Robert Craig (politician)

Robert Craig (born 1792 near Christiansburg , Montgomery County , Virginia , †  November 25, 1852 near Salem , Virginia) was an American politician . Between 1829 and 1841 he represented the state of Virginia in the US House of Representatives twice .

Career

Robert Craig attended public schools in his home country and then Washington College in Lexington , which later became Washington and Lee University . Finally he graduated from the Lewisburg Academy in Greenbrier County in what is now West Virginia . In the following years he worked as a planter . At the same time he embarked on a political career. In 1817 and 1818, and again from 1825 to 1829, he sat in the Virginia House of Representatives . From 1820 to 1823 he was a member of the State Committee for Public Works. In the 1820s he joined the movement around Andrew Jackson and became a member of the Democratic Party founded by this in 1828 .

In the 1828 congressional election , Craig was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the 20th  constituency of Virginia , where he succeeded John Floyd on March 4, 1829 . After re-election, he was able to complete two legislative terms in Congress until March 3, 1833 . Since President Jackson took office in 1829, there has been heated debate inside and outside of Congress about its policies. It was about the controversial enforcement of the Indian Removal Act , the conflict with the state of South Carolina , which culminated in the nullification crisis , and the banking policy of the president.

In 1832, Robert Craig was not re-elected. After his first tenure in the US House of Representatives ended, he returned to farming. In 1834 he was re-elected to Congress, where he completed three more legislative terms between March 4, 1835 and March 3, 1841. Since 1837 he was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims , which dealt with claims from the revolutionary era. In 1840, Craig declined to run again.

After his final departure from Congress, Craig continued his agricultural activities. Between 1850 and 1852 he was a member of the Virginia State Parliament for the last time. He died on November 25, 1852 on his Green Hill estate near Salem, where he was also buried.

Web links

• Robert Craig in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Robert Craig in the database of Find a Grave (English)