Joseph Vance

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Joseph Vance

Joseph Vance (born March 21, 1786 in Catfish , Washington County , Pennsylvania , †  August 24, 1852 in Urbana , Ohio ) was an American politician and the 13th governor of the state of Ohio from 1836 to 1838  .

Early years

Joseph Vance moved to Vanceburg , Kentucky with his father in 1788 . There he attended the local schools. Then he worked as a salt dealer. He also came to the areas of the Northwest Territory . In 1805 he settled there in Urbana, where he worked as a farmer. During the War of 1812 , Vance fought in the ranks of the militia, rising from major to major general.

Political career

Vance was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1812 to 1816 and from 1819 to 1820 . In 1820 he was a member of a conference to revise the state constitution. Between 1821 and 1835 he represented his state in the US House of Representatives in Washington . There he was a member of several committees. It was during this time that Vance joined the Whig Party . In 1836 he was elected as the first candidate of this party for governor of Ohio, where he prevailed with 51.6 percent of the vote against the Democrat Eli Baldwin.

Vance took office on December 12, 1836. During his two-year term in office, the canal expansion in Ohio continued and school reform was initiated. Vance also campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty . When he extradited an escape helper for slaves to the state of Kentucky, he lost reputation with the anti-slavery opponents in Ohio. That cost him re-election in 1838.

Vance served in the Ohio Senate between 1839 and 1841 ; between 1843 and 1847 he was again a member of the US House of Representatives. Then he was still a delegate at the Whig National Convention , which took place in Baltimore in June 1852 . Joseph Vance died in Urbana in August of that year. He was married to Mary Lemen.

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