John Henry (politician, 1750)

John Henry (November 1750 in Dorchester County , Province of Maryland , † December 16, 1798 ibid) was an American politician and governor of the state of Maryland from 1797 to 1798 . Between 1789 and 1797 he represented his state in the US Senate .

Early years and political advancement

Henry attended West Nottingham Academy and then until about 1769 the College of New Jersey , from which Princeton University would later emerge. He then studied law at the Middle Temple School in London . Upon his return in 1775, he began practicing law in Dorchester County. Between 1777 and 1779 he was a member of the Maryland House of Representatives . At the same time he was in the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1780 and again from 1785 to 1786 . He was also a member of the committee that laid the foundations for government in the Northwest Territory .

Senator and Governor

On December 10, 1788 , Henry was elected to the US Senate in the first elections under the new US Constitution as representative of the east coast of Maryland, Charles Carroll was the representative of the west coast . In 1795 he was confirmed in this office. He was the first Class 3 Senator from Maryland. In the presidential election of 1796 , he received two electoral votes without officially running.

On July 10, 1797, Henry resigned from his Senate mandate because he had since been elected governor by his state's legislature. On December 8, 1797, James Lloyd was elected to succeed him as Senator . Henry served only a single one-year term as governor, which ended on November 14, 1798. For health reasons, he waived a possible re-election. During his tenure, the militia was reorganized and new troops were set up. This also happened against the background of the then threatened war against France. John Henry only survived the end of his term as governor by a month. He died in December 1798. He had two children with his wife Margaret Campbell.

literature

• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 2, Meckler Books, Westport, 1978. 4 volumes.

Web links

• John Henry at the National Governors Association (English)
• John Henry in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• John Henry in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ A New Nation Votes, Maryland 1788 US Senate, Ballot 2 , January 11, 2012, accessed November 25, 2019
2. ^ ^{A b} HENRY, John, (1750-1798) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 19, 2019