John George Jackson

John George Jackson (born September 22, 1777 in Buckhannon , Harrison County , Virginia , †  March 28, 1825 in Clarksburg , Virginia) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1803 and 1817 he represented the state of Virginia in the US House of Representatives twice ; later he became a federal judge .

Career

John Jackson was a member of a well-known family of politicians. He was the son of George Jackson (1757-1831) and brother of Edward B. Jackson (1793-1826), both of whom were also Congressmen. He was also the grandfather of William Thomas Bland (1861–1928), also a congressman for Virginia, of Jacob B. Jackson (1829–1893), who became governor of West Virginia , and of James M. Jackson (1825–1901), who served as federal judge and congressman.

Born in what is now West Virginia, Jackson came to Clarksburg with his parents in 1784. There he received a school education; later he worked as a civil engineer. In 1793 he was a surveyor in what is now Ohio . There he worked until 1798. Then he struck a political career in Virginia as a member of the Democratic Republican Party . Between 1798 and 1801 he was a member of the Virginia House of Representatives .

In the congressional election of 1802 Jackson was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the first constituency of Virginia , where he succeeded John Smith on March 4, 1803 . After three re-elections, he could remain in Congress until his resignation in September 1810 . During his time as a congressman in 1803 , the Louisiana Purchase made by President Thomas Jefferson expanded the territory of the United States considerably. In 1804 the twelfth amendment was ratified. Jackson also came to prominence at the time for a duel with MP Joseph Pearson from North Carolina . He was wounded in the hip. This wounding was also the reason for his resignation on September 28, 1810.

In December 1811, Jackson narrowly escaped a fire in a theater in Richmond , which among other things fell victim to Governor George William Smith . In 1811 and 1812 Jackson was again a member of the Virginia State Parliament. In 1812 he became a brigadier general in the state militia. In the elections of 1812 he was again elected to Congress in the first district of Virginia, where he replaced Thomas Wilson on March 4, 1813 . By March 3, 1817, he was able to complete two more legislative terms in the US House of Representatives, which were initially shaped by the events of the British-American War . In 1816 he declined to run again.

After his tenure in the US House of Representatives, John Jackson worked first as a lawyer and then between 1819 and his death as a judge in the federal district court for the western part of the state of Virginia. He died on March 28, 1825 in Clarksburg in what is now West Virginia.

Web links

• John George Jackson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John George Jackson in the database of Find a Grave (English)