Kenneth Rayner (June 20, 1808 – March 5, 1884) was an American lawyer and politician who served three terms as a Whig

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

between 1839 and 1845.

Early life and career

Born in

Bertie County, North Carolina Bertie County ( )Talk Like a Tarheel
, from the North Carolina Col ...

, Rayner attended Tarborough Academy, then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1829. Rayner moved to Hertford County, where he practiced law.

U.S. House

In 1835, Rayner was a delegate to the state Constitutional Convention; he served terms in the

North Carolina House of Commons The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, who holds powers si ...

in 1835 and 1836 before being elected to the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

in 1838. He served three terms as a Whig, in the

26th 26 (twenty-six) is the natural number following 25 and preceding 27. In mathematics *26 is the seventh discrete semiprime (2 \times 13) and the fifth with 2 as the lowest non-unitary factor thus of the form (2.q), where q is a higher prime. ...

, 27th, and 28th Congresses (March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1845).

Life after Congress

Rayner did not run for a fourth term in 1844. He then returned to the State House, serving in 1846, 1848, and 1850. He was then elected to the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The Senate ...

in 1854. In the

1860 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 1860. The Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin emerged victorious in a four-way race. With an electoral majority composed only of Northern states ...

, he would support and campaign for the Constitutional Union Party ticket of John Bell and

Edward Everett Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mas ...

, who would go on to lose the election to

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. In 1871 Rayner was appointed by President Grant as one of the court commissioners to settle the

Alabama Claims The ''Alabama'' Claims were a series of demands for damages sought by the government of the United States from the United Kingdom in 1869, for the attacks upon Union merchant ships by Confederate Navy commerce raiders built in British shipyard ...

. From 1877 to 1884 he was

Solicitor of the United States Treasury The Solicitor of the Treasury position was created in the United States Department of the Treasury by an act of May 29, 1830 , which changed the name of the Agent of the Treasury. Function The Solicitor of the Treasury served as legal advisor to t ...

Death

Rayner died in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on March 5, 1884, and is buried in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rayner, Kenneth Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives North Carolina state senators People from Bertie County, North Carolina 1808 births 1884 deaths Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly