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North Carolina's Governors
Richard Dobbs Spaight Jr. (1796-1850) was the son of Richard Dobbs Spaight, governor from 1792 to 1795, and was the last governor to be elected by the General Assembly. The younger Spaight was educated at New Bern Academy and the University of North Carolina. In 1818 he was admitted to the bar and the following year was elected to the State House. At the state constitutional convention of 1835, while a state senator from Craven County, Spaight served as chairman of the Rules Committee. Although the convention altered the way in which the governor would be elected in the future, the General Assembly was to elect the chief executive one last time. They elected Spaight. The following year, in 1836, as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the first popular election under the new constitution, Spaight was defeated by Edward Dudley. After his loss, Spaight retired from politics and returned to his law practice in New Bern. He never held another public office. Income from his farms and other real estate holdings supplemented his income. It was said that he continued his law practice not for professional success but because he enjoyed intellectual discussions of legal matters with colleagues. Spaight was an active Mason from 1822 through his governorship and beyond. He remained active in the state's Grand Lodge when his local St. John's Lodge fell into periods of inactivity. Spaight served the Freemasons as Grand Lecturer from 1833 through 1838 and as Grand Master in 1830 and 1831. He was also a member and vestryman of Christ Episcopal Church in New Bern. Richard Dobbs Spaight Jr. died in 1850, and was buried in the family plot at "Clermont," across the Trent River from New Bern. When the General Assembly meeting in Raleigh learned of Spaight's death, they respectfully adjourned in his memory.
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