Tristam Burges (February 26, 1770October 13, 1853) was a

U.S. Representative 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 c ...

from

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

, and great-great-uncle of Theodore Francis Green.

Early life and law career

Burges was born in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of ...

on February 26, 1770, to John and Abigail Burges. Burges' father was a cooper and farmer, and a Revolutionary War veteran. Burges attended the common schools. He studied medicine at a school in Wrentham. Upon the death of his father he abandoned the study of medicine. He was graduated from Rhode Island College (now Brown University),

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, valedictorian of the class of 1796. He studied law, and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1799 and commenced practice in

. He married in 1801 to a daughter of Hon. Welcome Arnold, and had several children.

Political career

He served as member of the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1811 and a prominent member of the

Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. Defeated by the Jeffersonian Repub ...

. He was appointed chief justice of the

Supreme Court of Rhode Island The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial No ...

in May 1815, serving for just one year. In 1815 Burges was named as professor of oratory and ''belles letters'' at Brown University; he taught lectures in rhetoric and oratory. He was dismissed from this position in 1830. Burges was elected to the US Congress in 1825 as a Federalist and served for ten years. He was known for his witty repartee with Anti-New England Virginian John Randolph. He favored a protective trade

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and p ...

, and he lost re-electing because he refused to accept a tariff compromise proposed by

Henry Clay Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, ...

. Burges was elected as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth and

Twentieth 20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score. In mathematics *20 is a pronic number. *20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. *20 is the ...

Congresses and elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-first through the Twenty-third Congresses (March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1835). He served as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions (Nineteenth Congress), Committee on Military Pensions (Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses), Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Twenty-first Congress), Committee on Invalid Pensions ( Twenty-second and Twenty-third Congresses). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. After an unsuccessful run for Rhode Island Governor as a Whig party candidate in 1836, he resumed the practice of law in

East Providence, Rhode Island East Providence is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 47,139 at the 2020 census, making it the fifth-largest city in the state. Geography East Providence is located between the Providence and Seeko ...

. His desk and bookcase currently resides in the Stanley Weiss Collection. It was made in

in the early 1800s. The maker is uncertain, but it was possibly made by James Halyburton. He died on his estate, "Watchemoket Farm" in 1853 in the town of

Seekonk, Massachusetts Seekonk is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Massachusetts border with Rhode Island. It was incorporated in 1812 from the western half of Rehoboth. The population was 15,531 at the 2020 census. Until 1862, the town of ...

(in the portion of which that would later be given from Massachusetts to Rhode Island and be incorporated as

, from a Supreme Court order settling a boundary dispute between the two states). He was interred in

North Burial Ground The North Burial Ground is a cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island dating to 1700, the first public cemetery in Providence. It is located north of downtown Providence, bounded by North Main Street, Branch Avenue, the Moshassuck River, and Ce ...

Sources

External links

*
Encyclopedia Brunoniana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burges, Tristam 1770 births 1853 deaths Members of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island Brown University alumni Rhode Island National Republicans Rhode Island Whigs 19th-century American politicians National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Brown University faculty Chief Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court People from Rochester, Massachusetts Rhode Island Federalists Rhode Island lawyers People from East Providence, Rhode Island People of colonial Rhode Island Burials at North Burying Ground (Providence) 19th-century American lawyers