Benjamin Alden Bidlack

Benjamin Alden Bidlack ( born September 8, 1804 in Paris, New York, † February 6, 1849 in Bogotá, Colombia ) was an American politician. Between 1841 and 1845 he represented the State of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Benjamin Bidlack attended the common schools and the Wilkes-Barre Academy. After a subsequent law degree in 1825 and its recent approval as a lawyer, he started in Wilkes-Barre to work in this profession. In the same year he was elected district attorney in Luzerne County. In 1830 he moved to Milford, 1834, he was treasurer in the local Pike County. Then he returned to Wilkes- Barre, where he edited two newspapers. Politically, he joined the Democratic Party. In the years 1835 and 1836 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

In the congressional elections of 1840 Bidlack in the 15th electoral district of Pennsylvania was in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of David Petrikin on March 4, 1841. After a re-election in the eleventh district of his state, he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1845 two legislative sessions. This period was burdened 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.

After the assumption of office of Democratic President James K. Polk Bidlack was appointed to the American Chargé d'affaires in New Granada. This office he held until his death. In this capacity, he managed to negotiate a treaty of friendship between New Granada and the United States, the United States admitted the right of the canal's construction or a railway line across the Isthmus of Panama. Benjamin Bidlack died on February 6, 1849 in Bogotá, where he was also buried.