George Frost Joins The Governor's Council
George Frost was an important player in the creation of New Hampshire’s Revolutionary Government.
After spending time in the Continental Congress, Frost also helped set the foundations of his State’s second, more permanent government.
A Hard Man To Know
I must admit, George Frost is one of those Founders who was very hard to locate information on.
Despite being a member of the Continental Congress, he does not seem to have a lot of primary resources available for me to swim through. Instead, with the last name Frost, I came across several letters by George Washington complaining about poor weather conditions.
One very interesting thing I discovered while I was digging is that George is the great-great-great-grand-uncle of famous poet Robert Frost. Not exactly an American Revolution fact but still a fun thing to know.
George Frost
George Frost was New Hampshire born and raised, though after his father’s passing he spent some time in Maine.
As a young man, Frost went to sea. This career path was common for men who came of age with few prospects for the future.
George spent two decades at sea, working on merchant vessels and learning to trade. He must have been a respected sailor as he eventually became a ship’s Captain.
County Justice
Eventually, Frost returned to New Hampshire and married.
He continued working as a merchant for about a decade when he was chosen as a Judge for his county’s Court of Common Pleas. In this position, George would settle small time legal cases between members of his community.
When the Revolutionary War broke out, Frost may have been a moderate as he did not take up arms. However, since his political star began to rise after the Declaration of Independence was signed, we can safely assume he began to enthusiastically support the Patriot Cause.
Continental Congress and Governor’s Council
Despite his hesitance, George Frost was a respected member of his State.
By 1777, New Hampshire chose Frost to represent its citizens in the Continental Congress. He spent two years in Philadelphia, during which time the Congress mostly focused on winning the war and assembling the Articles of Confederation.
Upon his return to New Hampshire, Frost was elected to the Governor’s Council. The Governor’s Council was, at the time, a mix of what we could consider the Cabinet and Senate. The members were both advisers to the Governor and the Upper House of the State Government.
Retirement
George Frost was a member of the Governor’s Council for five years before the new New Hampshire Constitution was put in place.
This new Constitution replaced the Governor’s Council with a State Senate. About this time, Frost left State politics.
He continued as a county judge before retiring in his early 70’s.
To read about other Revolutionaries from New Hampshire, check out my articles on John Langdon and his brother Woodbury.
If you would like to learn more about Revolutionary New Hampshire, you might be interested in ‘Years of Revolution’ which is an illustrated book that can be picked up through the Amazon affiliate link below.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you might want to subscribe to my email list which I use to send daily articles (and nothing more).
