Mercer, John Francis, 1759-1821

John Francis Mercer (May 17, 1759 – August 30, 1821) was an American lawyer, planter, and politician from Virginia and Maryland, who served as Maryland's 10th governor, as well as a member in the Continental Congress, the Virginia House of Delegates, the U.S. House of Representatives, and Maryland State Assembly.

Born at Marlborough plantation in Stafford County in the Colony of Virginia, Mercer received his education at home from private teachers before attending the College of William and Mary, and graduated in 1775. During the American Revolutionary War, Mercer accepted a commission as lieutenant in the 3rd Virginia Regiment in the Continental Army, rising to captain before serving as an aide-de-camp with the rank of major to General Charles Lee. He resigned from the army when Lee did in October 1779, but recruited a cavalry company for the Virginia militia as the British navy discharged Tarleton's Raiders and others to raid plantations in Chesapeake Bay. Thus he held the rank of lieutenant colonel and served briefly under Lafayette as he led troops at the Battle of Guildford, Battle of Green Spring, siege of Yorktown and other locations.

After General Cornwallis' surrender in 1781, Stafford County voters elected Mercer as one of their two representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1782. Fellow legislators selected Mercer as one of Virginia's delegates to the Continental Congress in both 1783 and 1784. When Richard Brent died, a special election to fill his place as Stafford County's delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates was held. In 1785 Mercer married his wife, and soon moved to Anne Arundel County, Maryland, where he operated her estates using enslaved labor.

Mercer became one of Maryland's delegates to the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, but because he was opposed to centralization, withdrew before signing the Constitution. Mercer was also a delegate to the Maryland State Convention of 1788, to vote whether Maryland should ratify the proposed Constitution of the United States. He served terms in the Maryland State Assembly from 1788 to 1789 and from 1791 to 1792 before being elected to represent Maryland in the United States House of Representatives from the second and third districts from 1792 to 1794, resigning on April 13, 1794. He again served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1800 to 1801 before winning election as the tenth Governor of Maryland for two one-year terms from 1801 to 1803. Mercer again served in the Maryland House of Delegates between 1803 and 1806.

Mercer traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to seek medical attention, and died there. Initially interred in a burial vault at St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia, his remains were later returned to his Cedar Park estate in Maryland for burial.