Floyd, John, 1783-1837

FLOYD, JOHN, a Representative from Virginia; born at Floyds Station, near the present city of Louisville, Jefferson County, Ky. (then a part of Virginia), April 24, 1783; pursued an academic course; attended Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., and was graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1806; settled in Lexington, Va., the same year, and soon thereafter moved to Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Va., where he practiced his profession; justice of the peace in 1807; major of Virginia State Militia 1807-1812; served as surgeon with rank of major in the War of 1812; subsequently became brigadier general of militia; member of the State house of delegates in 1814 and 1815; elected as a Republican to the Fifteenth through the Seventeenth Congresses, elected as a Crawford Republican to the Eighteenth Congress, and reelected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses (March 4, 1817-March 3, 1829); was not a candidate for renomination in 1828; Governor of Virginia 1830-1834; received the electoral vote of South Carolina for President in 1833; died near Sweetsprings, Monroe County, Va. (now West Virginia), August 17, 1837; interment in an unmarked grave in the cemetery at Sweetsprings.

<p>John Floyd (April 24, 1783 – August 17, 1837) was a Virginia politician and soldier. He represented Virginia in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 25th Governor of Virginia.</p>

<p>During his career in the House of Representatives, Floyd was an advocate of settling the Oregon Country, unsuccessfully arguing on its behalf from 1820 until he left Congress in 1829; the area did not become a territory of the United States until 1848.</p>

<p>In 1832, Floyd received votes for the Presidency of the United States, running in the Nullifier Party. He carried South Carolina and its 11 electoral votes. While governor of Virginia, the Nat Turner slave rebellion occurred and Floyd initially supported emancipation of slavery, but eventually went with the majority. His term as governor saw economic prosperity for the state.</p>