born March 26, 1749, Bertie county, N.C.
died March 21, 1800, Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.
U.S. politician.
He served in the American Revolution before being elected to six terms in the North Carolina legislature. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention . As the first governor of lands ceded to the U.S. by North Carolina, he worked to secure statehood for what would become Tennessee. In 1796 he became one of Tennessee's first two senators, but he was expelled from the Senate in 1797 on charges of plotting to help the British gain control of Spanish Florida and Louisiana.