Mark Alexander (February 7, 1792 – October 7, 1883) was a nineteenth-century slave owner, lawyer and political figure from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Biography

Born on a plantation near

Boydton, Virginia Boydton is a town in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 431 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, and it is near Kerr Lake. Geography Boydton is located at (36.667997, −78.389001) ...

, Alexander attended the public schools as a child and graduated from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

in 1811. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, commencing practice in Boydton. He was a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

from 1815 to 1819 before he was elected a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

, Crawford Republican and Jacksonian to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1818, serving from 1819 to 1833. There, Alexander served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia from 1825 to 1829. After declining renomination in 1832, he was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention from 1829 to 1830 and was again a member of the House of Delegates from 1845 to 1846. Alexander then retired from political life and engaged in managing his large plantation until his death in

Scotland Neck, North Carolina Scotland Neck is a town in Halifax County, North Carolina, United States. According to the 2010 census, the town population was 2,059. It is part of the Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area. History The Hoffman-Bower ...

on October 7, 1883. He was interred in Episcopal Church Cemetery in Scotland Neck. He owned a plantation that had, depending on estimates, between 30 and 100 slaves.

Elections

*1823; Alexander was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives unopposed. *1825; Alexander was re-elected unopposed. *1827; Alexander was re-elected unopposed. *1829; Alexander was re-elected unopposed. *1831; Alexander was re-elected unopposed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Mark 1792 births 1883 deaths Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Virginia lawyers University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni People from Boydton, Virginia Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers Burials in North Carolina