John Forsyth (politician)

A Representative and a Senator from Georgia; born in Fredericksburg, Va., October 22, 1780; graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1799; moved to Augusta, Ga.; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1802 and commenced practice; elected attorney general of Georgia in 1808; elected as a Democratic Republican to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Congresses, and served from March 4, 1813, until his resignation, effective November 23, 1818; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Fifteenth Congress); elected to the United States Senate as a Democratic Republican on November 7, 1818, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of George M. Troup, and served from November 23, 1818, to February 17, 1819, when he resigned to accept a diplomatic appointment; Minister to Spain 1819-1823; elected to the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1823, until his resignation, effective November 7, 1827; chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Congresses); Governor of Georgia 1827-1829; again elected to the United States Senate as a Jacksonian to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Macpherson Berrien and served from November 9, 1829, to June 27, 1834, when he resigned to accept a Cabinet portfolio; chairman, Committee on Commerce (Twenty-second Congress), Committee on Foreign Relations (Twenty-second Congress), Committee on Finance (Twenty-second Congress); appointed Secretary of State by President Andrew Jackson; reappointed by President Martin Van Buren and served from 1834 to 1841; died in Washington, D.C., October 21, 1841; interment in Congressional Cemetery.

Bibliography

United States. Congress. Senate. Tributes Delivered in Congress: Wendell H. Ford, United States Senator, 1974-1998. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1998.; Duckett, Alvin L. John Forsyth: Political Tactician. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1962.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress