(2 May 1740 – 24 October 1821) Philanthropist, lawyer, merchant, delegate to the Continental Congress, and U.S. Congressman.
Boudinot ran a law practice which he linked with mercantile activities and real estate investments so that by his early thirties, he had acquired considerable wealth and social prominence. He served as a member of the House of Rerpesentatives for several years until he resigned his seat in the Third Congress to take up the directorship of the U.S. Mint in 1795, when he was appointed by President George Washington. A determined opponent of slavery, he went to court to defend black people of doubtful freeman status. He took particular interest in the plight of Native Americans, to whom he left an endowment, and in his later years, he engaged in a study of the culture and origins of Native Americans. Devoutly religious, Boudinot was alarmed by the rising popularity of deism, especially after the election of 1800. He gave generously of his time and fortune to philanthropic causes.