Benjamin Thomas (politician)

Benjamin Thomas

Benjamin Franklin Thomas (born February 12, 1813 in Boston , Massachusetts , †  September 27, 1878 in Beverly , Massachusetts) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1861 and 1863 he represented the state of Massachusetts in the US House of Representatives .

Career

In 1819 Benjamin Thomas moved to Worcester with his parents . He first attended the Lancaster Academy and then studied until 1830 at Brown University in Providence ( Rhode Island ). After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1833, he began to work in Worcester in this profession. In his homeland he also held various local offices. In 1842 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts . In the same year he became a bankruptcy officer. Between 1844 and 1848 Thomas worked as a debt restructuring judge. Politically, he was a member of the Whig Party at the time . In the presidential election of 1848 he was one of the electors who officially elected Zachary Taylor as US president. From 1853 to 1859 he was a judge on the Massachusetts Supreme Court . Then he practiced again as a private lawyer. In 1861 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

After the resignation of Congressman Charles Francis Adams , Thomas was elected as a unionist in the due by-election for the third seat of Massachusetts as his successor to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he took up his mandate on June 11, 1861. Since he did not run for re-election in 1862, he could only end the current legislative period until March 3, 1863. This was shaped by the events of the civil war . After his time in the US House of Representatives, Benjamin Thomas returned to work as a lawyer. An appointment as Chief Justice of the State of Massachusetts failed due to the approval of the legislature. He died on September 27, 1878 on his Beverly estate.

Web links

• Benjamin Thomas (politician) in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Benjamin Thomas in the database of Find a Grave (English)