Thomas Blount

Thomas Blount (born May 10, 1759 in Pitt County , Province of North Carolina , †  February 7, 1812 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1793 and 1812 he represented the state of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives several times .

Career

Thomas Blount was the younger brother of William Blount (1749-1800), who was in 1796 and 1797 US Senator for the state of Tennessee . He was also an uncle of William Grainger Blount (1784-1827), who sat for Tennessee in the US House of Representatives. Blount was home-trained and joined the Continental Army at the age of 16 during the War of Independence . He came into British captivity, which he spent in England . After his return and the end of the war, he started trading in Tarboro, North Carolina. At the same time he began a political career.

In 1788, Blount was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives. He was an opponent of the federal government under President George Washington ( anti-administration ). In the late 1790s he became a member of the Democratic Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson . In the congressional election of 1792 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in the newly created ninth electoral district of North Carolina, where he took up his new mandate on March 4, 1793. After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1799 . In 1795, the eleventh amendment was ratified.

In 1802, Blount competed unsuccessfully to return to Congress. In the elections of 1804 he was re-elected to the US House of Representatives, now in Washington, in the third district of his state. There he replaced William Kennedy on March 4, 1805 . After re-election in 1806, he could remain in Congress until March 3, 1809. In 1808 he was defeated by his predecessor Kennedy, who was able to take his old seat again for the next two years. In the following congressional elections in 1810 , Blount again won against Kennedy. On March 4, 1811, he was able to enter another legislative period in Congress, which he did not end because he died on February 7, 1812. The subsequent by-elections were then won again by William Kennedy.

Web links

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