James Pike (politician)

James Pike

James Pike (born November 10, 1818 in Salisbury , Essex County , Massachusetts , † July 26, 1895 in Newfields , New Hampshire ) was an American politician . Between 1855 and 1859 he represented the state of New Hampshire in the US House of Representatives .

Career

After a good education, James Pike studied theology at Wesleyan University in Connecticut between 1837 and 1839 . Between 1841 and 1854 he worked as a clergyman. In 1854 he moved to Pembroke , New Hampshire. There he also began a political career.

Pike was initially a member of the American Party and was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in 1854 as its candidate in the first district of New Hampshire . There he took over from George W. Kittredge on March 4, 1855 . Until the next election in 1856, Pike moved to the Republican Party, which was founded in 1854 . For this he was re-elected to Congress in 1856 . This enabled him to complete two consecutive legislative terms there by March 3, 1859, which were overshadowed by the heated discussions leading up to the civil war. During this time the states of Minnesota and Oregon were accepted into the union.

In 1858, Pike renounced another candidacy for Congress. During the Civil War, he was colonel in an infantry regiment from New Hampshire in 1862 and 1863 . In 1871, Pike ran unsuccessfully for governor of New Hampshire. After that he no longer appeared politically; but he remained active as a preacher and became a church elder in the district of Dover . In 1886 he also retired from this area.

Web links

• James Pike in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• James Pike in the database of Find a Grave (English)