CHAPTER II 

 ELIAS BOUDINOT AND STEPHEN GIRARD 



I 



N IGSG, Elias Boiidiuot, of La Tremblade, came to Eiias 

 Now York. His sou, Elias, Jr., left New York some im "* 



time prior to 1735 and established himself in Phila- 

 delphia. There his son Elias ( third of the name ) was 

 born in 1740. The boy received a good classical educa- 

 tion, and when the usual course of Latin and Greek was His Abie 

 completed he set himself to study law under the guidance f°^o Eiias.jr., 

 of the famous Richard Stockton. He was an apt scholar 

 and soon achieved an enviable reputation at the bar. 

 At the opening of the war, though still a young man, he 

 was recognized as easily among the most eminent lawyers 

 which the colonies had produced. He began his public 

 career as commissaiy-general of prisoners, in 1777, and 

 the year following was elected to the Continental Con- 

 gress. Here his abilities were brought into full play and 

 he soon became one of the most powerful leaders of that 

 body. Four years after his first election to Congress he Member of 

 was chosen as its president, and in that capacity he signed ^°"s^^^^ 

 the treaty of peace with England. He then wished to President 

 take up his law practice again, and succeeded for a short 

 while. But he had proved himself too valuable a public 

 servant for his constituents to allow him to remain in 

 private life, and when the constitution was adopted he 

 was elected successively to the first, second and third 

 congresses. In 1795 Washington appointed him Director 

 of the Mint at Philadelphia. He held this position until 

 1805, when he resigned and retired to Burlington, New 

 Jersey, in order to devote his attention to study and Director of the 

 philanthropic work. He was for many years a trustee 



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