William Williams (politician, 1821)

William Williams

William Williams (born May 11, 1821 in Carlisle , Pennsylvania , †  April 22, 1896 in Warsaw , Indiana ) was an American politician . Between 1867 and 1875 he represented the state of Indiana in the US House of Representatives . From 1882 to 1885 he was the United States Ambassador to Uruguay .

Life

William Williams attended the public schools of his home country and received a rather poor education. After completing a law degree and being admitted to the bar in 1845, he began to work in this profession in Warsaw. In 1852 and 1853 he was a chamberlain in the local Kosciusko County . In 1853 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Indiana.

As a result, Williams was active in the banking and railroad business. For several years he was the manager of the Bank of Warsaw ; from 1854 to 1856 he was president of the Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway . From 1859 to 1852 he directed the Michigan City Jail . During the Civil War , Williams served in the Union Army between 1862 and 1865 . He initially commanded the garrison at Camp Allen near Fort Wayne . Then he was in Louisville paymaster of the volunteer units.

Politically, Williams was a member of the Republican Party . In the congressional elections of 1866 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the tenth constituency of Indiana , where he succeeded Joseph H. Defrees on March 4, 1867 . After three re-elections, he was able to complete four legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1875 . Since 1873 he represented the then newly created 13th district of his state there. In Congress, Williams was chairman of the War Department's Expenditure Control Committee from 1867 to 1875. Until 1869, as a congressman, he experienced the conflict between his party and President Andrew Johnson , which culminated in an impeachment trial that only just failed in the US Senate . In 1868 and 1870, the 14th and 15th amendments were ratified.

In 1874, Williams decided not to run again. After leaving the US House of Representatives, he returned to practice as a lawyer in Warsaw. In 1882 he was appointed US ambassador to Montevideo by President Chester A. Arthur , while he was also accredited to Paraguay . He held this office until February 14, 1885. He then returned to Warsaw, where he retired. He died there on April 22, 1896.

Web links

• William Williams in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• William Williams in the database of Find a Grave (English)