William Smith (South Carolina senator)
William Smith ( * 1762, † June 26, 1840 in Huntsville, Alabama) was an American politician who represented the state of South Carolina in the U.S. Senate.
Neither the exact birthday still the birthplace of William Smith are known; it is believed that he came to the territory that became the state of North Carolina to the world. He attended several private schools, then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1784. First, he settled as a lawyer in Pinckneyville (South Carolina), and later in Yorkville. He was also active as a planter.
His political career began with the membership of the Senate of South Carolina, where he served from 1802 to 1808; 1806, Smith was president of this chamber. Thereafter he served until 1816 as a judge at the District Court ( Circuit Court ) of South Carolina, before he was elected for the Democratic- Republican Party in the U.S. Senate. In Washington, he entered on December 4, 1816, the successor to the retiring John Taylor. He also won the election for the next full legislative session and was subsequently among other things the Senate Judiciary Committee before then but failed 1822 re-election at the next trial and consequently had on March 3, 1823, first resign from the Senate. During this time, the Missouri Compromise was the focal point of political events; Smith represented the Southern view that slavery was a positive institution.
Smith was followed from 1824 to 1825 deputy in the House of Representatives from South Carolina. When he was elected U.S. Senator again after the death of John Gaillard and returned to the Congress on November 29, 1826, he became the adversary of the originating also from South Carolina, U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun and the opponents of the Nullifikationsdoktrin. In the presidential elections in 1828 Calhoun was the official Democratic candidate for the office of Vice President at the side of the victorious Andrew Jackson; however, he failed seven members of the Electoral College of Georgia 's voice, they issued instead for William Smith.
In 1830, Smith competed unsuccessfully for reelection to the Senate, he had to leave on March 3, 1831. Immediately afterwards, he was again a state senator in South Carolina and remained so until 1832. This year he first moved to Louisiana before he in 1833 on a farm near Huntsville (Alabama ) settled permanently. There he remained politically active and sat from 1836 to 1840 in the House of Representatives from Alabama. In the presidential elections in 1836, he was again placed in some states instead of Richard M. Johnson as a candidate for the vice-presidency. Ultimately, it accounted for 23 electoral votes, including those from Virginia, whose electors refused to vote for Johnson. This therefore just missed the absolute majority and had to face a run-off election in the U.S. Senate, but he clearly won by the Whig party against Francis Granger.
On March 3, 1837, Smith was nominated by President Jackson as a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The U.S. Senate confirmed him by 23:18 votes, but he gave up the office. Smith died in June 1840 at his estate " Calhoun Place" near Huntsville and was buried in the family cemetery located there.