Samuel Riker

Samuel Riker (born February 8, 1743 in Newtown , Province of New York , † May 19, 1823 ibid) was an American politician and officer in the Continental Army . Between 1804 and 1805 and between 1807 and 1809 he represented New York State in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Samuel Riker grew up during the British colonial period and attended community schools during this time. Besides, nothing more is known from his youth. Riker worked actively in the revolutionary movement. He sat in the 1774 Committee of Correspondence of Newtown and served during the Revolutionary War as a lieutenant in the light cavalry ( Light Horse ). He served as a supervisor for Suffolk County during the final year of the war and as a member of the New York State Assembly the following year .

As an opponent of too strong a central government, he joined the Democratic Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson . In November 1804 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the first constituency of New York to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of John Smith . His term ended on March 3, 1805. In the congressional elections of 1806 Riker was then re-elected to the US House of Representatives in the first constituency of New York, where he succeeded Eliphalet Wickes on March 4, 1807 . Since he refused to run again in 1808, he left the Congress after March 3, 1809 and withdrew from the political stage.

Web links

• Samuel Riker in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)