Spaight, << spayt, >> Richard Dobbs (1758-1802), was a North Carolina signer of the Constitution of the United States. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Spaight was one of the few delegates to attend every session. He also helped win ratification (approval) of the Constitution by North Carolina.
Spaight was born on March 25, 1758, in New Bern, North Carolina, and educated in Ireland. He served in the North Carolina legislature for much of the 1780’s, and he served in the Congress of the Confederation from 1783 to 1785. Spaight was governor of North Carolina from 1792 to 1795 and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1798 to 1801. He died from a wound he received in a duel with John Stanly, a political rival. He died on Sept. 6, 1802.
