George Caldwell

George Alfred Caldwell (born October 18, 1814 in Columbia , Kentucky , †  September 17, 1866 in Louisville , Kentucky) was an American politician . Between 1843 and 1851 he twice represented the state of Kentucky in the US House of Representatives .

Career

George Caldwell attended public schools in his home country. After a subsequent law degree and his license to practice law in 1837, he began to work in Adair County in this profession. Politically, he became a member of the Democratic Party . Between 1839 and 1840 he was an MP in the Kentucky House of Representatives .

In the congressional elections of 1842 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the fourth constituency of Kentucky , where he succeeded Bryan Owsley ( Whig Party ) on March 4, 1843 . By March 3, 1845, Caldwell first served a term in Congress . During this time he was chairman of the Ministry of Finance's Expenditure Control Committee . This session was marked by tension between President John Tyler and the Whigs. In addition, a possible annexation of the Republic of Texas , which has been independent of Mexico since 1836, was already being discussed. This annexation, completed in 1845, immediately led to the Mexican-American War .

George Caldwell took part in this war as a lieutenant colonel in the American armed forces. He distinguished himself among other things during the Battle of Chapultepec . After the war ended, Caldwell continued his political career. In 1848 he was re-elected to Congress in the fourth district of Kentucky, where he replaced Aylette Buckner on March 4, 1849 . In his legislative period, which ran until March 3, 1851, he was again chairman of the committee for the control of the Ministry of Finance. At that time, the question of slavery was already being hotly debated in parliament . The political climax was the compromise introduced by Henry Clay in 1850 .

In 1850, Caldwell declined to run for Congress again. In the following years he practiced again as a lawyer in Louisville. In August 1866 he was a delegate to the National Union Convention in Philadelphia . George Caldwell died on September 17, 1866 in Louisville and was buried there.

Web links

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

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