Guide to the Elias Boudinot Papers

Elias Boudinot was born in Philadelphia on May 2, 1740. He studied law under Richard Stockton and rose to distinction practicing law in New Jersey. Boudinot was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress and appointed Commissary General of Prisoners in 1777. In 1782 he was elected president of the Continental Congress, and in that capacity he put his signature to the treaty of peace. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1789 under the new constitution, and served for six years. In 1796, President Washington appointed Boudinot Director of the Mint.

Boudinot was elected a member of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions in 1812. He also assisted in the establishment of the American Bible Society in 1816, and was chosen as its first president.

Elias Boudinot retired as Director of the Mint in 1805 and moved to Burlington, New Jersey, where he died in 1821.