Samuel Ashe (1725-1813) was a politician from Wilmington. A president of the state's Council of Safety in 1776, he helped draft North Carolina's first constitution. In 1777 he became the speaker of the North Carolina State Senate, in which role he considered a pardon for John Lewellen, the ringleader of the Gourd Patch Conspiracy. He later served as a judge of the state superior court and as the governor.