Meriwether Smith (1730 – January 25, 1790) was an American planter from

Essex County, Virginia Essex County is a County (United States), county located in the Middle Peninsula in the U.S. state of Virginia; the peninsula is bordered by the Rappahannock River on the north and King and Queen County, Virginia, King and Queen County on the s ...

. Smith was first elected to the Virginia

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

in 1770. He was a vocal opponent of the

1765 Stamp Act The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 ( 5 Geo. 3. c. 12), was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed mater ...

, and a representative in the revolutionary conventions that replaced the burgesses in 1775 and 1776. He was elected as a delegate to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

in 1778, 1779, and 1780, although he did not serve the 1779 term. He was a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

from 1776 to 1778 and again in 1781. In 1788, he was a member of the Virginia convention that ratified the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

; an

Anti-Federalist The Anti-Federalists were a late-18th-century political movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. The previous constitution, called the Articles ...

, he voted against ratification. He ran for

Virginia's 7th congressional district Virginia's seventh congressional district is a United States congressional district in the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Virginia. The district encompasses a vast swath of Northern Virginia, Northern and Greater Richmond Region, Central Virginia ...

1789 Events January–March * January – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes the pamphlet '' What Is the Third Estate?'' ('), influential on the French Revolution. * January 7 – The 1788-89 United States presidential election ...

, finishing 3rd, and in 1790. Smith was married twice, first to Alice Lee in 1760 and after her death to Elizabeth Daingerfield in 1769. His son by Alice was George William Smith who was Governor of Virginia from part of 1811. Meriwether died in Essex County in January 1790, and was buried in a family plot on his plantation, "Bathurst."

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Meriwether 1730 births 1790 deaths Continental Congressmen from Virginia House of Burgesses members Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention People from Essex County, Virginia 18th-century American planters Candidates in the 1788–1789 United States elections Candidates in the 1790–1791 United States elections