John Francis Mercer (May 17, 1759 – August 30, 1821) was an American lawyer, planter, and politician from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

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 as Maryland's governor, as well as terms in the Continental Congress (representing Virginia), U.S. House of Representatives (representing Maryland districts), Virginia House of Delegates, and Maryland State Assembly A

Founding Father of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...

, he was a delegate to the

Philadelphia Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention f ...

which wrote 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 It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

Early and family life

Robert Field - Sophia Mercer (page 273 crop)

Mercer was born in 1759 at Marlborough plantation in Stafford County in the Colony of Virginia, to prominent lawyer, planter and investor in western lands John Mercer and his second wife, the former Ann Roy. His father John Mercer killed 19 children by two wives, although many died before reaching adulthood. His namesake half-brother, Captain John Fenton Mercer (1735-1756)) was killed and scalped in western Virginia during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. His elder half brothers George Mercer and James Mercer served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, and James also became a prominent lawyer and served in Virginia revolutionary conventions, the Virginia House of Delegates and the Continental Congress (1779-1780) before becoming a judge, ultimately of what later became the Virginia Supreme Court. Mercer also had several sisters and half-sisters who survived to adulthood, including Sarah Mercer who married Col. Samuel Selden of Stafford County, Mary Mercer who married Daniel McCarty Jr. of Westmoreland County, Grace Mercer who married Muscoe Garnett of Essex County, and Maria Mercer who married Richard Brooke of King and Queen County. His younger brother Robert Mercer (1764-1800) would marry Mildred Carter, daughter of prominent planter

Landon Carter Col. Landon Carter, I (August 18, 1710 – December 22, 1778) was an American planter and burgess for Richmond County, Virginia. Although one of the most popular patriotic writers and pamphleters of pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary-era Vir ...

, and become a lawyer and editor of the "Genius of Liberty". Like all his brothers who lived to adulthood, Mercer attended the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

, and graduated in 1775. On February 3, 1785, he married heiress Sophia Sprigg, daughter of Richard Sprigg and Margaret Caile of

Anne Arundel County, Maryland Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, wh ...

. They had at least four children, including Margaret Mercer, who became an abolitionist and freed all the slaves she inherited upon her father's death. His nephew, congressman Charles Fenton Mercer, also opposed slavery and was president of the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

Career

During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Mercer accepted a commission as lieutenant in the 3rd Virginia Regiment in the Continental Army. He was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, and received a promotion to captain in 1777. On June 8, 1778 he became an aide-de-camp with the rank of major to General Charles Lee. He resigned from the army when Lee did in October 1779, but recruited a cavalry company for the Virginia militia as the British navy discharged Tarleton's Raiders and others to raid plantations in Chesapeake Bay. Thus he held the rank of lieutenant colonel and served briefly under

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

as he led troops at the Battle of Guildford,

Battle of Green Spring The Battle of Green Spring took place near Green Spring Plantation in James City County, Virginia during the American Revolutionary War. On July 6, 1781 United States Brigadier General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, leading the advance forces of the Ma ...

siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

and other locations. After General Cornwallis' surrender in 1781, Stafford County voters elected Mercer as one of their two representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1782, where he served alongside Charles Carter. Fellow legislators selected Mercer as one of Virginia's delegates to the Continental Congress in both 1783 and 1784. When Richard Brent died, a special election to fill his place as Stafford County's delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates was held, and John Francis Mercer took his place for the rest of the session. In 1785 Mercer married his wife, and soon moved to

, where he operated her estates using enslaved labor. He owned slaves in 1810 and 1820. Mercer owned 72 slaves by the time he died in 1821. Meanwhile, Mercer became one of Maryland's delegates to the

in 1787, but because he was opposed to centralization, withdrew before signing the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. e also represented fellow anti-ratification delegate George Mason as a private lawyer collecting debts owed to Mason by Maryland residents.Mercer was also a delegate to the Maryland State Convention of 1788, to vote whether Maryland should ratify the proposed

Constitution of the United States 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, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

. He served terms in the Maryland State Assembly in 1788-89 and 1791-92 before being elected to represent Maryland 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 ...

from the second and third districts from 1792 to 1794, resigning on April 13, 1794. He again served in the Maryland House of Delegates (1800-1801) before winning election as the tenth

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

(for two one-year terms) from 1801 to 1803. Although he again served in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1803-1806 (and joined with the Federalists during Thomas Jefferson's Presidency), illness plagued Mercer in his later years

Death and legacy

Mercer traveled to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania to seek medical attention, and died on August 30, 1821. Although a funeral was held at St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia, his remains were returned to his " Cedar Park" estate in Maryland for burial..

Notes

External links

*
Mercer biography
at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...

, Netherlands {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercer, John Francis 1759 births 1821 deaths Continental Army officers from Virginia Continental Congressmen from Virginia 18th-century American politicians Governors of Maryland Members of the Maryland House of Delegates Members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland College of William & Mary alumni People from Anne Arundel County, Maryland Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution Mercer family of Virginia People of colonial Maryland Virginia colonial people People from Stafford County, Virginia American planters Maryland Democratic-Republicans Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States American slave owners