James Iver McKay

James Iver McKay

James Iver McKay (born 1793 in Elizabethtown , Bladen County , North Carolina , †  September 4, 1853 in Goldsboro , North Carolina) was an American politician . Between 1831 and 1849 he represented the state of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives .

Career

James McKay received a good primary education. After studying law and being admitted to the bar, he began to work in this profession. In 1817, he became the state attorney responsible for North Carolina . Between 1815 and 1830 he sat several times in the State Senate . In the 1820s he joined the movement around the future President Andrew Jackson and later became a member of the Democratic Party founded by this in 1828 .

In the congressional elections of 1830 McKay was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the fifth constituency of North Carolina , where he succeeded Edward Bishop Dudley on March 4, 1831 . After eight re-elections, he was able to complete nine legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1849 . Between 1843 and 1847 he represented the sixth and from 1847 to 1849 the seventh district of his state. McKay headed the Military Committee from 1837 to 1839. After that he was chairman of the Postal Committee until 1841. In the following legislative periods he was initially head of the Committee for the Control of Expenditures of the Ministry of War (until 1843). James McKay chaired the tax committee during his last two terms.

At the beginning of his time as a member of Congress there was heated discussion of President Jackson's policies. It was about the controversial implementation of the Indian Removal Act , the nullification crisis with the state of South Carolina and the banking policy of the president. In the early 1840s, the work of Congress was also shaped by the conflict between the Whig Party and President John Tyler . At that time, a possible annexation of the Republic of Texas , which had been independent of Mexico since 1836, was discussed. These discussions ended in the Mexican-American War , which shaped McKay's last two terms in Congress.

In 1848, James McKay was under discussion as a vice presidential candidate. He died in Goldsboro on September 4, 1853.

Web links

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

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