John Edwards (Kentucky politician)

This article is about the Virginia and Kentucky politician. For other people with the same name, see John Edwards (disambiguation).
John Edwards
United States Senator
from Kentucky
In office
June 18, 1792 - March 4, 1795
Preceded by (none)
Succeeded by Humphrey Marshall
Member of the Kentucky Senate
In office
1796-1800
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives
In office
1795
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office
1781-1783, 1785, 1786
Personal details
Born 1748
Stafford County, Virginia
Died 1837 (aged 8889)
Paris, Kentucky
Political party Democratic-Republican

John Edwards (1748  1837) was an American planter and statesman who player a key role in securing Kentucky statehood, and represented the new state in the United States Senate.

Edwards was born in Stafford County, Virginia and move to Fayette County to start a plantation in what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky around 1780. He represented his county in the Virginia House of Delegates in several years and was part of the commission that determined the borders for Kentucky in 1788. In 1792 he was a delegate to the convention that drafted the first constitution for the new state, and when statehood was accomplished he and John Brown were the first U.S. Senators for Kentucky.

After his term as a senator he served in both houses of the state legislature. He died on his plantation and was buried in the family graveyard near Paris, Kentucky.

His sons, Haden Edwards and Benjamin W. Edwards, were land speculators in Texas who led the failed Fredonian Rebellion against Mexican control.

United States Senate
Preceded by
First
U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Kentucky
1792–1795
Served alongside: John Brown
Succeeded by
Humphrey Marshall
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