Boudinot, Elias

Boudinot, Elias (b. Philadelphia, Pa., 2 May 1740; d. Burlington, N.J., 24 Oct. 1821), lawyer and statesman. Boudinot, a distinguished New Jersey politician and statesmen of the Revolutionary era, was the first lawyer admitted to the Supreme Court bar. Of Huguenot descent, he was licensed as an attorney in 1760 and gained the high professional rank of sergeant‐at‐law in 1770. For many years Boudinot was a trustee of Princeton University, and he held numerous public and private offices. Contemporaries found him a well‐tempered and tolerant man.

Boudinot was active in New Jersey colonial politics as a conservative Whig, but he joined a committee of correspondence and slowly embraced the ideals of the Revolution. In 1777 the Continental Congress appointed Boudinot commissary‐general of prisoners, a post he filled conscientiously, even contributing $30,000 of his own money for prisoners' care. He had a close political and personal relationship with George Washington.

Boudinot was elected to the Continental Congress in 1777 and served until 1784. During his last two years of service, he was president of the congress, and from 1783 he also served as secretary of foreign affairs. He was a signatory of the 1783 peace treaty with Great Britain.

After the Revolution, Boudinot became a Federalist and helped secure the Constitution's ratification in New Jersey. Three terms in the House of Representatives were followed by ten years as director of the U.S. Mint. On 5 February 1790, Boudinot became the first member of the Supreme Court bar. Later president of the American Bible Association, he filled his last years with religious study.

Francis Helminski