Matthew Locke (politician)

Matthew Locke (* 1730 in Ireland , †  September 7, 1801 in Salisbury , North Carolina ) was an American politician . Between 1793 and 1799 he represented the state of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Matthew Locke was an uncle of US Senator Francis Locke (1776–1823) and an ancestor of Congressman Effiegene Locke Wingo (1883–1962) from Arkansas . He emigrated to America during the British colonial era and settled in what is now Rowan County in North Carolina. There he worked in the trucking business. In 1771 he was responsible for the finances of the then British colony Province of North Carolina . In August 1774, Locke became a member of the Rowan County Safety Committee. He later joined other revolutionary bodies. In 1775 he became a member of the Hillsboro Provincial Congress . In the same year he was paymaster of the Revolutionary Forces in Rowan County. In 1776 he became a delegate to the colonial congress in Halifax .

Also in 1776, Matthew Locke was a member of the North Carolina Constituent Assembly. Between 1777 and 1781 he was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives . At the same time he was brigadier general of the forces of North Carolina during the War of Independence . He was a member of the North Carolina Senate in 1781 and 1782 . Between 1783 and 1792 he was again a member of the state parliament; In 1789 he worked in a commission to revise the state constitution. That same year he voted against ratifying the United States Constitution .

In the congressional elections of 1792 Locke was elected in the second constituency of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives, which was then still in Philadelphia , where he succeeded John Steele on March 4, 1793 . After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1799 . He was an opponent of the federal government under Presidents George Washington and John Adams . At the end of the 1790s he became a member of the Democratic Republican Party founded by later President Thomas Jefferson .

In 1798, Matthew Locke was not confirmed. After leaving the US House of Representatives, he worked as a planter on his now extensive land. He died in Salisbury on September 7, 1801.

Web links

• Matthew Locke in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Matthew Locke in the database of Find a Grave (English)