George Washington Smith (congressman)

George Washington Smith ( born August 18, 1846, Putnam County, Ohio; † November 30, 1907 in Murphysboro, Illinois ) was an American politician. Between 1889 and 1907, he represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

In 1950, George Smith moved with his father in the Wayne County, Illinois, where he attended the public schools. After he graduated in 1868, the McKendree College in Lebanon. In the meantime, he was apprenticed as a blacksmith. After studying law at Indiana University in Bloomington and his 1870 was admitted to the bar he began in Murphysboro to work in this profession. Between 1880 and 1888 he held the position of Master in Chancery. At the same time he proposed as a member of the Republican Party launched a political career.

In the congressional elections of 1888, Smith was in the 20th electoral district of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of John R. Thomas on March 4, 1889. After nine elections he could remain until his death on November 30, 1907 in Congress. In this time of the Spanish-American War of 1898. Since 1895 was represented Smith in place of Andrew J. Hunter 22 district of his state. Since 1895 he was chairman of the Committee on private land claims.