John Walker (Virginia politician)

John Walker (February 13, 1744  December 2, 1809) was a public official from Virginia.

John Walker
United States Senator
from Virginia
In office
March 31, 1790  November 9, 1790
Appointed byBeverley Randolph
Preceded byWilliam Grayson
Succeeded byJames Monroe
Delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Virginia
In office
1780
Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Albemarle County
In office
February 10, 1772  May 6, 1776
Alongside Thomas Jefferson
Preceded byThomas Walker
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born(1744-02-13)February 13, 1744
Cobham, Virginia
DiedDecember 2, 1809(1809-12-02) (aged 65)
Madison Mills, Virginia
Political partyPro-Administration
Alma materCollege of William and Mary
ProfessionLawyer

Biography

Walker was born in Virginia, the son of Dr. Thomas Walker. He received private education before attending the College of William and Mary, which he graduated from in 1764. He was a neighbor and classmate at William and Mary of Thomas Jefferson and they remained close friends until the elections of 1804-1805. In 1768 he was elected to the American Society.[1] In 1772 he replaced his father as a representative of the House of Burgesses. He was in the Continental Army, serving in 1777 as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, holding the rank of colonel. In 1780, he was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He then studied law. When William Grayson died in 1790, Walker was appointed to the United States Senate to serve from March 31 to November 9 of that year, when a successor was elected by the Virginia General Assembly. Thomas Jefferson’s attempted seduction of his wife, which almost led to a duel, and was fodder for the Federalist Press, is discussed in Dumas Malone’s Jefferson the Virginian (Boston, Little Brown and Company, 1948 Appendix III pp 447-451).

Walker owned slaves.[2] He died in 1809.

  • United States Congress. "John Walker (id: W000059)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Specific

  1. Bell, Whitfield J., and Charles Greifenstein, Jr. Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. 3 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997, 2:251–255.
  2. "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, 2022-01-13, retrieved 2022-07-03
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