Spencer Darwin Pettis

Spencer Darwin Pettis (* 1802 in Culpeper County , Virginia , †  August 28, 1831 in St. Louis , Missouri ) was an American politician . Between 1829 and 1831 he represented the state of Missouri in the US House of Representatives .

Career

The exact date of birth of Spencer Pettis is not known. He attended preparatory schools. After studying law and his admission as a lawyer around 1824, he began to work in this profession in Fayette . There he also held various local offices. Politically, he joined the movement around President Andrew Jackson and became a member of the Democratic Party founded by this in 1828 . Between 1826 and 1828 he was Secretary of State, the executive officer of the state government of Missouri.

In the congressional election of 1828 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the first and then only constituency of Missouri , where he succeeded Edward Bates on March 4, 1829 . After being re-elected, he could remain in Congress until his death on August 28, 1831 . There was heated discussion of President Jackson's policies in those years. In addition to the controversial implementation of the Indian Removal Act and the nullification crisis with the state of South Carolina , it was also about the banking policy of the president.

During the election campaign of 1830 there was a personal conflict over the banking issue between Pettis and Major Thomas Biddle , whose brother Nicholas was president of the Second Bank of the United States at the time. That led to a duel . Both men were fatally wounded in the duel held on August 27, 1831. Spencer Pettis succumbed to his injuries the following day; he was buried in St. Louis. His mandate fell to William Henry Ashley after a special election .

Web links

• Spencer Darwin Pettis in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)