William McComas

William McComas

William McComas (* 1795 near Pearisburg , Giles County , Virginia , †  June 3, 1865 near Barboursville , West Virginia ) was an American politician . Between 1833 and 1837 he represented the state of Virginia in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William McComas first attended private schools and then studied at Emory and Henry College . In the following years he worked in agriculture and, after studying law, as a lawyer. He was also a clergyman in the Methodist Church . Politically, he first joined the movement around the future President Andrew Jackson in the 1820s and became a member of the Democratic Party founded by him in 1828 .

In the 1832 congressional election , McComas was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the 19th  constituency of Virginia , where he succeeded William McCoy on March 4, 1833 . After re-election in the 14th district of his state, he was able to complete two terms in Congress until March 3, 1837 . Since President Jackson took office in 1829, there has been heated debate inside and outside of Congress about its policies. It was about the controversial enforcement of the Indian Removal Act , the conflict with the state of South Carolina , which culminated in the nullification crisis , and the banking policy of the president. During his first term in office, McComas turned away from Jackson and joined the opposition National Republican Party and then the newly formed Whig Party . When he was re-elected in 1834, he was a candidate for the National Republicans.

After his tenure in the US House of Representatives, William McComas resumed his previous activities. In 1848 he applied unsuccessfully for his return to Congress; in 1861 he was a delegate to the meeting at which the state of Virginia decided to leave the Union. McComas voted against this move. During the civil war that followed, he was a federal judge in the area that remained loyal to the Union that became West Virginia in 1863. He died on June 3, 1865 on his farm near Barboursville.

Web links

• William McComas in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William McComas in the database of Find a Grave (English)