HAMILTON, JAMES, JR., a Representative from South Carolina; born in Charleston, S.C., May 8, 1786;
completed academic studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in
Charleston; served in the War of 1812 as major; mayor of Charleston; member of the State house of
representatives, 1819-1823; elected as a Republican to the Seventeenth Congress to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of William Lowndes; elected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth
Congress, and reelected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth, and Twentieth Congresses, and served
from December 13, 1822, to March 3, 1829; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Eighteenth
through Twentieth Congresses); Governor of South Carolina 1830-1832; moved to Texas;
appointed diplomatic agent of the Republic of Texas to France, Great Britain, Belgium and the
Netherlands in 1839; was drowned on November 15, 1857, while on his way from New Orleans to
Galveston.