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Courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office
CRAWFORD, William Harris (1772-1834)
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Senate Years of Service: 1807-1813

CRAWFORD, WILLIAM HARRIS, a Senator from Georgia; born in Nelson County, Va., February 24, 1772; moved with his father to Edgefield District, S.C., in 1779 and to Columbia County, Ga., in 1783; pursued classical studies in a private school and in Richmond Academy, Augusta, Ga.; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Lexington, Ga., in 1799; appointed to prepare a digest of the laws of Georgia in 1799; member, State house of representatives 1803-1807; elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Abraham Baldwin and served from November 7, 1807, to March 23, 1813, when he resigned; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Twelfth Congress; declined appointment as Secretary of War under President James Madison in 1813; Minister to France 1813-1815; returned home to act as agent for the sale of the land donated by Congress to Lafayette; appointed Secretary of War by President Madison in August 1815; transferred to the Treasury in October 1816, and served under Presidents Madison and James Monroe until 1825; unsuccessful Democratic Republican candidate for President of the United States in 1824; due to illness refused the tender of President John Quincy Adams that he remain Secretary of the Treasury; returned to Georgia and was appointed judge of the northern circuit court in 1827, which position he held until his death in Oglethorpe County, Ga., September 15, 1834; interment on his estate, "Woodlawn," near Crawford, Oglethorpe County, Ga.

Alabama Department of Archives and History
Montgomery, AL
Papers: In Tait family papers, 1786-1899; and Hall family papers, 1785-1923.
Atlanta History Center
Atlanta, GA
Papers: In Henry Jackson journal, 1801-1833.
Boston Public Library
Boston, MA
Papers: 5 items.
Columbia University
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
New York, NY
Papers: In Gordon Norton Ray collection, [ca.1661]-1976; and Catherine S. Crary collection, 1724-1826.
Duke University
Special Collections Library
Durham, NC
Papers: 1790-1867. 126 items. Political and diplomatic correspondence and portrait. Finding aid.
Emory University
Robert W. Woodruff Library
Atlanta, GA
Papers: 1815-1829. 23 items. Correspondence (some photostatic copies) with Marquis de Lafayette, Jesse B. Thomas, and John Steele. Additional material in Robert Watkins Lovett papers, 1787-1916.
Filson Club Historical Society
Louisville, KY
Papers: 1814-1828. 7 letters. Also references in various collections.
Georgia Historical Society
Savannah, GA
Papers: 9 items. Letters, lists of accounts, extracts from Southern Literary Messenger.
Hagley Museum and Library
Greenville, DE
Papers: In Samuel Francis du Pont log books, 1817-1859; and Wright family papers, 1785-1902. Available on microfilm.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Papers: In Jonathan Roberts 2-volume memoir, 1799-1830; Josiah Stoddard Johnston papers, 1821-1839; Charles Jared Ingersoll papers, 1803-1862; and Arthur C. Bining collection, 1787-1908, 1957.
Indiana Historical Society
Indianapolis, IN
Papers: In Indiana Territory collection, 1800-1818.
Johns Hopkins University
Milton S. Eisenhower Library
Baltimore, MD
Papers: In Edward M. Greenway collection, 1737-1876.
Knox College
Seymour Library
Galesburg, IL
Papers: 1 memorandum (May 7, 1818) in Donna Workman autograph collection, 1792-1936.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers: 1810-1914. 300 items. In part photocopies and transcripts. Correspondence and other papers, chiefly 1812-1834, relating primarily to Crawford's role as U.S. minister to France, especially to negotiations surrounding the Treaty of Ghent.
Additional Papers: 10 letters (1823-1831) in Martin Van Buren papers; and discussed in Jonathan Elliot correspondence, 1817-1829, part of the Peter Force papers.
Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, NY
Papers: 1812-1819. 2 items.
Rosenbach Museum and Library
Philadelphia, PA
Papers: [January 27, 1820]. 1 letter. From William Ellery.
University of Georgia
Hargrett Library for Rare Books and Manuscripts
Athens, GA
Papers: In the Telamon Cuyler collection.
Virginia Historical Society
Richmond, VA
Papers: Numerous items in various collections. Finding aid.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, CT
Papers: In Joseph Wheaton papers, 1797-1839; and Southard Hay collection, 1750-1885.

  • Cutler, Everette Wayne. "William H. Crawford: A Contextual Biography.'' Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, 1971.
  • Green, Philip Jackson. The Life of William Harris Crawford. Charlotte: University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 1965.
  • ___. "William H. Crawford and the War of 1812.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 26 (1942): 16-39.
  • Kaplan, Lawrence S. "The Paris Mission of William Harris Crawford 1813-1815.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 60 (Spring 1976): 9-22.
  • Knowlton, Daniel Chauncey, ed. "The Journal of William H. Crawford.'' Smith College Studies in History 11 (October 1925): 5-64.
  • Mellichamp, Josephine. "William H. Crawford.'' In Senators from Georgia, pp. 59-65. Huntsville, AL: Strode Publishers, 1976.
  • Mooney, Chase C. William H. Crawford, 1772-1834. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1974.
  • Rabun, James Z., and James Harvey Young, eds. "William H. Crawford on the Election of 1828: Two Letters.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 37 (December 1953): 340-45.
  • Shipp, John Edgar Dawson. Giant Days, or the Life and Times of William H. Crawford. Americus, GA: Southern Printers, 1909.
  • Stegeman, John and Janet. "Georgia's Forgotten Man.'' Georgia Review 15 (Fall 1961): 288-95.
  • Williams, William Henry, ed. "Ten Letters from William Harris Crawford to Martin Van Buren.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 49 (March 1965): 65-81.