Thomas Spalding
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Thomas Spalding (March 25,
1774 – January 5, 1851)[1] was a United States Representative from Georgia. He was born
in Frederica, Georgia, St. Simons
Island, Glynn County, Georgia. He attended
the common schools of Georgia and Florida and a
private school in Massachusetts. He
studied law and was
admitted to the bar in 1795,[2] but did not practice. He
engaged extensively in agricultural pursuits.[3]
Spalding served
as a member of the state constitutional convention in 1798. He was a member of
the Georgia Senate in 1799.[4] After
traveling for 18 months in England and France, he moved to McIntosh County, Georgia, in 1803 and
then again served in the Georgia Senate. He successfully
contested as a Republican the
election of Cowles Mead to the Ninth Congress and served from
December 24, 1805, until his resignation in 1806. He served as a trustee of the
McIntosh County Academy in 1807 and was one of the founders of the Bank of
Darien and of the branch in Milledgeville, Georgia, and president
for many years.
Spalding, who,
according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia owned 350 slaves,
engaged in the planting of Sea Island
Cotton, residing on Sapelo Island,
Georgia. He was a commissioner on the part of the State of Georgia
to determine the boundary line between Georgia and the Territory of Florida in 1826.
He was a commissioner from the United States of America to Bermuda to
negotiate relative to property taken or destroyed in the South by the British in the War of 1812. He was a
president of the convention at Milledgeville, Georgia in 1850 which
resolved that the State of Georgia would resist any act of Congress
abolishing slavery and died, while en route home, at the
residence of his son, near Darien, Georgia, in 1851. He
was buried in St. Andrew's Cemetery.
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Preceded by |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives |
Succeeded by |
References
1. Coulter p. 5.
(The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress cites
only Coulter but got his birth date and other facts wrong....)
2. Coulter p. 12
3. Thomas Spalding at
the Biographical Directory of the United
States Congress
4. Coulter p. 17
Bibliography
·
Coulter, E. Merton. Thomas
Spalding of Sapelo. University, La.: Louisiana State University Press,
1940.
Thomas Spalding’s memorial at Findagrave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10876554. He was 76 years 9 months 11 days old when he died.
Petition of Thomas
Spalding, complaining of the undue election of Cowles Meade, one of the members returned to serve in the House for the state of Georgia
The Constitution granted
both houses of Congress the prerogative to judge all questions related to the
election and qualification of their members. From the First Congress, the House of Representatives considered
contested election cases and determined rightful winners according to the election laws of the
individual states and the rules of the House. In response to the petition of Thomas Spalding, the
House decided that the disruptions following a severe hurricane prevented the reporting of election
returns within the time prescribed by Georgia law. Following a report by the Committee on
Elections, the House declared Cowles Meade ineligible and offered the seat to
Spalding who took office on December 24,1805.
[9th Deer 1805]
To the Honorable the House of
Representatives of the United States of America, The petition of Thomas
Spalding Sheweth.
That your petitioner,
at the last General Election was a candidate to represent the people of Georgia in your Honorable House; and that he was voted for
by four thousand five hundred and four voters; That by
an act of the Legislature of the State of Georgia, the Governor is enjoined,
within twenty five days after the day of Election in the several counties in
the State, to issue his proclamation declaring the persons elected, and to commission the Same; That at the period when the
governor was compelled to issue his proclamation, the
returns from the counties of Camden Liberty and
Tattnall were not received at the Executive office. In consequence of which, the Honorable Cowles Meade who received but four thousand four
hundred and sixty five votes (a less number than was
given for your petitioner) was returned a member of your
house. And your petitioner states, that it was the
act of God that prevented the transmission of the Election
returns from the counties of Camden, Liberty and Tattnall, for a Hurricane on
the eighth day of September, preceeding the Election, had
flooded the country, had swept away the Bridges and rendered the roads absolutely impassable by fallen trees and other obstructions. And
that it was not until a period subsequent to the twenty
five days limited by the Act for the transmission of
returns, That these obstructions were removed, and the roads leading from the
counties of Camden Liberty and Tattnall to the seat of the government, rendered passable. And your petitioner [ ] to the
documents which accompany his petition, and relying on the Justice
of the House of Representatives, who are the sole Judges of the elections, returns, and qualifications of their own
members, Prays on his own behalf, and the behalf of the Majority of the People
of Georgia, that he may be admitted to take his seat as a
Representative of that State in your Honorable House.
Thos Spalding