George Kremer (November 21, 1775September 11, 1854) was a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Biography

Kremer was born in Middletown in the Province of Pennsylvania. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Lewisburg is a borough in Union County, Pennsylvania, United States, south by southeast of Williamsport and north of Harrisburg. In the past, it was the commercial center for a fertile grain and general farming region. The population was 5,1 ...

. He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1812 and 1813. Kremer was elected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth Congress and reelected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses. He died in

Middleburg, Pennsylvania Middleburg is a borough in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley, the borough's population was 1,325 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Snyder County. Middleburg is part ...

. Interment in the private burial ground on the family estate near

. Kremer is best-remembered for publishing (and later defending) an anonymous letter in the Philadelphia newspaper Columbian Observer in which he accused Henry Clay of having made a "bargain" with

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...

to throw Clay's support to Adams in the Presidential election of 1824 (which was decided in the House of Representatives) in exchange for the office of Secretary of State. Kremer's letter charged that Clay had first made the offer to

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

, who had refused it. Clay vigorously disputed the allegations and demanded an official House investigation, at which Kremer refused to testify. The " Corrupt Bargain" charge continued to haunt Clay for the remainder of his political career.Colton, C. The Life and Times of Henry Clay, Vol. 1, p. 295; https://www.history.com/news/anonymous-letter-1825-election-john-quincy-adams; https://history.house.gov/Collection/Detail/15032397088

Bibliography

Russ, William A., Jr. ''The Political Ideas of George Kremer.'' Pennsylvania History 7 (October 1940): 201–12.

References

External links

The Political Graveyard
1775 births 1854 deaths Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians People from Middletown, Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub