Alexander De Witt (April 2, 1798 – January 13, 1879) was a 19th-century
American politician from the state of
.
Born in
New Braintree, Massachusetts, De Witt worked in textile manufacturing in
Oxford, Massachusetts
Oxford is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,347 as of the 2020 United States Census.
History
Oxford was first settled in 1687 and was officially incorporated in 1713. It was the birthplace of Clara ...
. Active in politics as a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
, he was elected to the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
in 1830, serving until 1836. He served in the
Massachusetts State Senate in 1842, 1844, 1850, and 1851.
An anti-slavery activist, De Witt later joined the
Free Soil Party. As a Free Soiler he was elected to the
United States Congress in 1853. In January 1854, he was one of six signatories of the "Appeal of the Independent Democrats", drafted to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
After the demise of the Free Soil Party, De Witt joined the
American Party, then the only major party with an anti-slavery platform. He won a second term in 1854, and served in the
34th Congress
The 34th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 1855, ...
.
He was defeated in his 1856 bid for reelection and returned to his previous work as a textile manufacturer. De Witt later became a
Republican, and supported the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
by participating in efforts to recruit and equip soldiers for Massachusetts regiments.
De Witt died in Oxford on January 13, 1879. He is buried in Oxford's South Cemetery.
Town of Oxford, MA - Rules and Regulations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Witt, Alexander
1798 births
1879 deaths
People from New Braintree, Massachusetts
Free Soil Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
Know-Nothing members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
People from Oxford, Massachusetts
Activists from Massachusetts