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{{Short description|American politician (1751–1813)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name        = Benjamin Stoddert
|image       = Benjamin Stoddert SecNavy.jpg
|office      = 1st [[United States Secretary of the Navy]]
|president   = [[John Adams]]<br>[[Thomas Jefferson]]
|term_start  = June 18, 1798
|term_end    = March 31, 1801
|predecessor = [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] {{small|(Agent of Marine)}}
|successor   = [[Robert Smith (Cabinet member)|Robert Smith]]
|birth_date  = 1751
|birth_place = [[Charles County, Maryland|Charles County]], [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]], [[British America]]
|death_date  = December 18, {{death year and age|1813|1751}}
|death_place = [[Bladensburg, Maryland|Bladensburg]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
|party       = [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]
|spouse      = {{marriage|Rebecca Lowndes|1781}}
|children    = 8
|education   = [[University of Pennsylvania]]
|rank        = Captain
|unit        = Pennsylvania Cavalry
|battles     = *[[American Revolutionary War]] 
**[[Battle of Brandywine]]
}}
'''Benjamin Stoddert''' (1751 – 18 December 1813) was the first [[United States Secretary of the Navy]] from 1 May 1798 to 31 March 1801.

==Early life and education==
Stoddert was born in [[Charles County, Maryland]] in 1751, the son of Captain Thomas Stoddert. He was educated at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and then worked as a merchant. He served as a captain in the [[Pennsylvania]] cavalry and later as secretary to the [[Continental Board of War]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. He was severely injured in the [[Battle of Brandywine]] and was subsequently released from active military service.<ref name="Peter, Grace Dunlop 1933 12">{{cite book |title=A Portrait of Old Georgetown |year=1933 |publisher=Garrett & Massie, Inc. |last=Peter |first=Grace Dunlop |page=12 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27716}}</ref>  In 1781, he married Rebecca Lowndes, daughter of [[Christopher Lowndes]], a [[Maryland]] merchant, and they had eight children. They resided at the home of his father-in-law, [[Bostwick (Bladensburg, Maryland)|Bostwick]], located at [[Bladensburg, Maryland]].

==Career==
In 1783, Stoddert established a [[tobacco]] export business in [[Georgetown, Washington, D.C.|Georgetown]], with business partners [[Uriah Forrest]] and John Murdock.<ref name="Peter, Grace Dunlop 1933 12" />

After [[George Washington]] was elected [[President of the United States|President]], he asked Stoddert to purchase key parcels of land in the area that would become the nation's capital before the formal decision to establish the federal city on the banks of the [[Potomac River|Potomac]] drove up prices there. Stoddert then transferred the parcels to the government. During the 1790s, he also helped found the [[Bank of Columbia]] to handle purchases of land in the [[District of Columbia]] for the federal government.

===Secretary of the Navy===
[[File:Benjamin Stoddert by Robert Field.png|thumb|left|Benjamin Stoddert by [[Robert Field (painter)|Robert Field]]]]
In May 1798, President [[John Adams]] appointed Stoddert, a loyal [[Federalist Party|Federalist]], to oversee the newly established [[United States Department of the Navy|Department of the Navy]].<ref>[[John Thomas Scharf|Scharf, J. Thomas]] (1879). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9IEjAAAAMAAJ&q=thomas+scharf+history+maryland History of Maryland: From the Earliest Period to the Present Day]''. Baltimore: John B. Piet. Vol. II, p. 437.</ref>  As the first [[Secretary of the Navy]], Stoddert soon found himself dealing with an undeclared naval war with [[France]], which would come to be known as the [[Quasi-War]]. Stoddert realized that the infant U.S. Navy possessed too few warships to protect a far-flung merchant marine by using convoys or patrolling the [[North America]]n coast. Instead, he concluded that the best way to defeat the French campaign against American shipping was by offensive operations in the [[Caribbean]], where most of the French [[cruiser]]s were based. Thus at the very outset of the conflict, the Department of the Navy adopted a policy of going to the source of the enemy's strength. American successes during the conflict resulted from a combination of Stoddert's administrative skill in deploying his limited forces and the initiative of his seagoing officers. Under Stoddert's leadership, the reestablished [[United States Navy]] acquitted itself well and achieved its goal of stopping the depredations of French ships against American commerce.

Stoddert concerned himself with the Navy's daily administration and operations and the service's future strength. He established the first six navy yards and advocated building twelve [[74 gun]] [[ships of the line]]. [[United States Congress|Congress]] initially approved construction of these ships in 1799. A design was prepared by [[Joshua Humphrey]], who had prepared the initial designs for [[six original United States frigates|the 44 gun frigates of 1797]] and lumber collected at the new Navy Yard.

