Walter Terry Colquitt
| Walter T. Colquitt | |
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United States Senator from Georgia |
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In office March 4, 1843 – February 4, 1848 |
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| Preceded by | Alfred Cuthbert |
| Succeeded by | Herschel V. Johnson |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large district |
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In office March 4, 1839 – July 21, 1840 |
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| Preceded by | Jabez Y. Jackson |
| Succeeded by | Hines Holt |
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In office January 3, 1842 – March 3, 1843 |
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| Preceded by | Eugenius A. Nisbet |
| Succeeded by | John H. Lumpkin |
| Member of the Georgia Senate | |
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In office 1834 1837 |
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| Personal details | |
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Walter Terry Colquitt December 27, 1799 Halifax County, Virginia |
| Died | May 7, 1855 (aged 55) Macon, Georgia |
| Political party | Democratic |
Walter Terry Colquitt (December 27, 1799 – May 7, 1855) was a lawyer, circuit-riding Methodist preacher, United States Representative and Senator from Georgia.
Born in Monroe in Halifax County, Virginia, he moved with his parents to Mount Zion in Carroll County, Georgia. He attended the common schools and Princeton College and studied law, gaining admission to the bar in 1820 and commencing practice in Sparta, Georgia. Late in 1820, he was chosen brigadier general of the state militia, despite being only 21 years old. Colquitt moved to the village of Cowpens in Walton County and was elected judge of the Chattahoochee circuit in 1826, being re-elected three years later. He was licensed as a Methodist preacher in 1827, becoming extremely popular in Central and South Georgia, mostly for his strong support of states' rights. It was said of Colquitt that he could make a stump speech, try a court case and plead another at the bar, christen a child, preach a sermon, and marry a couple all before dinner. He was a member of the Georgia Senate in 1834 and 1837.
Colquitt was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth Congress and served from March 4, 1839, to July 21, 1840, when he resigned. He changed parties, and was elected as a Van Buren Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill in part vacancies caused by the resignations of Julius C. Alford, William Crosby Dawson, and Eugenius A. Nisbet. Following the death of his first wife, Colquitt married Mrs. Alphea B. (Todd) Fauntleroy in 1841, then when tragedy struck again, he married Harriet W. Ross the following year. He was then elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1843, until his resignation in February 1848. While in the Twenty-ninth Congress, Colquitt was chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia and the Committee on Patents and Patent Office. He supported the Polk administration in the controversy relative to the Oregon Territory, and was a prominent opponent of the Wilmot Proviso throughout the Mexican-American War.
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