David Stone (February 17, 1770October 7, 1818) was the 15th

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of 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 sove ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

from 1808 to 1810. Both before and after his term as governor, he served as a U.S. senator, between 1801 and 1807 and between 1813 and 1814.

Biography

Stone was born in Bertie County in the

Province of North Carolina Province of North Carolina was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712(p. 80) to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monarch of Great Britain was repre ...

, the son of planter and politician Zedekiah Stone. He attended Windsor Academy and later the College of New Jersey, where he graduated with honors. Returning to North Carolina, Stone studied law in Halifax and was granted his law license in 1790. He married Hannah Turner and began the construction of a large manor house on land given him by his father, Zedekiah Stone. This is now a historic site, Hope Plantation. In 1789, Stone was a member of the convention in Fayetteville which ratified the United States Constitution. He proceeded to represent Bertie County in the

North Carolina House of Commons The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Ca ...

until 1795, when he was named to the

North Carolina Superior Court The Superior Court is North Carolina's general jurisdiction trial court. It was established in 1777 and is North Carolina's oldest court. Jurisdiction and administration The Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction in North Caroli ...

. In 1798, Stone stepped down from the court to serve in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for one term; during the contested 1800 presidential election, he cast his vote for

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

when the election was sent to the House for a final decision. Re-elected in a bid for a second term in the House, Stone resigned when he was elected to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

by the North Carolina General Assembly in late 1800. He sat as a justice of the Bertie County Court in the early 1800s, including the 1802 scare over a slave rebellion in Bertie County. He resigned his seat in the Senate in 1807 to return to the state Superior Court, but was there for only a year before being elected Governor of North Carolina by the legislature in November 1808. As Governor, Stone was an ardent supporter of agricultural and industrial development, as well as of the expansion to the education system to both sexes and all social classes. Stone was re-elected in 1809 but was defeated for a third one-year term in 1810 by Benjamin Smith.OurCampaigns.com: NC Governor race from December 1810
/ref> Following his defeat, Stone served in the

for a year before being named to the U.S. Senate once again in 1813. Stone's second term in the U.S. Senate lasted only a year; he was censured by the NC General Assembly for failing to support the administration during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. Stone resigned his Senate seat in December 1814, retiring to his Wake County plantation, where he died in 1818 and is buried.

References

National Governors AssociationHistoric Hope Plantation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, David 1770 births 1818 deaths Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives United States senators from North Carolina North Carolina state court judges Governors of North Carolina People from Bertie County, North Carolina Democratic-Republican Party United States senators Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States 18th-century American politicians 19th-century American politicians Princeton University alumni 18th-century American lawyers