Charles K. Williams

Charles Kilbourne Williams ( born January 4, 1782 Cambridge, Massachusetts, † March 9, 1853 in Rutland, Vermont) was an American lawyer and politician and from 1850 to 1852 Governor of the State of Vermont.

Early years

Charles Williams came in 1790 with his family to Rutland in Vermont. His father Samuel was a publisher and co-founder of the University of Vermont and wrote the first history book of Vermont. Charles attended until 1800, Williams College. After a subsequent law degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1803. He then became a member of the militia, in which he should bring it up to major general. As a member of this troupe, he took part in the British -American War of 1812.

Political rise

Between 1809 and 1821 he was intermittently deputy in the House of Representatives from Vermont. From 1814 to 1815 he was prosecuting attorney in Rutland County and from 1823 to 1833 he was judge of the Vermont Supreme Court the same time, he was from 1825 to 1829 also head of the Federal Customs Service for the District of Vermont. Since 1834 to 1846 he was then Chief Justice ( Chief Justice ) of the Supreme Court of his State. Politically, Williams was a member of the Whig Party and an opponent of slavery. In 1842 he applied unsuccessfully for the post of governor of his state. As a result, he became chairman of advisory committee (Council of Censors ). In 1849 he was again a member of the legislature, before he was elected as a candidate of his party for the new governor of his state in 1850.

Governor of Vermont and other CV

Charles Williams took up his new post on October 11, 1850. After a re-election in 1851 he was able to stay in this position until 1 October 1852. Governor Williams was, like the majority of his fellow citizens in Vermont, a supporter of the movement to abolish slavery. For this reason, a law ( Habeas Corpus Act ) was enacted for the protection of human rights at this time. At the end of his second term, Williams gave up a renewed candidacy. He withdrew into retirement and already died the following year. He was married to Lucy Green Langdon, with whom he had nine children.