William C. Houston

William Cannon Houston (born March 17, 1852 in Shelbyville , Bedford County , Tennessee , †  August 30, 1931 in Woodbury , Tennessee) was an American politician . Between 1905 and 1919 he represented the state of Tennessee in the US House of Representatives .

Career

In 1858, William Houston moved to Woodbury with his mother. There and in Sweetwater he attended public schools. He then worked in agriculture; he also published a newspaper. Politically, Houston became a member of the Democratic Party . In the years 1877 to 1879 and again from 1881 to 1885 he sat as a member of the House of Representatives from Tennessee . After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1878, he began to work in Woodbury in his new profession. In 1888 he was both his party's regional board member and president of the Tennessee regional convention. Between 1894 and 1904, Houston served as a judge in his state's eighth judicial district.

In the congressional election of 1904 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the fifth constituency of Tennessee , where he succeeded James D. Richardson on March 4, 1905 . After six re-elections, he was able to complete seven legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1919 . During this time the First World War fell . In 1913, the 16th and 17th amendments to the constitution were passed. From 1911 to 1913, William Houston was chairman of the Committee on the Census ; from 1913 to 1919 he headed the committee that dealt with the administration of the US territories.

In 1918, Houston decided not to run again. Two years later he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco , where James M. Cox was nominated as a presidential candidate. Then he retired. He died on August 30, 1931 on his "Beaver Dam" plantation near Woodbury.

Web links

• William C. Houston in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William C. Houston in the database of Find a Grave (English)