Jacob Crowninshield

Jacob Crowninshield ( born March 31, 1770 in Salem, Massachusetts, † April 15, 1808 in Washington DC ) was an American politician. Between 1803 and 1808 he represented the state of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Jacob Crowninshield was the older brother of Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1772-1851), who was also a Congressman and U.S. Navy Mister. After leaving school he was engaged in trade and in politics. He was a member of the founded by Thomas Jefferson Democratic- Republican Party. In 1798 he stood as a candidate in a by-election yet unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1801 he was elected to the Massachusetts Senate. The now elected to the U.S. President Thomas Jefferson offered him the post of Navy Minister in his cabinet, but he declined for health reasons.

In the congressional elections of 1802 Crowninshield was elected in the second district of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, where he became the successor of William Shepard on March 4, 1803. After two re- elections he could remain until his death on April 15, 1808 in Congress. Between 1805 and 1807 he was chairman of the Committee on Trade and the craft. During his time as a congressman, the territory of the United States has been considerably enlarged in 1803 by the investments made by President Jefferson Louisiana Purchase. In 1804, the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.