Alexander Martin was born in Hunterdon County NJ. When he was a child he attended common schools. Alexander attended and graduated from the college of New Jersey known as the Princeton University. Little is known from …show more content…
From 1773 to 1774 Martin served in the North Carolina House of Commons and the second and third provincial congresses in 1775. In September 1775 he was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the 2 North Carolina Continental Regiment. Martin saw military action in South Carolina and won promotion to a colonelcy. He soon joined George Washington’s army but he was soon arrested for cowardice. Martin's misfortune in the army did not impede his political career. The year after his court martial he entered the North Carolina Senate, where he served for 8 years (1778-82, 1785, and 1787-88). For every session except those of 1778 and 1779, Martin served as speaker. In the year 1781 he became a acting governor for the state. Of the five North Carolina delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Martin was the least strongly Federalist. He did not take an active part in the proceedings, and he left Philadelphia in late August 1787, before the Constitution was signed. Martin was considered a good politician but not suited to public debate. This is how he should Significance to the Constitutional