Thomas Smith (Indiana congressman)

Thomas Smith ( * May 1, 1799 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, † April 12, 1876 in Versailles, Indiana ) was an American politician. Between 1839 and 1847 he represented two times the state of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

In 1818 Thomas Smith came to Rising Sun, Indiana, where he worked in the tanning industry. In 1821 he moved on to Versailles, where he ran his own tannery. In addition, Smith was a member of the state militia, in which he rose to the colonel. At the same time he began a political career as a member of the Democratic Party. Between 1829 and 1836 he was several times delegate in the House of Representatives from Indiana. Then he sat from 1836 to 1839 in the state Senate.

In the congressional elections of 1838, Smith was the fourth electoral district of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of George H. Dunn on March 4, 1839. Since he has not been confirmed in 1840, he was initially able to do only one term in Congress until March 3, 1841. In the elections of 1842 Smith was chosen in the third district as successor to Joseph L. White again in the Congress, where he could spend 1847 two other legislative periods between 4 March 1843 to 3 March. These were shaped by the events of the Mexican-American war since 1845.

1846 renounced Smith on a re- nomination. In 1850 he was a delegate at a meeting to revise the State Constitution. After he retired from politics. Thomas Smith died on 12 April 1876 in Versailles.