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Benjamin Harrison V (April 5, 1726 – April 24, 1791), from Charles City County, Virginia, was an American planter and merchant, a revolutionary leader and a Founding Father of the United States. He received his higher education at the College of William and Mary. Harrison was a representative to the Virginia House of Burgesses for Surry County, Virginia (1756–1758, 1785–1786), and Charles City County (1766–1776, 1787–1790). He was a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1777 and, during the Second Continental Congress, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Harrison later served as Virginia's fifth governor.〔Smith, pp. 59, 74, 79, 83.〕 His direct descendents include two U.S. Presidents, his son William Henry Harrison and great-grandson Benjamin Harrison. ==Family== Harrison was the eldest child of Benjamin Harrison IV and Anne Carter, and a grandson of Robert Carter I. The first Benjamin Harrison is said to have arrived in the colonies around 1630. British historian F. A. Inderwick contends that Benjamin IV is also descended from Thomas Harrison, a participant in the regicide of Charles I, but this is disputed.〔Harrison, pp. 83–85.〕 Benjamin IV and Anne built the manor house at Berkeley Plantation in Virginia and he served as a Justice of the Peace and represented Charles City County in the Virginia House of Burgesses.〔Smith, pp. 4–5.〕 Benjamin V, one of ten children, was described in his youth as "tall and powerfully built", with "features that were clearly defined, and a well-shaped mouth above a strong pointed chin".〔Dowdey, pp. 5–7.〕 His next younger brother, Carter Henry, became a leader in Cumberland County; two other brothers, Henry and Robert, died young. Brother Nathaniel settled in Prince George County, became sheriff, and was later elected to the House of Burgesses. The youngest brother Charles joined the Continental Army and rose to the rank of brigadier general.〔Dowdey, pp. 4–5.〕 On July 12, 1745, at the age of fifty-one, father Benjamin IV, in the midst of an afternoon thunderstorm, with daughters Lucy and Hannah in hand, attempted to shut an upstairs window, was struck by lightning, and all three were killed.〔Dowdey, pp.157–58.〕 Upon his father's death, Benjamin inherited the bulk, but not all, of his father's estate including the family home Berkeley and a number of surrounding plantations; he also assumed ownership and responsibility for the manor house's equipment, stock and numerous slaves. Benjamin's younger siblings inherited another six plantations, possessions and slaves, as the father chose to depart from the tradition of primogeniture (i.e. leaving the entire estate to the eldest son.)〔Dowdey, p.163.〕 While Harrison's slaves were sustained by the success of the plantations, their treatment presented a picture consistent with the period. It is known that in the division of slaves among his children, Benjamin's father specifically prohibited any splitting of slave families. The Harrisons also assumed a sense of duty to indoctrinate their slaves in Christianity. There were a number of mulattoes among the slaves Benjamin V inherited; while there is no specific information to show who fathered them, it was particularly common for younger plantation family members and guests, as well as overseers, to invade slave dwellings for carnal reasons. In this light, Benjamin IV's decision to ignore primogeniture subjected his younger children and their slaves to potentially precarious circumstances. There are no known specific instances of abuse by the Harrisons of their slaves, beyond the opprobrious conduct inherent in their claim to ownership of them.〔Dowdey, pp.164–66.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Benjamin Harrison V」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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