McDowell, James, 1795-1851

Governor of Virginia, U.S. Representative, and planter.

James McDowell (October 13, 1795–August 24, 1851) was a U.S. Congressman and Governor of Virginia from 1843 to 1846.

Governor and U.S. representative of Virginia.

James McDowell (October 13, 1795-August 24, 1851) was a U.S. Congressman and Governor of Virginia from 1843 to 1846.

James McDowell was born 13 October 1795, son of Col. James McDowell and Sarah Preston. He married Susanna Smith Preston in 1818. McDowell was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1833. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1831-1835 and 1837-1838, as governor of Virginia, 1842-1846, and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1847-1851. Among McDowell's major political concerns were internal improvements, slavery, and public education.

1795: Born, 13 October, Cherry Grove Plantation, Rockbridge County, Va., son of Colonel James McDowell and Sarah McDowell.

1805-1812: Attended William McPheeters's classical school in Greenville, Va., and a boarding school in Brownsburg, Va.

1812: Attended Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Va.

1813: Attended Yale College, New Haven, Conn.

1814: Transferred to the College of New Jersey (Princeton University); graduated salutatorian, circa 1818.

1818: Married cousin, Susanna Smith Preston, 7 September; moved to an estate called The Military, near Lexington, Ky.

1823: Returned to Virginia; began construction on Colalto Plantation, near Lexington, Va.

1827: Served as justice of the peace for Rockbridge County, Va.

1831: Joined the Presbyterian Church; elected to Virginia House of Delegates, where he served until 1835.

1833: Defeated by John Tyler in U.S. senatorial election.

1837: Re-elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he served until 1838.

1838: Delivered West Augusta Speech at Princeton, calling for reconciliation between the abolitionists and the proponents of slavery.

1842: Elected governor of Virginia; served until 1846.

1846: Seated as member of U.S. House of Representatives, 6 March, replacing William Taylor.

1847: Elected to U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until 1851; death of wife in October.

1848: Partially paralyzed as result of heart attack.

1851: Died, 24 August, at Colalto.

Additional biographical information can be found in James Glen Collier, The Political Career of James McDowell, 1830 1851 (Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1963).