Walter Lowrie (politician)

Walter Lowrie ( born December 10, 1784 in Edinburgh, Scotland, † December 14, 1868 in New York City ) was an American politician who represented the state of Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate.

In 1791, Walter Lowrie left Scotland and moved with his parents to the United States, where the family settled in Butler County, Pennsylvania. After a comprehensive training, he initially worked there himself for some years as a teacher before he began to engage in surveying technology and agriculture.

In 1811 he took his first political office, when he entered the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and remained there until 1812. From 1813 to 1819 Lowrie was then a state senator in Pennsylvania. As a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he was finally in the U.S. Senate in Washington DC chosen, where he held his seat March 4, 1819 to March 3, 1825. During this time, his party broke up into several factions; Lowrie scored while the followers of William Harris Crawford, called the Crawford Republicans. In the Senate, he was temporarily Chairman of the Finance Committee.

Lowrie turned after six years for re-election, but remained in Washington. On December 12, 1825, he broke Charles Cutts from the Office of the Secretary of the Senate. This administrative posts in the Senate he held until 5 December 1836. He then moved to New York, where he worked until his death for the mission work of the Presbyterian Church. Three of his sons were working as missionaries in India and China. His nephew Walter H. Lowrie officiated from 1857 to 1863 as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.