Nicholas Van Dyke (governor)

Nicholas Van Dyke (* September 25, 1738 in the family home Berwick, in Delaware City, New Castle County, Delaware, † February 19, 1789 ) was an American lawyer and politician. 1777-1781 he was a member of the Continental Congress.

Life

Nicholas Van Dyke was born on September 25, 1738, the son of Nicholas and Rachel Van Dyke Avenue. He studied law in Philadelphia in 1765 and received his license to practice law. After his first wife Elizabeth Nixon had died in childbirth Rachael in 1767, he married Charlotte Stanley, who bore him four children, among them the later Senator Nicholas Van Dyke Jr..

Political career

1774 Van Dyke entered the political scene as a member of a committee to advise on the Boston Port Act. After the port of Boston after the Boston Tea Party was closed to trade, Van Dyke played an important role in the merging of the Thirteen Colonies as a deputy. In that committee, he got in touch with Thomas McKean and George Read, two of the later leaders of the American Revolution for the first time. In 1776, Van Dyke was a member of his county in the first Constituent Assembly of the State of Delaware. He also spent two years as a member of the senate of his state. On February 22, 1777 he was elected to the Continental Congress, of which he was a member until 1781. That same year, Van Dyke was one of the signatories of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, which were in force since 1777 and until 1789. From 1 February 1783 to the October 27, 1786 Nicholas Van Dyke was governor of Delaware (then "President of Delaware " called ).

After his term as governor, during the American War of Independence ended officially with the Treaty of Paris (1783 ), Van Dyke returned in 1776 for two terms in the state Senate from Delaware back. Here he held the office of President of Parliament until his death. He died on February 19, 1789 at the age of 50 years in the family seat Berwick.