Jesse Franklin (March 24, 1760 – August 31, 1823) was the

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed l ...

U.S. senator from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

between 1799 and 1805 and between 1807 and 1813. In 1804, Franklin briefly served as

President pro tempore of the United States Senate The president pro tempore of the United States Senate (often shortened to president pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, after the Vice President of the United States, vice president. According to Articl ...

. He later served as the 20th

Governor of North Carolina The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. Seventy-five people have held the office since the first state governor, Richard Caswell, took office in 1777. The governor serves a ...

from 1820 to 1821. Franklin was the brother of Meshack Franklin, who also served in Congress.

Early life

Jesse Franklin was born in Orange County in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

on March 24, 1760. He was the son of Bernard and Mary Franklin, the third of seven sons. Franklin moved to

with his father in 1774 and served as a major during the Revolutionary War. During the war he was captured by Tories, but escaped. Franklin was in the Battle of Kings Mountain and served as Adjutant of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland's battalion. (Cleveland was a relative of Franklin's.) He was also at the

Battle of Guilford Court House The Battle of Guilford Court House was fought on 15 March 1781 during the American Revolutionary War, near Greensboro, North Carolina. A 2,100-man British force under the command of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis defeated Major General Na ...

. He performed further service in partisan warfare against Tories in North Carolina, service that continued to the end of the war. In Greensboro there is a monument to Revolutionary War soldiers Joseph Winston, Jesse Franklin and Richard Taliaferro, the gift of Governor Thomas M. Holt. Plaque to Joseph Winston Jesse Franklin Richard Talliaferro Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Plaque to Joseph Winston Jesse Franklin Richard Talliaferro Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Early political career and service in Congress

Franklin was a member of the state legislature in 1793–1794 and 1797–1798. He was elected to the Fourth Congress and served from March 4, 1795 to March 4, 1797. Franklin was then elected as a

to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and served from March 4, 1799 to March 4, 1805. Franklin was put up by the Legislature for re-election in December 1804, but Republicans at the time were divided in their support of him and Federalists did not think highly of him, and he was defeated.Jeffersonian Democracy in North Carolina, 1789–1816. Delbert Gilpatrick, p 135. Franklin served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Eighth Congress. Franklin then served as a state senator in 1805–1806. In 1806, he was again elected as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1807 until March 4, 1813. During his second period as a senator, Franklin was known as an advocate of Madison's war measures, and as an opponent of monopolies and central banks. Franklin was appointed a commissioner to negotiate with the Chickasaw Indians near the site of present-day Memphis in 1817, an appointment he accepted at the request of General

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

Governor of North Carolina

Franklin was Governor of

from 1820 to 1821. During his term as governor, the Canova statue of George Washington was placed at the state Capitol in a new addition containing a rotunda that was considered an appropriate area for displaying it. As governor, Franklin was considered to be conscientious and practical. He advocated reform in the treatment of criminals, including abolition of ear cropping.

Death

Franklin died in

Surry County, North Carolina Surry County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 71,359. Its county seat is Dobson, and its largest community is Mount Airy. Surry county comprises the Mount Airy, NC Micropol ...

on August 31, 1823. He was interred in Surry County. In 1906, his remains were moved to Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, near Greensboro.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Jesse 1760 births 1823 deaths People from Orange County, Virginia People from colonial Virginia Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from North Carolina Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate Governors of North Carolina Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States People from Surry County, North Carolina 19th-century United States senators 18th-century United States senators 18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 18th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly United States Indian agents