Samuel P. Benson

Samuel Page Benson ( born November 28, 1804 in Winthrop, Kennebec County, Massachusetts, † August 12 1876 in Yarmouth, Maine ) was an American politician. From 1853 to 1857 he represented the state of Maine in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Samuel Benson was born 1804 in Winthrop, which at that time was still part of Massachusetts, and is since 1820 part of the State of Maine. He enjoyed time as a private education and also attended Monmouth Academy. Then he studied until 1825 at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. After a subsequent study of law and its made ​​in 1828 admitted to the bar, he began practicing in his new profession in Unity (Maine). He then returned to Winthrop, where he worked as a lawyer until 1850. He also went into the railway business. He was on the board of a local railway company.

Benson also started a political career in addition to his other activities and was a member of the Whig party. In the years 1833 and 1834 he was a deputy in the House of Representatives from Maine. Between 1836 and 1837 he was a member of the State Senate. From 1838 to 1841 he was Secretary of State of Maine. Between 1838 and 1876 he served on the board of Bowdoin College. From 1844 to 1848 Benson was also chairman of the municipal council of Winthrop.

In 1852 he was in the fourth electoral district of Maine in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Isaac Reed on March 4, 1853. After a re-election in 1854 he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1857 two legislative sessions. Since 1855 he was chairman of the Committee on Maritime Affairs. His time in Congress was marked by the fierce debates over slavery prior to the Civil War.

In 1856, Benson opted not to run again. He retired from politics and resumed the lawyer. Samuel Benson died on August 12, 1876 in Yarmouth; he was buried in his home town of Winthrop.