John Hickman (congressman)

John Hickman ( born September 11, 1810 in West Bradford, Chester County, Pennsylvania, † March 23, 1875 in West Chester, Pennsylvania ) was an American politician. Between 1855 and 1863 he represented the State of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

John Hickman enjoyed a private school education. Then he began to study medicine, but he dropped out in favor of a law degree. After his 1833 was admitted as a lawyer, he began to practice in this profession in West Chester. At the same time he proposed as a member of the Democratic Party launched a political career. In May 1844, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in part in Baltimore, was nominated for the James K. Polk as a presidential candidate. From 1845 to 1846 he was District Attorney in Chester County.

In the congressional elections of 1854 Hickman was in the sixth constituency of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of William Everhart on March 4, 1855. After three re- elections, he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1863 four legislative sessions. These were minted until 1861 by the events leading up to the Civil War, and since 1861 by the war itself. Hickman was a staunch opponent of slavery and was in the so-called anti - Lecompton wing of his party who opposed slavery. In 1860 he then moved to the Republicans as their candidate, he was elected this year in Congress. He was a loyal supporter of the Union cause and decisively opposed the Confederacy. From 1857 to 1859 Hickman was Chairman of the Conference Committee for severance pay from the time of the American Revolution; 1859-1863 he headed the Legal Affairs Committee. In 1862 he was one of the deputies, who were entrusted with the implementation of an impeachment against the federal judge West Hughes Humphreys. In the same year he gave up another Congress candidate.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives John Hickman practiced as a lawyer again. In 1869 he became a deputy in the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. He died on March 23, 1875 in West Chester.