Carter Braxton

CARTER BRAXTON was born on his father's successful tobacco plantation in Newington, Virginia on September 10, 1736. He was educated at William and Mary College and, while still in his teens, inherited the large family estate upon the death of his father. At the age of nineteen he married a wealthy heiress named Judith Robinson, who died two years later, leaving two daughters.

After the death of his wife, Braxton spent three years in England and upon his return home, he in 1761 he married Elizabeth Corbin, the daughter of a British colonel who was the Receiver of Customs in Virginia for the King. He lived in great splendor in richly furnished mansions on two of his plantations and he produced a total of sixteen children, though only ten of these survived infancy.

Braxton entered the House of Burgess about that time and in 1765 he supported Patrick Henry's Stamp Act Resolutions with vigor as the imposition of import taxes were adversely affecting his own business interests. Braxton was elected in 1774 to the convention that met in Williamsburg after Lord Dunmore's dissolution of the assembly, and it was in that body he recommended a general congress of the colonies. The convention agreed to make a common cause with Boston and to break off commercial association with Britain. 

The Virginia convention upon reassembling in March 1775, adopted measures for the defense of the country, and for the encouragement of domestic production of textiles, iron and gunpowder. On April 20, 1775 Lord Dunmore had taken powder belonging to Virginia to a British vessel in the James River. Patrick Henry, a leader of the militia, flew to arms and refused to disband his troops and insisted upon making reprisals on the King's property in an amount sufficient to cover the value of the powder. Braxton interceded and obtained from his father-in-law, the receiver general of customs, a bill on Philadelphia for the amount of Patrick Henry's demand. Henry dismissed his men and bloodshed was for the time averted.

However, Braxton did not share the same zeal for freedom from England as did his colleagues. He was convinced that a possible civil war was far more dangerous than democracy. Braxton was chosen on December 15, 1775 to succeed Peyton Randolph as delegate to the Continental congress when Randolph died in October 1775, and took his seat in February 1776. Eloquently, he took to the floor of Congress to air his opposition to a hasty and complete break from England. No record exists on how Braxton actually voted. However, he signed the document on August 2, 1776. Nine days later he returned to Virginia where he took his former seat in the state legislature. He served there in various capacities until his death. 

The great fortune that Braxton inherited he risked in extensive commercial enterprises. During the Revolutionary War, just about every shipping vessel in which he held an interest was either sunk or captured by the British. He fell deeper and deeper in debt and was forced to sell off his vast land holdings and the debts due him became worthless on account of the depreciation of the currency. 

Carter Braxton died of a stroke on October 10, 1797 at the age of sixty-one.

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Samuel Huntington
First President of the United States of America
in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to July 6, 1781

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