Walter Coles

Walter Coles ( born December 8, 1790 in Coles Ferry, Halifax County, Virginia; † November 9, 1857 in Chatham, Virginia ) was an American politician. Between 1835 and 1845 he represented the state of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Walter Coles was the son of Congressman Isaac Coles ( 1747-1813 ). Already in 1798 he moved with his parents in the Pittsylvania County. Later he attended Hampden - Sydney College in Prince Edward County. He then studied at Washington College, later Washington and Lee University in Lexington. Coles took part as a lieutenant and then a captain in the British -American War of 1812. Thereafter, he worked in agriculture. At times he also served as justice of the peace. At the same time he embarked on a political career. In the years 1817 and 1818, he sat in the House of Virginia. In the 1820s he joined the movement to the later U.S. President Andrew Jackson and became a member of the Democratic Party, founded in 1828 by this. In the years 1833 and 1834 he was again a deputy in the state legislature of Virginia.

In the congressional elections of 1834, Coles was the fourth electoral district of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of James Gholson on March 4, 1835. After four elections he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1845 five legislative sessions. He often changed his district. Since the inauguration of President Jackson in 1829, was discussed inside and outside of Congress vehemently about its policy. It was about the controversial enforcement of the Indian Removal Act, the conflict with the State of South Carolina, which culminated in the Nullifikationskrise, and banking policy of the President. The time from 1841 was marked by the tensions between President John Tyler and the Whigs. It was also at that time already been discussed about a possible annexation of the independent Republic of Texas since 1836 by Mexico.

In 1844, Walter Coles gave up another candidacy. After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, he again worked in agriculture. He died on November 9, 1857 at his estate Coles Hill near Chatham, where he was also buried.