Zadock Pratt

Zadock Pratt (1850)

Zadock Pratt Jr. (born October 30, 1790 in Stephentown , Rensselaer County , New York , †  April 6, 1871 in Bergen , New Jersey ) was an American politician . Between 1837 and 1845 he represented New York State twice in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Zadock Pratt received only a limited education. Later he went into the tanning trade. In Greene County he ran one of the largest tanneries in the world. There he also founded the city of Prattsville . Between 1819 and 1823 he was a member of the New York State Militia. In 1824 he also worked as a justice of the peace in his homeland. In 1827 he became town supervisor in Windham . Politically, he joined the Democratic Party . In 1830 he was a member of the New York Senate .

In the congressional elections of 1836 Pratt was elected for the first seat in the eighth constituency of New York in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he took up his new mandate on March 4, 1837. Until March 3, 1839 he was able to complete a legislative period in Congress . In the elections of 1842 he was re-elected to the US House of Representatives in the eleventh district of his state, where he could spend another legislative period between March 4, 1843 and March 3, 1845. During this time he was chairman of the public real estate committee. This period was marked by tension between President John Tyler and the Whigs . In addition, a possible annexation of the Republic of Texas , which has been independent of Mexico since 1836, was already being discussed. These debates led to the Mexican-American War immediately after Pratt left Congress .

After the end of his time in the US House of Representatives, Zadock Pratt worked again in the tanning trade. He also got into the banking industry. In addition, he was also involved in agriculture. In June 1852 he took part as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore , on which Franklin Pierce was nominated as a presidential candidate. In the year the future big entrepreneur Jay Gould started working for him in one of his tanneries. For some time the two were business partners. In 1860 Pratt retired from business life. He died on April 6, 1871 in Bergen. He was married five times in total, but only had two children from one marriage.

Web links

Commons : Zadock Pratt  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Zadock Pratt in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• The Zadock Pratt Museum

predecessor	Office	successor
Valentine Efner	United States House of Representatives for New York (8th constituency) with Robert McClellan March 4, 1837 - March 3, 1839	John Ely
Archibald L. Linn	United States House Representative for New York (11th constituency) March 4, 1843 - March 3, 1845	John F. Collin