Samuel Smith (politician, 1752)

Samuel Smith

Samuel Smith (born July 27, 1752 in Carlisle , Province of Pennsylvania , † April 22, 1839 in Baltimore , Maryland ) was an American officer and politician who represented the state of Maryland in both chambers of Congress .

Life and military career

Samuel Smith moved to Baltimore with his family in 1759. He attended a private school and worked as a trader before joining the Continental Army after the war of independence began . There he made it to the Lieutenant Colonel . After the war he worked in the shipping industry.

When war with France loomed in 1794 , Smith was appointed brigadier general of the Maryland Militia; during the Whiskey Rebellion he commanded the armed forces of his state. After the outbreak of the British-American War he served as a major general in the militia, organizing the defense of Baltimore and Fort McHenry . Much of the US Forces victory was due to Smith making arrangements for the British invasion .

politics

His first mandate was between 1790 and 1792 as a member of the Maryland House of Representatives . On March 4, 1793, he moved into the US House of Representatives , to which he was a member until March 3, 1803; there he was chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures .

In 1802, he was then the Democratic-Republican Party in the United States Senate voted, where he remained for a re-election until March 3, 1815th From December 1805 to November 1808 he was the president pro tempore .

On January 31, 1816, he returned to the House of Representatives in Washington, DC ; there he succeeded the resigned Nicholas Ruxton Moore . His term in the House of Representatives ended on December 17, 1822, when he again moved to the US Senate. Here he took the place of the late William Pinkney . From May 1828 to December 1831 he was again the president pro tempore and chairman of the finance committee.

Smith resigned from the Senate for good on March 3, 1833. Two years later he became mayor of Baltimore , which he remained until 1838; then he retired and died the following year.

Samuel Smith's younger brother Robert served as Secretary of State and Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe .

Web links

• Samuel Smith in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Samuel Smith in the database of Find a Grave (English)