Benjamin Bourne

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Benjamin Bourne (September 9, 1755Template:SpndSeptember 17, 1808) was a United States representative from Rhode Island, a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island and a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit.

Education and career

Born on September 9, 1755, in Bristol in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.<ref name=FJC>Template:FJC Bio</ref> Bourne was the son of Shearjashub Bourn, a lawyer who eventually served on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.<ref name="D'Wolf">Calbraith Bourn Perry, Charles D'Wolf of Guadaloupe, His Ancestors and Descendants (1902), p. 285-86.</ref> Like his father, Bourne graduated from Harvard University in 1775, received a Master of Arts degree from the same institution in 1778, and read law.<ref name=FJC/> He was quartermaster of the Second Rhode Island Regiment in 1776.<ref name=CB>Template:CongBio</ref> He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Providence, Rhode Island.<ref name=CB/> He was a deputy in the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1780 and from 1787 to 1790.<ref name=FJC/> He was clerk of the Rhode Island General Assembly from 1780 to 1786.<ref name=FJC/> He was a Justice of the Peace in Providence from 1785 to 1790.<ref name=FJC/>

Congressional service

Upon the ratification of the United States Constitution by the State of Rhode Island, Bourne was elected as a Pro-Administration candidate from Rhode Island's at-large congressional district to the United States House of Representatives of the 1st through the 3rd United States Congresses and as a Federalist to the 4th and 5th United States Congresses and served from August 31, 1790, until his resignation on October 13, 1796, before the close of the 4th United States Congress.<ref name=CB/>

Federal judicial service

Bourne received a recess appointment from President George Washington on October 13, 1796, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island vacated by Judge Henry Marchant.<ref name=FJC/> He was nominated to the same position by President Washington on December 21, 1796.<ref name=FJC/> He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 22, 1796, and received his commission the same day.<ref name=FJC/> His service terminated on February 20, 1801, due to his elevation to the First Circuit.<ref name=FJC/>

Bourne was nominated by President John Adams on February 18, 1801, to the United States Circuit Court for the First Circuit, to a new seat authorized by Template:USStat.<ref name=FJC/> He was confirmed by the Senate on February 20, 1801, and received his commission the same day.<ref name=FJC/> His service terminated on July 1, 1802, due to abolition of the court.<ref name=FJC/>

Later service and death

Following his departure from the federal bench, Bourne resumed private practice in Providence and Bristol from 1801 to 1808.<ref name=FJC/> He died on September 17, 1808, in Bristol.<ref name=FJC/> He was interred in Juniper Hill Cemetery in Bristol.<ref name=CB/>

Family

Bourne was a first cousin once removed of Massachusetts United States Representative Shearjashub Bourne.<ref>New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the ..., Volume 2 William Richard Cutter p.683</ref>

External links

• Benjamin Bourne Papers, Rhode Island Historical Society

• Template:FJC Bio