4th President of the Confederation Congress Elias Boudinot Birthday

Elias Boudinot was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and served as President of Congress from 1782 to 1783. He was elected as a U.S. Congressman for New Jersey following the American Revolutionary War.
Born: May 2, 1740, Philadelphia, PA
Died: October 24, 1821, Burlington, NJ
Previous offices: Representative (1789–1795), President of the Continental Congress (1782–1783)
Siblings: Annis Boudinot Stockton
Nephew: Lucius Horatio Stockton

Elias Boudinot was the second President of the United States Assembled and served from November 4, 1782 to November 3, 1783. He spent his childhood living beside Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but spent the majority of his life residing in New Jersey. As a lawyer he often supported the propertied interests, but was an opponent of the loyalist governor of New Jersey, William Franklin (the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin). He served on the board of trustees of Princeton College from 1772 – 1821, and was the commissary general of prisoners from 1776-1779 during the Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1778, 1781, 1782 and 1783. As President of the United States in Congress Assembled, he signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which officially ended the Revolutionary War. He was elected to the First Congress under the Constitution and served from 1789-1795. Boudinot was the director of the Mint from 1795 – 1805 and was elected as president of the American Bible Society based upon his religious tolerance and his opposition to slavery. He was also a supporter of the rights of Native Americans. He is buried in St. Mary’s Protestant Episcopal Church Cemetery in Burlington, New Jersey.

Elias Boudinot was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 2nd 1740 and died in Burlington, New Jersey October 24th, 1821. His great-grandfather, Elias, was a French Huguenot, who fled to this country after the revocation of the decree of Nantes. After receiving a Liberal Arts education, Elias Boudinot studied law with Richard Stockton of New Jersey and became distinguished in this profession in the early 1770’s. Boudinot was dutiful to the cause of independence in New Jersey, serving as a member of the Committee of Correspondence for Essex County in 1774. He often used his influence and great legal mind to persuade the New Jersey Provincial Congress to approve the resolutions of the Continental Congress and the United States in Congress Assembled. Boudinot was appointed NJ Commissary-General of Prisoners in 1777. In the same year he was elected a delegate to Continental Congress from New Jersey, serving from 1778 until 1779. He also served in the United States in Congress Assembled from 1781 until 1784.

Boudinot, a wealthily New Jersey lawyer and leader of the Presbyterian Church, won the presidency by a narrow margin The delegate count was 16 to 11. The law however of One state One Vote ended the tally seven states to four and two states not voting.

The other four states cast their votes for three different southern delegates. Eliphalet Dyer wrote to Jonathan Trumbull, November 8, 1782:

Mr. Boudinot of the State of New Jersey, a gebtn of good character, virtuous, and decent behavior, was elected President of Congress on Monday last for the year ensuing; the choice was clear, no strift, as it is the prevailing inclination of Congress, to proceed in course through the States when it can be done with propriety, Jersey having none before.

Boudinot was elected President of the United States in Congress Assembled on November 4th, 1782 with the Journals reporting: