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Up for sale a RARE! "Massachusetts Congressman" Alexander De Witt Hand Written Note Dated 1854.
ES-4808E
Alexander De Witt (April 2, 1798 –
January 13, 1879) was a the state of Massachusetts. Born in New Braintree,
Massachusetts, De Witt worked in textile manufacturing in Oxford, Massachusetts.
Active in politics as a Democrat, he
was elected to the Massachusetts
House of Representatives in 1830, serving until 1836. He served
in the Massachusetts State Senate in
1842, 1844, 1850, and 1851.[ An anti-slavery activist, De
Witt later joined the Free Soil Party. As a Free Soiler he was elected to the United States Congress in
1853. In January 1854, he was one of six signatories of the
"Appeal of the Independent Democrats", drafted to oppose the
Kansas-Nebraska Act. After the demise of the Free Soil Party, De Witt joined
the American Party, then the
only major party with an anti-slavery platform. He won a second term in 1854,
and served in the 34th Congress.[ He was defeated in his 1856
offer for reelection and returned to his previous work as a textile manufacturer.
De Witt later became a Republican, and
supported the Union during
the American Civil War by
participating in efforts to recruit and equip soldiers for Massachusetts
regiments. De Witt died in Oxford on January 13, 1879. He is buried in Oxford's
South Cemetery.
