Josiah Butler

Josiah Butler ( born December 4, 1779 Pelham, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, † October 27, 1854 in Deerfield, New Hampshire ) was an American politician. Between 1817 and 1823 he represented the State of New Hampshire in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Josiah Butler attended the Londonderry Academy and the Atkinson Academy. He also enjoyed a private education. Then he studied until 1803 at Harvard University. In the following three years he worked as a teacher in Virginia. After studying law and qualifying as a lawyer Butler began to work in his new job in 1807 in Pelham. In 1809 he moved his residence and his law firm to Deerfield. Between 1810 and 1813 Butler was sheriff in Rockingham County.

Butler was a member of the Democratic- Republican Party. In 1812 he ran unsuccessfully for Congress. Between 1815 and 1816 he was a member of the House of Representatives from New Hampshire. In the congressional elections of 1816, which were held all across the state, Butler was elected for the first parliamentary seat from New Hampshire in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. There he met on March 4, 1817 the successor of Bradbury Cilley of the Federalist Party. After two re- elections, he could spend up to 3 March 1823 three legislative sessions in Congress. Between 1821 and 1823 he was chairman of the Agriculture Committee. During his time in Congress, the Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine and Missouri were admitted to the Union. The inclusion of those two States was the result of negotiated by Henry Clay Missouri Compromise.

After his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Butler was an Associate Judge at the Court of Appeal of New Hampshire. This post he held 1825-1835. Afterwards, he exercised no other higher offices more.