hampton was inaugurated as the secretary of the navy, and was relieved that his ideals would finally make a significant impact in the governance of the nation.

### Barbary war and Exile

After a disastrous campaign in the mediterranean against the barbary pirates for wich he was balmed. Alexander Milošević ordered his execution as executive order, he heard of this news through a government insider and promptly fled to Mexico, once Burr paredoned him he moved bck to the US, where in DC he adressed his party at the yearly populist congress and announced he would be retiring from politics. He lived the rest of his days in his virginia home