Richard Dobbs Spaight (March 25, 1758 – September 6, 1802) was an American Founding Father, politician, planter, and signer of the United States Constitution, who served as a Democratic-Republican U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 10th congressional district from 1798 to 1801.

[1] During the American Revolutionary War Spaight returned to North Carolina, serving as aide-de-camp to Major General Richard Caswell at the Battle of Camden.

He lost his bid for re-election to Congress but returned to state government, serving in the North Carolina Senate beginning in 1801.

[4] As a delegate to the Confederation Congress, Spaight led the successful effort to eliminate Thomas Jefferson's proposed ban on slavery from the Northwest Ordinance of 1784.

[5] Spaight died on September 6, 1802, following injuries sustained in a duel with John Stanly, the Federalist congressman who had defeated him in the election of 1800 for the House of Representatives.