Nathaniel Alexander

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Nathaniel Alexander (5 March 1756 -- 8 March 1808) was the Democratic-Republican governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1805 to 1807.

Alexander was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, the son of a local sheriff. He earned a medical degree from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1776 and was commissioned as a surgeon in the North Carolina Line in 1778. He served through the American Revolutionary War until 1782, and then practiced medicine for a time near Santee, South Carolina.

Returning to his native North Carolina, Alexander was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons in 1797, to the North Carolina Senate in 1801, and to the United States House of Representatives in 1803.

On 25 November 1805, Alexander was elected governor by the North Carolina General Assembly and served two one-year terms in that office, declining to run for a third. Although a Democratic-Republican, he enjoyed support from the Federalists as well. As governor, he oversaw the resolution of a boundary dispute with Georgia, the expansion of the state's district courts, and the growth of the state's educational system. While Governor, he was also president of the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees.

Only a few months after stepping down as Governor, Alexander died in Salisbury, North Carolina; he is buried in Charlotte.

[edit] Sources

Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Robert Sobel and John Raimo, eds. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. (ISBN 0-930466-00-4)

Preceded by:
James Turner

Governor of North Carolina
1805-1807

Succeeded by:
Benjamin Williams

Governors of North Carolina