John Locke (February 14, 1764 – March 29, 1855), was a

U.S. Representative 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 c ...

from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. He was born in Hopkinton in the

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, and attended Andover Academy and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, eventually graduating from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1792. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and began practicing law in

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in 1796.

Political career

He was a member of 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 1804, 1805, 1813, and 1823, and was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1820. He was elected to the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

es (March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1829); He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1828. Locke was then a member of the

Massachusetts State Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member sen ...

in 1830, and of the State executive council in 1831. At this time he also resumed the practice of law.

Writing

He wrote two "essays" about how the Articles were wrong, and was ridiculed greatly by peers.

Death

Locke died in Boston, Massachusetts on March 29, 1855; he is interred in Lowell Cemetery in Lowell.

Footnotes

1764 births 1855 deaths Massachusetts state senators Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Harvard University alumni Dartmouth College alumni People from Hopkinton, Massachusetts Massachusetts National Republicans 19th-century American politicians Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives {{Massachusetts-MARepresentative-stub