George Washington Hopkins

George Washington Hopkins ( born February 22, 1804 Goochland County, Virginia; † March 1, 1861 in Richmond, Virginia ) was an American politician. Between 1835 and 1859 he represented two times the state of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

George Hopkins attended the common schools and taught himself then as a teacher. After a subsequent law degree in 1834 and its recent approval as a lawyer, he started in Lebanon to work in this profession. At the same time he proposed as a member of the Democratic Party launched a political career. In the years 1833 to 1835 he sat in the House of Representatives from Virginia.

In the congressional elections of 1834, Hopkins was the seventh constituency of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of James Garland on March 4, 1835. After five elections in different constituencies he could pass in Congress until March 3, 1847 six legislative periods. In the meantime, he represented the Conservative Party, before he returned to the Democrats. Since 1843 he was Chairman of the Postal Committee. The time from 1841 was determined 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. Since 1845 the work of the Congress was marked by the events of the Mexican-American War.

In 1846, Hopkins gave up another candidacy. Between 1847-1849, he was a follower of Abraham Rencher American ambassador in Portugal. After that, he was from 1850 to 1851 again to the House of Virginia. At the same time he was a delegate at a meeting to revise the State Constitution. Subsequently, he served as a judge. In the congressional elections of 1856 Hopkins was elected again to Congress in the 13th electoral district of his state, where he completed his last legislative session as the successor of Fayette McMullen between 4 March 1857 to 3 March 1859. During this time he was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. In 1858 he gave up another candidacy.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Hopkins practiced law in Abingdon. He was also from 1859 until his death on March 1, 1861 again a deputy in the state legislature of Virginia.