28 Facts About Hugh Williamson

Hugh Williamson was an American Founding Father, physician, and politician.

Hugh Williamson is best known as a signatory to the US Constitution and for representing North Carolina at the Constitutional Convention.

Hugh Williamson's erudition had brought him into contact with some of the leading intellectuals of the Patriot cause and, in turn, with the ferment of political ideas that eventually found expression in the Constitution.

Hugh Williamson's leadership was evident not only at the Convention in Philadelphia but, with telling effect, during the ratification debates in North Carolina.

Hugh Williamson's experiences convinced him that only a strong central government could adequately protect and foster the political, economic, and intellectual future of the new nation.

Hugh Williamson was born in West Nottingham Township, in what was then the frontier region of the Province of Pennsylvania.

Hugh Williamson moved to Connecticut and obtained a preacher's license but his disillusionment with factional disputes within the Presbyterian Church and a resurgence of ill health led him to abandon a career in the ministry.

Hugh Williamson returned to Philadelphia to open a private practice.

Hugh Williamson then went on to express the argument that was becoming the core of the Patriot position: Americans were entitled to the full rights of Englishmen, including representation in the decisions of the English government.

Hugh Williamson continued on to the Netherlands where, taking advantage of the cover afforded by his attendance at meetings on scientific and educational subjects, he organized the publication of pamphlets and other papers that supported the Patriot cause.

Hugh Williamson rushed back to Philadelphia in early 1777 and volunteered for service in the Medical Department of the Continental Army.

The department had no opening at that time, so Hugh Williamson decided to form a partnership with a younger brother to import medicines and other scarce items from the West Indies through the British blockade.

When Governor Richard Caswell, with the rank of major general, took to the field at the head of these citizen-soldiers, he named Hugh Williamson to serve as the state's Physician and Surgeon General, a post Hugh Williamson held until the end of the war.

Hugh Williamson, who witnessed the disaster, volunteered to pass behind enemy lines to care for the American wounded.

Hugh Williamson was attached to a force under Brigadier General Isaac Gregory whose mission was to limit British activity in eastern North Carolina.

In 1782 Hugh Williamson was elected to the lower house of the North Carolina legislature, where he served for several terms.

Hugh Williamson sat on numerous committees, including those formed to regulate veterans' rights, and he authored the state's copyright law.

Hugh Williamson was chosen to serve in the Continental Congress in 1782.

Appointment to this national body represented a natural political progression for Hugh Williamson, who was evolving into a champion of federalism.

In 1786 North Carolina chose Hugh Williamson to attend the Annapolis Convention, a meeting called to settle economic questions affecting the middle Atlantic states.

Shortly before the Convention adjourned, Hugh Williamson wrote a series of public letters in defense of a strong federal system.

Hugh Williamson exhorted North Carolinians to support the Constitution as the basis for their future prosperity.

Hugh Williamson served two terms before retiring and settling in New York City, where he continued to pursue a wide range of scholarly interests.

Hugh Williamson wrote extensively about his research, joined numerous learned societies, and contributed to many charities.

Hugh Williamson served as one of the original trustees of the University of North Carolina.

Hugh Williamson was a Presbyterian, though some sources have identified him as a Deist.

On May 22,1819, Hugh Williamson died suddenly in New York City, at the age of 83, while driving in his carriage; he was buried in New York City in Trinity Churchyard near the grave of Alexander Hamilton.

Hugh Williamson was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1813.