Thomas Allen (representative)

Thomas Allen ( born August 29, 1813 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, † April 8, 1882 in Washington DC ) was an American politician. In the years 1881 and 1882 he represented the State of Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Thomas Allen attended the Pittsfield Academy and the Berkshire School. Subsequently, he studied until 1832 at Union College. After a subsequent law school in New York City and his 1835 was admitted as a lawyer in this city he began to work in his new profession. Later he moved to the federal capital, Washington, where he 1837 the newspaper "The Madisonian " founded. Between 1837 and 1839 he managed the printing of the U.S. House of Representatives and then to 1842 the U.S. Senate. In 1842, Allen moved to St. Louis, where he began his political career as a member of the Democratic Party.

Between 1850 and 1854 he was a member of the Senate from Missouri. During these years he worked as a contractor for the improvement of infrastructure. In railway construction, he was responsible for the construction of more than 1,000 miles of new routes. In 1852 he made the first steam locomotive over the Mississippi River. Later he became president of the railway company St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. Allen was also active in other sectors such as the banking industry. As a result, he sold all his railway shares and retired from business life. Meanwhile, he continued his political career.

In the congressional elections of 1880 Allen was elected in the second district of Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, where he became the successor of Erastus Wells on March 4, 1881. This mandate he was able to exercise until his death on 8 April 1882. In a by-election of Republican James Henry McLean was elected his successor. Thomas Allen was married to Ann Russell.

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