Burwell Bassett

Burwell Bassett (* March 18, 1764 in New Kent County, Virginia; † February 26, 1841 ) was an American politician. Between 1805 and 1829 he represented several times the state of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Burwell Bassett was a maternal nephew of Martha Washington, the wife of U.S. President George Washington. He was also a cousin of the future President William Henry Harrison. He studied at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. He then embarked on a political career. Between 1787 and 1789 he sat in the House of Representatives from Virginia; 1794 to 1805 he was a member of the State Senate. In 1794 he ran unsuccessfully for Congress yet. He was a member of the end of the 1790s by Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic-Republican Party.

In the congressional elections of 1804 Bassett was in the twelfth electoral district of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Thomas Griffin on March 4, 1805. After three re- elections, he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1813 four legislative sessions. In this time of the beginning of the British -American war fell. Between 1811 and 1813 was Bassett Chairman of the Committee on Claims and the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business. In 1812 he was not re-elected.

In the elections of 1814 Bassett was elected to Congress again in the 13th district of his state, where he replaced Thomas M. Bayly on 4 March 1815. Until March 3, 1819, he was able to complete two more legislatures. Between 1819 and 1821, Bassett was sitting again in the House of Representatives from Virginia, before he was elected in 1822, then again in the 13th electoral district of his state in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he became the successor of Severn E. Parker on March 4, 1823 who two years earlier replaced him there. After three re- elections he could remain until March 3, 1829 in Congress. Since 1823 he represented there as a successor of Charles F. Mercer eighth district of Virginia. In the 1820s Bassett joined the movement to the future President Andrew Jackson. In 1828 he was not re-elected.

After the final end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Burwell Bassett is no longer politically have appeared. He died on February 26, 1841 after a riding accident.