John Smilie

John Smilie (born September 16, 1742 in County Down , Ireland , †  December 30, 1812 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1793 and 1812 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives twice .

Career

John Smilie attended public schools in his Northern Irish homeland. In 1760 he came to the then British colony of Pennsylvania. In the 1770s he joined the American Revolution and took part in the War of Independence as a soldier in the state militia . From 1780 he lived in Fayette (Pennsylvania). In the following years he embarked on a political career. Smilie was an early opponent of slavery and also refused to ratify the United States Constitution , which he found despotic. Between 1784 and 1786 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania; in 1790 he was a member of a constitutional convention of his state. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Senate from 1790 to 1793 . He spoke out against the federal tax on whiskey . He was suspected of being involved in the outbreak of the Whiskey Rebellion . Politically, he was an opponent of the federal government under President George Washington ( anti-administration faction ).

In the Pennsylvania state-wide congressional elections of 1792 , Smilie was elected to the US House of Representatives, which was then still in Philadelphia , where he took up his new mandate on March 4, 1793. Until March 3, 1795 he was able to complete a legislative period in Congress . He became a member of the Democratic Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson in the late 1790s . In the elections of 1798 he was re-elected to Congress in the eleventh congressional electoral district of his state, where he succeeded William Findley on March 4, 1799 . After six re-elections, he could remain in the US House of Representatives until his death on December 30, 1812. Since 1803 he represented the ninth district of Pennsylvania there. In 1800, the new federal capital Washington DC was moved. During Smilie's time as a congressman, the Louisiana Purchase made by President Jefferson in 1803 greatly expanded United States territory. In 1804 the twelfth amendment was ratified. Since 1812, the events of the British-American War also shaped the work of Congress.

At the time of his death, John Smilie had already been elected for a further legislative term in the then newly created 21st electoral district of his state, which he could then no longer run. Isaac Griffin was elected to Congress in his place .

Web links

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

• John Smilie in the database of Find a Grave (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
William Findley	United States House Representative for Pennsylvania (11th constituency) March 4, 1799 - March 3, 1803	John Baptiste Charles Lucas
Andrew Gregg	United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania (9th constituency) March 4, 1803 - December 30, 1812	David Bard