John Alexander was the first representative of the
Second District of Ohio. He was born on April 16, 1777,
in Crowsville, SC. Growing up, he attended public school
in South Carolina. As a young adult, John married Isabella
Adair and together they moved to Butler County, Ohio.
In 1803, they moved to Miamisburg in Montgomery County.
John studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1804
began his own practice.
In 1805, Alexander moved to Xenia in Greene County,
Ohio where he continued to practice law. He also practiced
in Columbus, Chillicothe, and even argued before the
United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. In 1808,
he was appointed the prosecuting attorney and continued
as such until 1833, with the exception of the time he
served in Congress.
When Ohio became a state in 1803, its population was
only large enough to have one representative in the
House. From 1803 to 1812, Jeremiah Morrow served as
Ohio's only representative at large. For the elections
of 1812, however, Ohio was divided into six congressional
district.
Alexander won the election for the first representative
of Ohio's Second District to serve in the United States
House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican,
the same party as then-President James Madison, in both
the 13th and 14th Congresses. Alexander won re-election
in the 1814 election.
The Democratic-Republican Party held majorities in
the House and Senate during the 13th and 14th Congresses.
However, the party was starting to split over issues
related to the War of 1812. The nationalist faction
wanted a stronger centralized government and military
to gain a national supremacy in the Western Hemisphere,
while the "Old Republicans" favored an extremely limited
national government. Alexander lost the next election
in 1816 to John Wilson Campbell, and returned to his
law practice in Xenia.
Alexander served as a member of the Ohio Senate in
1822 and 1823, and then served two terms in the Ohio
House of representatives. He retired from both politics
and his law practice in 1834. On June 28, 1848, John
Alexander died in his home in Xenia, Ohio, and was buried
in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Sources:
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
History of Greene County, OH Historical Society Journals
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