Thomas Fielder Bowie

Thomas Fielder Bowie (April 7, 1808 โ€“ October 30, 1869)[1] was an American politician who served in office from 1842 to 1859.

Thomas Fielder Bowie
photo of Thomas Fielder Bowie
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 6th district
In office
March 4, 1855 โ€“ March 3, 1859
Preceded byAugustus Rhodes Sollers
Succeeded byGeorge Wurtz Hughes
Member of the Maryland House of Delegates
In office
1842โ€“1846
Personal details
BornApril 7, 1808
Queen Anne, Maryland, U.S.
DiedOctober 30, 1869(1869-10-30) (aged 61)
Upper Marlboro, Maryland, U.S.
Resting placeMount Pleasant
Political partyDemocratic

Early life

Born in Queen Anne, in Prince George's County, Maryland, Bowie attended Charlotte Hall Military Academy in St. Mary's County, Maryland and Princeton College.[1] In 1826, Bowie was elected to the New York Alpha of Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York in 1827.[1] While at Union College, Bowie helped found the Sigma Phi fraternity on March 4, 1827.[2] He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1829, and commenced practice in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.[1] Bowie was a slave owner.[3]

Political career

He served as deputy attorney general for Prince George's County from 1833 to 1842, and as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1842 to 1846.[1] He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Maryland in 1843, and was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1850 to the Thirty-second Congress.[1] However, Bowie served as a member of the State constitutional convention in 1851, as member of the judicial committee assisting in framing the State's new constitution, and as presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1852.[1] In 1854 and 1856, Bowie was elected from the sixth district of Maryland as a Democrat to the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1859.[1] He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-nomination in 1858 to the Thirty-sixth Congress.[1] After Congress, he resumed the practice of his profession.

Death

He died in Upper Marlboro and is interred in the Waring family burying ground at Mount Pleasant, near Upper Marlboro.[1]

Further reading

  • Bowie, Walter Worthington (1971). The Bowies and Their Kindred; A Genealogical and Biographical History. Polyanthos. ISBN 978-0-8328-1963-6.

References

  1. EPV (1891). Catalogue of the Sigma Phi. Sigma Phi Society.
  2. Weil, Julie Zauzmer; Blanco, Adrian; Dominguez, Leo. "More than 1,800 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation". Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
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