Ezekiel Whitman

Ezekiel Whitman

Ezekiel Whitman (born March 9, 1776 in East Bridgewater , Plymouth County , Province of Massachusetts Bay , †  August 1, 1866 ibid) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1809 and 1821 he sat several times for the state of Massachusetts in the US House of Representatives . In 1821 and 1822 he also represented the state of Maine there .

Career

Ezekiel Whitman attended Brown University in Providence ( Rhode Island ) until 1795 . After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1799, he began to practice in New Gloucester in his new profession. In 1807 he moved to Portland , where he worked as a lawyer until 1852, minus his congressional and judicial terms. Both cities were part of Massachusetts until 1820 when they became part of the new state of Maine.

Whitman was a member of the Federalist Party . In 1806 he ran for the first time, still unsuccessfully, for the US House of Representatives. In the congressional elections of 1808 he was then elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the 15th  constituency of Massachusetts, which was in the District of Maine . There he took over from Daniel Ilsley on March 4, 1809 . Until March 3, 1811, he could initially only complete one legislative period in Congress . Between 1815 and 1816 Whitman was a member of the Massachusetts Governing Council. In 1816 he was re-elected to the House of Representatives for the 15th District. After re-election in 1818, he was able to spend two more legislative terms for Massachusetts in Congress between March 4, 1817 and March 3, 1821.

In connection with the admission of new states to the Union, the Missouri Compromise was reached in 1820 . One result of this agreement was the separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts and the establishment of the new state of Maine. In 1819, Whitman was a delegate at the meeting preparing the new state's constitution. In the 1820 congressional election, Whitman was re-elected to Congress in Maine's second constituency. There he represented the new state until his resignation on June 1, 1822.

Between 1822 and 1841, Ezekiel Whitman was an appellate judge in Maine. In 1838 he tried unsuccessfully to return to Congress. Between 1841 and 1848 he was presiding judge ( Chief Justice ) of the Supreme Court of Maine. He continued to work as a lawyer until 1852. Then Whitman retired from his native East Bridgewater. He died there on August 1st, 1866 at the age of 90.

Web links

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