Following the peace accord with France, the U.S. Navy's personnel strength and the number of active vessels were reduced. The [[Jefferson Administration]] reduced active naval strength to three frigates (twelve were built between 1797 and 1800) and sold off or used the collected supplies in the Navy Yards for [[gunboat]] construction. This policy left the United States unprepared to respond to the later threats of the [[Barbary pirates]] and failed to prevent [[War of 1812|war with England in 1812]].

Stoddert established the [[Navy Department Library]] due to instructions received from President Adams in a letter dated 31 March 1800.

==Post-Navy life==
[[File:Stoddert Grave Sept 09.JPG|thumb|200px|Grave of Benjamin Stoddert, September 2009]]
He left office in March 1801 to return to commercial life. Following his term as Secretary of the Navy, Stoddert's final years witnessed a decline in his fortunes: as Stoddert lost heavily in land speculation, Georgetown declined as a commercial center, and the Embargo and the [[War of 1812]] brought American overseas trade to a halt. During this period, he lived at [[Halcyon House]], on the corner at 3400 Prospect Street NW.<ref>Candyce H. Stapen (2000), ''Washington DC Blue Guide'' (London: A&C Black, Publishers), p. 572</ref>

Stoddert died on the 18th of December 1813 and is buried in the graveyard at [[St. Matthew's Church (Seat Pleasant, Maryland)|Addison Chapel]], [[Seat Pleasant, Maryland]].

==Things named for Benjamin Stoddert==
* Two [[United States Navy|Navy]] ships: {{USS|Stoddert|DD-302}}, 1920–1935, and {{USS|Benjamin Stoddert}} (DDG-22), 1964–1991
* [[Fort Stoddert]] in the [[Mississippi Territory]] (today [[Alabama]])
* Benjamin Stoddert Middle School<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ccboe.com/stoddert/Default.htm|title=Benjamin Stoddert Middle School...Home of the Stallions!|date=October 10, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010041100/http://www.ccboe.com/stoddert/Default.htm |accessdate=April 12, 2025 |archive-date=10 October 2007 }}</ref> in [[Waldorf, Maryland]]
* [[Benjamin Stoddert Middle School (Temple Hills, Maryland)|Benjamin Stoddert Middle School]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.pgcps.org/benjaminstoddert/|title=Benjamin Stoddert Middle| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403032348/http://www1.pgcps.org/benjaminstoddert/ |archive-date=2015-04-03 }}</ref> in [[Temple Hills, Maryland]]
* Benjamin Stoddert Elementary School<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stoddert.org/|title=Stoddert Elementary School|website=www.stoddert.org|accessdate=April 12, 2025}}</ref> in [[Washington D.C.]]

In the [[Georgetown, Washington, D.C.|Georgetown]] section of Washington, DC, there was a Stoddert Street named after Benjamin Stoddert.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3scgAAAAMAAJ&q=%22stoddert+street%22+georgetown+history&pg=PA372|title=Old Naval Days: Sketches from the Life of Rear Admiral William Radford, U. S. N.|first=Sophie Radford de|last=Meissner|date=16 April 2018|publisher=H. Holt|isbn=9780722294475|access-date=16 April 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref>  In the [[Georgetown street renaming]] of 1895 the name was changed to Q Street NW. An apartment building that today stands at 2900 Q Street NW is named ''The Stoddert''.<ref>{{Coord|38.910354|-77.058481|region:US_type:landmark_scale:2000_source:Wikimapia}}</ref>

In Landover, Maryland there is a residential street named after him.

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{NHC}}
*{{DANFS}}

==External links==
{{commonscatinline}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070205163122/http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/stoddert.htm Biography on Benjamin Stoddert]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071007141853/http://www.woodleysociety.org/BenjaminStoddartPage.htm Brief on Benjamin Stoddert]

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{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Secretary of the Navy]]|years=1798–1801}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Robert Smith (Cabinet member)|Robert Smith]]}}
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{{Federalist Party}}
{{USSecNavy}}
{{Adams cabinet}}
{{Jefferson cabinet}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoddert, Benjamin}}
[[Category:United States secretaries of the navy]]
[[Category:John Adams administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:18th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:Jefferson administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:19th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:1751 births]]
[[Category:1813 deaths]]
[[Category:Maryland Federalists]]
[[Category:People from Charles County, Maryland]]
[[Category:People of the Quasi-War]]
[[Category:Washington Navy Yard]]
[[Category:Slave owners from Maryland]]
[[Category:People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)]]