Francis Thomas | |
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| United States Minister to Peru | |
| In office July 10, 1872 – July 5, 1875 | |
| President | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Preceded by | Thomas Settle |
| Succeeded by | Richard Gibbs |
| 26th Governor of Maryland | |
| In office January 3, 1842 – January 6, 1845 | |
| Preceded by | William Grason |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Pratt |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland | |
| In office March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869 | |
| Preceded by | Henry May |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Hamill |
| Constituency | 4th |
| In office March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863 | |
| Preceded by | Jacob Michael Kunkel |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Gwinn Harris |
| Constituency | 5th |
| In office March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1841 | |
| Preceded by | William Cost Johnson |
| Succeeded by | John Thomson Mason Jr. |
| Constituency | 6th |
| In office March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835 | |
| Preceded by | John Leeds Kerr |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Jenifer |
| Constituency | 7th |
| In office March 4, 1831 – March 3, 1833 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Sprigg |
| Succeeded by | James P. Heath |
| Constituency | 4th |
| Chair of theHouse Judiciary Committee | |
| In office 1836–1839 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel Beardsley |
| Succeeded by | John Sergeant |
| Collector of Internal Revenue for Maryland | |
| In office 1870–1872 | |
| Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates | |
| In office 1829 | |
| Preceded by | John Grant Chapman |
| Succeeded by | Richard Thomas |
| Member of theMaryland House of Delegates | |
| In office 1822 1827 1829 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 3, 1799 |
| Died | January 22, 1876 (age 76) |
| Political party | Democrat Union Unconditional Union Republican |
| Signature |  |
Francis Thomas (February 3, 1799 – January 22, 1876) was an American politician who served as the26th Governor of Maryland from 1842 to 1845. He also served as aUnited States Representative fromMaryland, representing at separate times thefourth,fifth,sixth, andseventh districts. He also served asUnited States minister to Peru from 1872 to 1875, andspeaker of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1829.
Thomas was born inFrederick County, Maryland, close toSouth Mountain, known as "Merryland tract", and attendedSt. John's College ofAnnapolis, Maryland. He later studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1820, commencing practice in Frankville, Maryland.
He entered politics after becoming a member of theMaryland House of Delegates in 1822, 1827, and 1829, and served the last year as 34thSpeaker of the House.
Thomas was elected as a Jacksonian to theTwenty-second throughTwenty-fourth Congresses and as aDemocrat to theTwenty-fifth andTwenty-sixth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1831 until March 3, 1841). In Congress, he served as chairman of theCommittee on the Judiciary (Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses), and as a member of theCommittee on Naval Affairs (Twenty-sixth Congress). He also served as president of theChesapeake & Ohio Canal Company in 1839 and 1840.
In 1841, Thomas was electedGovernor of Maryland, defeating challengerWilliam Cost Johnson by a margin of 600 votes. During his tenure as governor, he is perhaps best known for his highly publicized and violent divorce with his wife, Sally Campbell Preston McDowell. McDowell had left the marriage over claims of "violent jealous rages [that] made her fear for her life" and that prompted her father, Virginia GovernorJames McDowell, to seek out a bill of divorce from theVirginia General Assembly.[1][2] Until that event, he had been a leading candidate for Democratic nomination forPresident of the United States, but the divorce seriously disrupted his chances in succeeding in the nomination, and thus he did not pursue it.
As governor, Thomas inherited a major state deficit that he would not resolve in his tenure. He proposed a direct tax upon the people, which was widely unpopular, and did not raise adequate funds to allow repudiation of the debt. He was also a staunch opponent ofslavery, a unique position in a border-state like Maryland, decrying it as "altogether unworthy of enlightened statesmen, and should be by all patriots repudiated". He served as governor from 1842 until 1845, narrowly beatingWilliam Cost Johnson,[3] who he succeeded as Maryland's 6th district congressman, in 1841 for a three-year term. Thomas was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1844.
After his term as governor, Thomas served as a member of the Maryland State Constitutional convention in 1850. He was again elected to theThirty-seventh Congress as a Unionist, as an Unconditional Unionist to theThirty-eighth andThirty-ninth Congresses, and as aRepublican to theFortieth Congress, serving from March 4, 1861 until March 3, 1869. When he left the House in 1869, he had served a total nine terms over almost four decades.
While in the House, Thomas served as a delegate to the1866 National Union Convention atPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania.
Thomas served as collector of internal revenue for Maryland from 1870 until 1872.
Thomas was appointed by President Grant to serve as the United States Minister toPeru, and help this position from March 25, 1872 to July 9, 1875.
After leaving the ministership to Peru he retired from public and professional life and devoted his time to agricultural pursuits.
On January 22, 1876, while overseeing improvements on his estate near Frankville, Maryland, a community that once existed along theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad inGarrett County, Thomas was killed instantly when he was struck by alocomotive.[4] He is interred in a vault in Rose Hill Cemetery ofCumberland, Maryland.
Media related toFrancis Thomas at Wikimedia Commons| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Maryland 1841 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Maryland 1842–1845 | Succeeded by |
| Maryland House of Delegates | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates 1829 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 4th congressional district 1831–1833 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 7th congressional district 1833–1835 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 6th congressional district 1835–1841 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 5th congressional district 1861–1863 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 4th congressional district 1863–1869 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Minister to Peru July 10, 1872 – July 5, 1875 | Succeeded by |
Chairs of theUnited States House Committee on Armed Services | ||
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| Military Affairs Committee (1822–1947) |  | |
| Naval Affairs Committee (1822–1947) | ||
| Armed Services Committee* (from 1947) | ||
*Alternately namedNational Security in 104th and 105th Congresses. | ||
| Chargé d'Affaires | |
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| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
