George Dent (1756 – December 2, 1813) was an American planter and politician from

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

who served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1793 to 1801.

Early life

Dent was born on his father's estate, "Windsor Castle", on the

Mattawoman Creek Mattawoman Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 15, 2011 coastal-plain tributary to the tidal Potomac River with a mouth at Indian Head, Maryland, downstr ...

Charles County Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. Charles County is part of the Wash ...

. His father, General John Dent (1733-1809), was a planter who was a patriot during the Revolutionary War.

Revolutionary War

He initially served during the Revolutionary War in 1776 as a 1st lieutenant in the Third Battalion of the

Flying Camp A Flying Camp was a military formation employed by the Continental Army in the second half of 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. History After the British evacuation of Boston in March 1776, General George Washington met with members of ...

from

. After the

was disbanded in December 1776, Dent returned to

and was commissioned a 1st lieutenant in the

militia under Captain Thomas H. Marshall. He was subsequently promoted to captain and assigned to the Twenty-sixth Battalion in May 1778.Newman, p.38

Political career

After the war, Dent served as a member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

from 1782 to 1790, where he was speaker pro tempore in 1788 and

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

in 1789 and 1790. He served as the justice of the

Court in 1791 and 1792, and as member of the

Maryland Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single-m ...

in 1791 and 1792, where he was President of the Senate during the latter year until his resignation on December 21, 1792. In 1792, Dent was elected as a Pro-Administration candidate to the Third Congress and reelected as a Federalist to the Fourth through Sixth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1793, to March 3, 1801. In Congress, Dent served as chairman of the Committee on Elections (Sixth Congress). He also served as Speaker pro tempore of the House at various times from 1797 to 1799. Upon leaving Congress, Dent was appointed by President

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 ...

United States marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforc ...

of the District Court for the Potomac District at

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on April 4, 1801.

Family and later life

His father had been a

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

during the Revolutionary War. His grandfather, George Dent, had been Chief Justice of

. Judge Thomas Dent, Sr. was his grandfather's grandfather. The Dent family had been part of

society from the very beginning of the colony. His son was naval hero of the

Barbary Wars The Barbary Wars were a series of two wars fought by the United States, Sweden, and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary states (including Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli) of North Africa in the early 19th century. Sweden had been at wa ...

, Captain John H. Dent. George Dent left his family and public service behind when he moved to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in 1802 and settled about twelve miles from Augusta. He died in 1813 in a horseback riding accident and is interred on his plantation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dent, George Presidents of the Maryland State Senate Speakers of the Maryland House of Delegates Maryland militiamen in the American Revolution People from Charles County, Maryland United States Marshals 1756 births 1813 deaths American planters American militia officers Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland