Benjamin Taliaferro

Benjamin Taliaferro (* 1750 in Amherst County, Virginia; † September 3, 1821 in Wilkes County, Georgia ) was an American politician. Between 1799 and 1802 he represented the state of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

The exact date of birth of Benjamin Taliaferro is unknown. He attended the local schools of his home. After that he took part as a soldier in the War of Independence, in which he reached the rank of captain. In 1780 he fell in the meantime in British captivity. Since 1785 Taliaferro was a resident of Georgia. There he began a career in politics. He was a member and President of the State Senate. In 1798 he was a delegate at a meeting to revise the State Constitution. Politically he was first a member of the Federalist Party, founded by Alexander Hamilton. Later he moved to the Democratic-Republican Party of President Thomas Jefferson.

In the state- wide held congressional elections of 1798, he was elected as a candidate of the Federalists for the second deputy's mandate of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives. There he entered on March 4, 1799, the successor of John Milledge. In 1800 he was re-elected as a Democratic Republican. Benjamin Taliaferro resigned in 1802 prematurely back of this mandate. During his time in Congress, the seat of government to the new capital Washington DC was laid.

After his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives was Taliaferro judge at the Superior Court; Furthermore, he was curator of the University of Georgia.