Andrew Stewart (American politician, died 1872)

Andrew Stewart (June 11, 1791 – July 16, 1872) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Andrew Stewart (father of Andrew Stewart) was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington and Jefferson College) in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was one of the founders of the Union Literary Society at Washington College.^[1] He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1815 and commenced practice in Uniontown. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1815 to 1818. He was appointed by President James Monroe as the first U.S. District Attorney for the newly created United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania based in Pittsburgh, serving until 1821.

Stewart was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Seventeenth Congress, reelected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth Congress, elected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congress, and reelected as an Adams candidate to the Twentieth Congress. He was elected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1834.

Stewart was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses. He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Manufactures during the Thirtieth Congress. In 1848 he declined to be a candidate for renomination.

He was runner-up to Millard Fillmore for the Vice President at the 1848 Whig National Convention.^[2] The Whig ticket was successful, and Fillmore ascended to the Presidency when Taylor died, meaning that Stewart was nearly President.^[2]

He was affiliated with the Republican Party, and was a delegate at the 1860 Republican National Convention. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1870. He was largely interested in building and real estate until his death in Uniontown. He was interred in Union Cemetery.

Sources

• United States Congress. "Andrew Stewart (id: S000899)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Political Graveyard

References

1. McClelland, W.C. (1903). "A History of Literary Societies at Washington & Jefferson College". The Centennial Celebration of the Chartering of Jefferson College in 1802. Philadelphia: George H. Buchanan and Company. pp. 111–132.
2. Wereschagin, Mike (December 28, 2008). "Fayette native nearly made it into Oval Office". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved February 11, 2013.

External links

• Andrew Stewart at Find a Grave