Samuel Tredwell Sawyer

Samuel Tredwell Sawyer (* 1800 in Edenton , Chowan County , North Carolina , †  November 29, 1865 in Bloomfield , New Jersey ) was an American politician . Between 1837 and 1839 he represented the state of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Samuel Sawyer first attended Edenton Academy and then studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer, he began to work in Edenton in this profession. At the same time he embarked on a political career. Between 1829 and 1832, Sawyer was a member of the House of Representatives from North Carolina ; In 1834 he was elected to the State Senate. In the mid-1830s he became a member of the then newly formed Whig Party .

His premarital affair with the slave Harriet Jacobs resulted in two children, Joseph Jacobs and Louisa Matilda Jacobs . Harriet Jacobs describes the affair and his ambivalent behavior towards her and the two children in detail in her book Experiences from the Life of a Slave Girl . Harriet's brother John S. Jacobs was Sawyer's slave at times.

In the congressional election of 1836 , Sawyer was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the first constituency of North Carolina , where he succeeded William Biddle Shepard on March 4, 1837 . Since he was not confirmed in 1839, he could only serve one term in Congress until March 3, 1839 , during which he was chairman of the committee for the management of public buildings.

After leaving the US House of Representatives, Sawyer moved to Norfolk , Virginia , where he practiced as a lawyer. He also published a newspaper for several years. Between 1853 and 1858 he was in charge of Customs in Norfolk. Then he moved to Washington. Between September 1861 and August 1862 he was a major in the Confederation Army during the Civil War . There he was responsible for the food administration. Samuel Sawyer died in Bloomfield on November 29, 1865.

Web links

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

• Samuel Tredwell Sawyer in the database of Find a Grave (English)