Boudinot, Elias

BOUDINOT, bū´´dî´´nō´, ELIAS: American man of affairs and philanthropist; b. at Philadelphia May 2, 1740; d. at Burlington, N. J., Oct. 24, 1821. He was a lawyer and eminent in his profession; represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress 1778–79 and 1781–84, was chosen president in 1782, and, as such, signed the treaty of peace with Great Britain; he was member of the first three national congresses, and director of the United States mint 1795–1805. He was a member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1812–21), and first president of the American Bible Society (1816–21). He was wealthy and gave liberally for philanthropic purposes during his life and in his will. He wrote The Age of Revelation; or the age of reason shown to be an age of infidelity (Philadelphia, 1801), in reply to Thomas Paine; The Second Advent or Coming of the Messiah in Glory shown to be a scriptural doctrine and taught by divine revelation (Trenton, N. J., 1815); and A Star in the West; or a humble attempt to discover the long lost tribes of Israel (1816), in which he advocated the view that the American Indians are the ten lost tribes. He also published anonymously in the Evangelical Intelligencer for 1806 a memoir of William Tennent (reprinted New York, 1847). His Journal or Historical Recollections of American Events during the Revolutionary War was printed at Philadelphia in 1894.

Bibliography: The Life, Public Services, Addresses, and Letters of Elias Boudinot, edited by Jane J. Boudinot, 2 vols., Boston, 1896.