{{Short description|American politician (1784–1852)}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = |name = Benjamin Hardin |honorific_suffix = |image = Benjamin Hardin.jpg |alt = A man with wispy, black hair and a prominent nose wearing a dark jacket, light tie and vest, and high-collared white shirt |order = |office = 27th Secretary of State of Kentucky |term_start = September 4, 1844 |term_end = September 6, 1848 |governor = William Owsley |predecessor = James Harlan |successor = George B. Kinkead |office1 = Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky |term_start1 = March 4, 1815 |term_end1 = March 4, 1817 |predecessor1 = William Pope Duval |successor1 = Thomas Speed |constituency1 = {{ushr|KY|10|10th district}} |term_start2 = March 4, 1819 |term_end2 = March 4, 1823 |predecessor2 = Thomas Speed |successor2 = Francis Johnson |constituency2 = {{ushr|KY|10|10th district}} |term_start3 = March 4, 1833 |term_end3 = March 4, 1837 |predecessor3 = John Adair |successor3 = John Pope |constituency3 = {{ushr|KY|7|7th district}} |office4 = Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives |term4 = 1828–1832 |office5 = Member of the Kentucky Senate |term5 = 1810–1811<br>1824–1825 |birth_date = {{birth date|1784|02|29}} |birth_place = Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, US |death_date = {{death date and age|1852|09|24|1784|02|29}} |death_place = Bardstown, Kentucky, US |birth_name = |party = Democratic-Republican<br />National Republican |spouse = |relations = Father-in-law of John L. Helm<br />Cousin of Martin Davis Hardin<br />Cousin of Charles A. Wickliffe |children = |alma_mater = |profession = Lawyer |signature = Benjamin Hardin sig.jpg |signature_alt = Ben Hardin |footnotes = }}
'''Benjamin Hardin''' (February 29, 1784 – September 24, 1852) was an American politician who was a United States representative from Kentucky. Martin Davis Hardin was his cousin.
==Biography== Hardin was born at the Georges Creek settlement on the Monongahela River, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and then moved with his parents to Washington County, Kentucky in 1788. He attended the schools of Nelson and Washington Counties, Kentucky before studying law. Admitted to the bar in 1806, he commenced practice in Elizabethtown and Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky, and then settled in Bardstown, Kentucky in 1808. He owned slaves.<ref>{{Citation|title=Congress slaveowners|date=2022-01-19|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2022-07-10}}</ref>
Hardin was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1810, 1811, 1824, and 1825 and served in the Kentucky Senate 1828–1832. He was elected as a Republican to the Fourteenth Congress (March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817) and reelected as a Republican to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses (March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1823). He was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837).
After leaving Congress, Hardin served as the Secretary of State of Kentucky 1844–1847. He served as a member of the Kentucky constitutional convention in 1849.
==Death and interment== Hardin died in Bardstown, Kentucky in 1852 and was buried in the family burying ground near Springfield, Kentucky.
==References== {{Reflist}} {{CongBio|H000184}} *{{cite book |last=Allen |first=William B. |title=A History of Kentucky: Embracing Gleanings, Reminiscences, Antiquities, Natural Curiosities, Statistics, and Biographical Sketches of Pioneers, Soldiers, Jurists, Lawyers, Statesmen, Divines, Mechanics, Farmers, Merchants, and Other Leading Men, of All Occupations and Pursuits |publisher=Bradley & Gilbert |year=1872 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_s_wTAAAAYAAJ |accessdate=2008-11-10 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_s_wTAAAAYAAJ/page/n373 370]}} *{{cite book |last=Little |first=Lucius P. |title=Ben Hardin: His Times and Contemporaries, with Selections from His Speeches |publisher=Courier-journal job printing company |year=1887 |url=https://archive.org/details/benhardinhistime00inlitt |accessdate=2009-02-01}}
{{s-start}} {{S-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Kentucky | district=10 | before=William Pope Duval | after=Thomas Speed | years=1815-1817}} {{US House succession box | state=Kentucky | district=10 | before=Thomas Speed | after=Francis Johnson | years=1819-1823}} {{US House succession box | state=Kentucky | district=7 | before=John Adair | after=John Pope | years=1833-1837}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=James Harlan}} {{s-ttl|title=Secretary of State of Kentucky|years=1844–1848}} {{s-aft|after=George B. Kinkead}} {{s-end}} {{USCongRep-start|congresses= 14th, 16th–17th & 23rd–24th United States Congress |state=Kentucky}} {{USCongRep/KY/14}} {{USCongRep/KY/16}} {{USCongRep/KY/17}} {{USCongRep/KY/23}} {{USCongRep/KY/24}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardin, Benjamin}} Category:1784 births Category:1852 deaths Category:Politicians from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Benjamin Category:American people of French descent Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States representatives from Kentucky Category:National Republican Party United States representatives from Kentucky Category:Secretaries of state of Kentucky Category:Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Category:Kentucky state senators Category:Kentucky lawyers Category:United States representatives who owned slaves Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly Category:Slave owners from Kentucky