Samuel Chilton

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Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image Samuel Chilton (September 7, 1804Template:SpndJanuary 14, 1867) was a 19th-century politician and lawyer from Virginia.

Biography

File:Grave of Samuel Chilton, Warrenton Cemetery.jpg
Chilton's grave in the family plot at Warrenton Cemetery.

Born in Warrenton, Virginia, Chilton moved to Missouri with his family as a child and attended private school there. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1826, commencing practice back in Warrenton. He got involved in politics and was elected a Whig to the United States House of Representatives in 1842 when he narrowly defeated William "Extra Billy" Smith following a redistricting. Chilton served one term from 1843 to 1845, during which he advocated abolishing imprisonment for debt. Afterward, he returned to practicing law and was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention from 1850 to 1851. At the convention he proposed a key compromise on legislative apportionment.

Chilton moved to Washington, D.C., by 1853 and became a member of American Party, or Know-Nothings. Despite having owned slaves, in 1859 he was appointed as a defense attorney for abolitionist John Brown after his previous defense attorneys advocated that the defendant advance a plea of insanity as his defense.[1]

Chilton died in Warrenton on January 14, 1867, and was interred there at Warrenton Cemetery.

Sources

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  • John T. Kneebone et al., eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond: The Library of Virginia, 1998- ), 3:217-218. Template:ISBN.
  • Death date in obituary, Warrenton True Index, 12, January 19, 1867.

External links

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Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Template:US State Abbrev|U.S. House of Representatives]]
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March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845 Template:S-ttl/check
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