James Martin Bell

James Martin Bell (born October 16, 1796 in Huntingdon County , Pennsylvania , †  April 4, 1849 in Cambridge , Ohio ) was an American politician . Between 1833 and 1835 he represented the state of Ohio in the US House of Representatives .

Career

James Bell attended public schools in his home country. After studying law in Steubenville and being admitted to the bar in 1817, he began to work in this profession in Cambridge. He also became a member of the state militia, in which he rose to major general over time. Between 1818 and 1832 he was a prosecutor in Guernsey County . In the 1820s he joined the movement against future US President Andrew Jackson and became a member of the short-lived National Republican Party . From 1826 to 1831 he sat as a member of the House of Representatives from Ohio , whose speaker he was in 1830 and 1831 as the successor to Thomas L. Hamer . In 1830 he also held the post of justice of the peace in his homeland.

In the congressional election of 1832 Bell was elected to the Eleventh constituency of Ohio in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he succeeded Humphrey H. Leavitt on March 4, 1833 . Since he was not confirmed in 1834, he was only able to complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1835 . Since President Jackson took office in 1829, there has been heated debate inside and outside of Congress about its policies. It was about the controversial enforcement of the Indian Removal Act , the conflict with the state of South Carolina , which culminated in the nullification crisis , and the banking policy of the president.

After his time in the US House of Representatives, James Bell practiced as a lawyer again. From 1838 to 1840 he was mayor of his hometown of Cambridge. He died there on April 4, 1849.

Web links

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

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