James H. Cravens

James Harrison Cravens (born August 2, 1802 in Harrisonburg , Virginia , †  December 4, 1876 in Osgood , Indiana ) was an American politician . Between 1841 and 1843 he represented the state of Indiana in the US House of Representatives .

Career

James Cravens was a second cousin of Congressman James A. Cravens (1818-1893). After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1823, he began working in this profession in Harrisonburg. In the same year he moved to Franklin in the state of Pennsylvania ; In 1829 he came to Madison , Indiana, where he also worked in agriculture. At the same time he embarked on a political career.

Cravens was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1831 and 1832 . Since 1833 he was resident in Ripley County , where he worked as a lawyer and farmer. In 1839 Cravens was elected to the Indiana Senate as a member of the Whig Party, founded in 1835 . In the congressional elections of 1840 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the fourth constituency of his state , where he succeeded Thomas Smith on March 4, 1841 . By March 3, 1843, he completed a term in Congress . During these years a possible annexation of the Republic of Texas , which had been independent of Mexico since 1836, was discussed there.

In 1852, James Cravens ran as the Free Soil Party candidate for governor of Indiana, but with 2.1 percent of the vote, he ended up in third place behind the Whig candidate John A. Matson and the victorious Democrat Joseph Wright . Four years later, he ran for the office of Attorney General of Indiana just as unsuccessfully . During the Civil War , Cravens was a lieutenant colonel in an Indiana volunteer unit. During a Confederate attack on Indiana ( Morgan's Raid ), he became a prisoner of war. He died on December 4, 1876 in Osgood and was buried in Versailles .

Web links

• James H. Cravens in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)