George Smith HOUSTON, Congress, AL (1811-1879)

HOUSTON, George Smith, a Representative and a Senator from Alabama; born near Franklin, Williamson County, Tenn., January 17, 1811; moved with his parents to Lauderdale County, Ala., and attended an academy there; studied law in Florence, Ala., and Harrodsburg, Ky.; admitted to the bar in 1831; commenced practice in Florence, Ala.; member, State house of representatives 1832; settled in Athens, Ala., in 1835; State’s attorney for the Florence judicial district in 1836; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1849); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1848; elected to the Thirty-second and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1851, until January 21, 1861, when he withdrew; chairman, Committee on Ways and Means (Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses), Committee on Judiciary (Thirty-fifth Congress); presented credentials as a Senator-elect to the United States Senate on February 9, 1866, for the term ending March 3, 1867, but was not permitted to take his seat; Governor of Alabama 1874-1878; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1879, until his death in Athens, Ala., December 31, 1879; interment in Athens City Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Draughon, Ralph. “George Smith Houston and Southern Unity, 1846-1849.” Alabama Review 19 (July 1966): 187-207; U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses. 46th Cong., 2nd sess., 1879-1880. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present