James Holland (politician)

James Holland (born 1754 in Rutherfordton , Rutherford County , Province of North Carolina , †  May 19, 1823 in Maury County , Tennessee ) was an American politician . Between 1795 and 1797 and again from 1801 to 1811 he represented the state of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives .

Career

James Holland received a below average school education. During the Revolutionary War he was at times major in the North Carolina State Militia and a member of the Continental Army . Between July 1777 and July 1778 he served as sheriff in Tryon County . From 1780 to 1800 he was also a justice of the peace in Rutherford County in addition to his other functions. In this district he was also an auditor ( Comptroller ) from 1782 to 1785 . In 1783 Holland was elected to the North Carolina Senate. In 1786 and 1789 he was a member of the House of Representatives in his state. In 1789 he was a delegate to the meeting that ratified the United States Constitution for North Carolina. In addition, Holland was curator of the University of North Carolina from 1789 to 1795 . After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1793, he began to work in this profession in Rutherfordton.

In the mid-1790s, James Holland joined the Democratic Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson . In the congressional election of 1794 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in the third constituency of North Carolina, where he succeeded Joseph McDowell on March 4, 1795 . Since he renounced another candidacy in 1796, he was initially only able to complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1797 .

After leaving the US House of Representatives, he returned to work as a lawyer and in agriculture. In 1797 he was again a member of the North Carolina Senate. In the elections of 1800 , Holland was re-elected to Congress in the tenth district of his home state, where he replaced Richard Spaight on March 4, 1801 . After four re-elections in the eleventh district, newly created in 1802, he was able to spend five more legislative periods in Congress until March 3, 1811. During this time in 1803 the Louisiana Purchase made by President Jefferson fell , through which the national territory of the United States was considerably enlarged. In 1804 the twelfth amendment was ratified.

In 1810, James Holland declined to run again. After the end of his last tenure in Congress, he moved to Tennessee, where he settled in what would later become Maury County. There he worked in agriculture. From 1812 to 1818 he worked as a justice of the peace in his new home. James Holland died on May 19, 1823 on his estate in Maury County.

Web links

• James Holland in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James Holland in the database of Find a Grave (English)