John Pendleton KENNEDY, Congress, MD (1795-1870)

KENNEDY, John Pendleton, (brother of Anthony Kennedy), a Representative from Maryland; born in Baltimore, Md., October 25, 1795; attended private schools and was graduated from Baltimore Academy in 1812; volunteered and served in the War of 1812; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1816 and commenced practice in Baltimore, Md.; also engaged in literary pursuits and was a novelist of distinction; member of the State house of delegates 1821-1823; appointed secretary of the legation in Chile January 27, 1823, but did not proceed to his post, resigning June 23, 1823; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Twenty-fifth Congress; subsequently elected as a Whig to the same Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Isaac McKim and served from April 25, 1838, to March 3, 1839; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1838 to the Twenty-sixth Congress; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1845); chairman, Committee on Commerce (Twenty-seventh Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1844 to the Twenty-ninth Congress; again a member of the State house of delegates, in 1846, and served as speaker; Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Fillmore from July 22, 1852, to March 7, 1853; resumed literary pursuits; died August 18, 1870, at Newport, R.I., while on a visit; interment in Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore, Md.

Bibliography

Bohner, Charles H. John Pendleton Kennedy, Gentleman from Baltimore. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1961; Spelman, Georgia Peterman. “The Whig Rhetoric of John Pendleton Kennedy.” Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1974.

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