People of the Revolutionary War | The Founding Fathers - An Overview | Nicholas Gilman
Nicholas Gilman (1755-1814) - New Hampshire
Image: Courtesy of Phillips Exeter Academy
Member of a distinguished New Hampshire family and second son in a family of
eight, Nicholas Gilman was born at Exeter in 1755. He received his
education in local schools and worked at his father's general store.
When the War for Independence began, he enlisted in the New Hampshire
element of the Continental Army,
soon won a captaincy, and served throughout the war.
Gilman returned home, again helped his father
in the store, and immersed himself in politics. In the period 1786-88
he sat in the Continental Congress,
though his attendance record was poor. In 1787 he represented New
Hampshire at the Constitutional
Convention. He did not arrive at Philadelphia until July 21, by
which time much major business had already occurred. Never much of a
debater, he made no speeches and played only a minor part in the
deliberations. He did, however, serve on the Committee on Postponed
Matters. He was also active in obtaining New Hampshire's acceptance of
the Constitution and in shepherding it through the Continental
Congress.
Gilman later became a prominent Federalist
politician. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1789
until 1797; and in 1793 and 1797 was a presidential elector. He also
sat in the New Hampshire legislature in 1795, 1802, and 1804, and in
the years 1805-8 and 1811-14 he held the office of state treasurer.
Meantime, Gilman's political philosophy had
begun to drift toward the Democratic-Republicans. In 1802, when he was
defeated for the U.S. Senate, President
Jefferson appointed him as a bankruptcy commissioner, and 2 years
later as a Democratic-Republican he won election to the U.S. Senate.
He was still serving there when he passed away at Philadelphia, while
on his way home from Washington, DC, in 1814 at the age of 58. He is
interred at the Winter Street Cemetery at Exeter.
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