William Maroe Bentley (2 June 1790-14 July 1848) was an American planter from South Carolina.
Biography[]
William Maroe Bentley was born in Bennettsville, South Carolina in 1790, the son of Caesar Bentley and Helen Maroe. Bentley inherited both his father's "Oroland" plantation at Cheraw and his mother's "Maronia" plantation at Society Hill - both on the Great Pee Dee River - by the time he was thirty, and he qualified as a lawyer and practiced law in Marlboro County. Bentley opposed internal improvements, as he used the Pee Dee to move his goods to port at Georgetown, and he affiliated himself with the Democratic-Republican Party and its successor, the Democratic Party, as a result. However, he disagreed with Andrew Jackson's "strong presidency" and became a Whig in 1834, and he served in the State Senate from 1835 to 1837. He vigorously opposed the Mexican-American War until his death in 1848.