John Paterson (General)

John Paterson (* 1744 in New Britain , Colony of Connecticut , † July 19, 1808 in Lisle (now Whitneys Point ), New York ) was an American officer , lawyer and politician . Between 1803 and 1805 he represented New York State in the US House of Representatives .

Career

John Paterson grew up during the British colonial era. He attended community schools. Then he completed his undergraduate studies and graduated from Yale College in 1762 . He studied law . After receiving his license to practice law, he started in New Britain and Lenox ( Massachusetts to practice). He attended the Berkshire Convention in 1774 and was a member of the General Court , which became the first Provincial Congress . During the War of Independence he raised a regiment and took part in the war. He was a colonel in the regiment between April and December 1775 . On January 1, 1776, he became a colonel in the 15th Continental Infantry . He was promoted to Brigadier General - a rank he held from February 21, 1777 until the end of the war. On 30 September 1783 he was appointed Brevet - Major General . After the war, he returned to Lenox, where he commanded the Massachusetts forces in the crackdown on the Shays' Rebellion . In 1790 he moved to Lisle in Broome County . Paterson served in the New York State Assembly in 1792 and 1793 . He was a district judge in Broome County in 1798 and 1806. In 1801 he sat on the committee that revised the New York Constitution.

As an opponent of an overly strong central government, he joined the Democratic-Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson at that time . In the 1802 congressional elections for the 8th Congress , he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the 16th electoral district of New York , where he began serving as the first representative of the district in the US House of Representatives on March 4, 1803 . He retired from the after March 3, 1805 Congress of.

After his time at the Congress, he worked as a farmer until his death. He died on July 19, 1808 in Lisle and was then buried in Lenox Cemetery . Congressman Thomas J. Paterson (1805-1885) and Senator John E. Paterson (* 1800) were his grandsons.

Web links

• John Paterson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John Paterson in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• John Paterson on the Virtual American Biographies website