John W. Houston

John Wallace Houston ( born May 4, 1814 Concord, Sussex County, Delaware, † April 26, 1896 in Georgetown, Delaware ) was an American politician. From 1845 to 1851 he represented the State of Delaware in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

John Houston attended the common schools and the Newark Academy. In 1834 he finished studying at Yale College. After a subsequent law school in Dover and its made ​​in 1837 admitted to the bar, he began practicing in his new profession in Georgetown.

Houston was a member of the Whig party. Between 1841 and 1844 he served as Secretary of State, the executive officers of the State Government of Delaware. 1844 Houston was in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC selected. He sat down with 51% of the vote by the Democrats against George R. Riddle. On March 4, 1845 Houston broke the previous Congressman from Delaware, George B. Rodney, from. After he was confirmed in each case in the next two elections, he was able to complete a total of three parliamentary terms in Congress until March 3, 1851. From 1847 to 1849 he was chairman of the Committee on State Property. In 1850 he opted not to run again. Two years later he attempted a return to Congress. In this election, but he lost 44% to 50 % against George R. Riddle.

In 1855, John Houston was appointed judge in Delaware, an office which he was to serve until 1893. In the spring of 1861 he was a delegate at a conference in Washington who unsuccessfully tried to prevent the last minute the outbreak of the Civil War. John Houston died in 1896 in Georgetown.