William Brickly Stokes

William Brickly Stokes

William Brickly Stokes (born September 9, 1814 in Chatham County , North Carolina , †  March 14, 1897 in Alexandria , Tennessee ) was an American politician . Between 1859 and 1871 he twice represented the state of Tennessee in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William Stokes attended public schools in his home country. He later moved to Tennessee where he worked in agriculture. At the same time he began a political career. Between 1849 and 1852 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Tennessee ; in 1855 and 1856 he was a member of the State Senate . In the late 1850s he was a member of the short-lived Opposition Party .

In the congressional election of 1858 , Stokes was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the fourth constituency of Tennessee , where he succeeded John Houston Savage on March 4, 1859 . Until March 3, 1861, he could initially only complete one legislative period in Congress . After that, the fourth mandate of his state was vacant until 1868 because Tennessee had joined the Confederation . Throughout Stokes' term in office, the work of Congress was shaped by the events leading up to the Civil War .

Stokes was a supporter of the Union. On May 15, 1862, he joined the Army of the Northern States as a major . By the time he left military service on March 10, 1865, he had made it up to Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General . After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1867, he began to work in his new profession in Alexandria. At the same time he continued his political career, first as a Unionist and then as a member of the Republican Party . After the re-admission of the state of Tennessee to the union, he was re-elected to Congress in the third district in 1866. After two re-elections, he could remain in the US House of Representatives until March 3, 1871. There he witnessed the conflict between his party and President Andrew Johnson , which culminated in a narrowly failed impeachment trial against the president. During Stokes' time in Congress, the 14th and 15th amendments were passed there.

In the congressional election of 1870, Stokes was defeated by the Democrat Abraham Ellison Garrett . He was then head of the Tennessee Tax Department. He also worked as a lawyer again. William Stokes died in Alexandria on March 14, 1897.

Web links

• William Brickly Stokes in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William Stokes Brickly in the database of Find a Grave (English)