Tristam Burges | |
|---|---|
 Tristam Burges painted byCharles Bird King | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromRhode Island'sat-large district | |
| In office March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1835 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel Eddy |
| Succeeded by | William Sprague III |
| Member of theRhode Island General Assembly | |
| In office 1811 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1770-02-26)February 26, 1770 |
| Died | October 13, 1853(1853-10-13) (aged 83) |
| Resting place | North Burial Ground |
| Party | Federalist Party Whig |
| Alma mater | Brown University |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Signature |  |
Tristam Burges (February 26, 1770 – October 13, 1853) was aU.S. representative fromRhode Island, and great-great-uncle of Rhode Island politicianTheodore Francis Green.
Burges was born inRochester in theProvince of Massachusetts Bay on February 26, 1770, to John and Abigail Burges. Burges's father was a cooper and farmer, and aRevolutionary War veteran.[1]
Burges attended the common schools. He studied medicine at a school in Wrentham. Upon the death of his father he abandoned the study of medicine. He was graduated from Rhode Island College (nowBrown University),Providence, Rhode Island, valedictorian of the class of 1796.[1][2] He studied law, and wasadmitted to the bar in 1799[1] and commenced practice inProvidence, Rhode Island.[2]
He married in 1801 to a daughter of Hon.Welcome Arnold, and had several children.[1]
He served as member of theRhode Island General Assembly in 1811 and a prominent member of theFederalist Party.[1] He was appointed chief justice of theSupreme Court of Rhode Island in May 1815, serving for just one year.[1]
In 1815 Burges was named as professor of oratory andbelles letters atBrown University; he taught lectures in rhetoric and oratory.[1] He was dismissed from this position in 1830.[3]
Burges was elected to the US Congress in 1825 as a Federalist and served for ten years. He was known for his witty repartee with the anti-New England VirginianJohn Randolph of Roanoke.[1] He favored a protective tradetariff, and he lost a re-election race because he refused to accept a tariff compromise proposed byHenry Clay.[1]
Burges was elected as an Adams candidate to theNineteenth andTwentieth Congresses and elected as anAnti-Jacksonian to theTwenty-first through theTwenty-third Congresses (March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1835).[2] He served as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions (Nineteenth Congress), Committee on Military Pensions (Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses), Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Twenty-first Congress), Committee on Invalid Pensions (Twenty-second and Twenty-third Congresses). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection.[2]
After an unsuccessful run for Rhode Island Governor as aWhig party candidate in 1836, he resumed the practice of law[2] inEast Providence, Rhode Island.[1]
His desk and bookcase currently resides in the Stanley Weiss Collection. It was made inProvidence, Rhode Island in the early 1800s. The maker is uncertain, but it was possibly made byJames Halyburton.[4]
He died on his estate, Watchemoket Farm in 1853 in the town ofSeekonk, Massachusetts (in the portion of which that would later be given from Massachusetts to Rhode Island and be incorporated asEast Providence, Rhode Island, from a Supreme Court order settling a boundary dispute between the two states). He was interred inNorth Burial Ground,Providence, Rhode Island.[2]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromBiographical Directory of the United States Congress.Federal government of the United States.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Whig nominee forGovernor of Rhode Island 1836 | Vacant Title next held by William Sprague III |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromRhode Island's at-large congressional district March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1835 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
