Samuel Benedict (c. 1792–1854) was a Liberian politician and jurist who served as the 1st Chief Justice of Liberia. He was born a slave in the U.S. state of Georgia in 1792,[1][2] and purchased his freedom and that of his family.[3] He emigrated to Liberia in 1835, on the ship Indiana.[4]
Prior to Liberia's independence, Benedict was a judge of the Superior Court and a merchant.[5] He later presided over the Liberian Constitutional Convention of 1847, which officially provided Liberia's independence from the American Colonization Society.[6][7] He was one of Montserrado County's delegates at the convention and a signer of the Liberian Declaration of Independence.[7]
Representing the Anti-Administration Party (AAP), Benedict was defeated by longtime political foe Joseph Jenkins Roberts in the 1847 election to serve as Liberia's first president.[8][9][10]
Benedict later became the first Chief Justice of the Liberian Supreme Court.[10] He died in 1854.[1]
References
- ^ a b Emma Jones Lapsansky-Werner and Margaret Hope Bacon, Back to Africa
- ^ Howard Temperly, After Slavery
- ^ Loren Schweninger, Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915
- ^ Roll of Emigrants that have been sent to the colony of Liberia, Western Africa, by the American Colonization Society and its auxiliaries, to September 1843 Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Carl Patrick Burrowes, Power and Press Freedom in Liberia, 1830-1970
- ^ Carl Patrick Burrowes, "Black Christian republicanism: a Southern ideology in early Liberia, 1822-1847", The Journal of Negro History, 2001
- ^ a b 1847 Constitution of Liberia
- ^ African Elections Database, "Elections In Liberia"
- ^ United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, "Promoting Good Governance in Liberia: Towards the Formulation of a National Framework"
- ^ a b Randall M. Smith, Dear Master: Letters of a Slave Family
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