Francis Thomas (February 3, 1799 – January 22, 1876) was an American politician who served as the 26th Governor of Maryland from 1842 to 1845. He also served as a United States Representative from Maryland, representing at separate times the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh districts. He also served as United States minister to Peru from 1872 to 1875, and speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1829.
Francis Thomas
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| United States Minister to Peru | |
| In office July 10, 1872 – July 5, 1875 | |
| President | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Preceded by | Thomas Settle |
| Succeeded by | Richard Gibbs |
| 26th Governor of Maryland | |
| In office January 3, 1842 – January 6, 1845 | |
| Preceded by | William Grason |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Pratt |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland | |
| In office March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869 | |
| Preceded by | Henry May |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Hamill |
| Constituency | 4th |
| In office March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863 | |
| Preceded by | Jacob Michael Kunkel |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Gwinn Harris |
| Constituency | 5th |
| In office March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1841 | |
| Preceded by | William Cost Johnson |
| Succeeded by | John Thomson Mason, Jr. |
| Constituency | 6th |
| In office March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835 | |
| Preceded by | John Leeds Kerr |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Jenifer |
| Constituency | 7th |
| In office March 4, 1831 – March 3, 1833 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Sprigg |
| Succeeded by | James P. Heath |
| Constituency | 4th |
| Chair of the House Judiciary Committee | |
| In office 1836–1839 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel Beardsley |
| Succeeded by | John Sergeant |
| Collector of Internal Revenue for Maryland | |
| In office 1870–1872 | |
| Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates | |
| In office 1829 | |
| Preceded by | John Grant Chapman |
| Succeeded by | Richard Thomas |
| Member of the Maryland House of Delegates | |
| In office 1822 1827 1829 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 3, 1799 Frederick County, Maryland |
| Died | January 22, 1876 (age 76) Frankville, Maryland |
| Political party | Democrat Unconditional Unionist Republican |
| Signature |  |
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Thomas was born in Frederick County, Maryland, close to South Mountain, known as "Merryland tract", and attended St. John's CollegeofAnnapolis, Maryland. He later studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1820, commencing practice in Frankville, Maryland.
He entered politics after becoming a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1822, 1827, and 1829, and served the last year as 34th Speaker of the House.
Thomas was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-second through Twenty-fourth Congresses and as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1831 until March 3, 1841). In Congress, he served as chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary (Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses), and as a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs (Twenty-sixth Congress). He also served as president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company in 1839 and 1840.
In 1841, Thomas was elected Governor of Maryland, defeating challenger William Cost Johnson by a margin of 600 votes. During his tenure as governor, he is perhaps best known for his highly publicized and violent divorce with his wife, Sally Campbell Preston McDowell. McDowell had left the marriage over claims of "violent jealous rages [that] made her fear for her life" and that prompted her father, Virginia Governor James McDowell, to seek out a bill of divorce from the Virginia General Assembly.[1][2] Until that event, he had been a leading candidate for Democratic nomination for President of the United States, but the divorce seriously disrupted his chances in succeeding in the nomination, and thus he did not pursue it.
As governor, Thomas inherited a major state deficit that he would not resolve in his tenure. He proposed a direct tax upon the people, which was widely unpopular, and did not raise adequate funds to allow repudiation of the debt. He was also a staunch opponent of slavery, a unique position in a border-state like Maryland, decrying it as "altogether unworthy of enlightened statesmen, and should be by all patriots repudiated". He served as governor from 1842 until 1845, narrowly beating William Cost Johnson,[3] who he succeeded as Maryland's 6th district congressman, in 1841 for a three-year term. Thomas was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1844.
After his term as governor, Thomas served as a member of the Maryland State Constitutional convention in 1850. He was again elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress as a Unionist, as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses, and as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress, serving from March 4, 1861 until March 3, 1869. When he left the House in 1869, he had served a total nine terms over almost four decades.
While in the House, Thomas served as a delegate to the National Union ConventionatPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania in 1866.
Thomas served as collector of internal revenue for Maryland from 1870 until 1872.
Thomas was appointed by President Grant to serve as the United States Minister to Peru, and help this position from March 25, 1872 to July 9, 1875.
After leaving the ministership to Peru he retired from public and professional life and devoted his time to agricultural pursuits.
On January 22, 1876, while overseeing improvements on his estate near Frankville, Maryland, a community that once existed along the Baltimore and Ohio RailroadinGarrett County, Thomas was killed instantly when he was struck by a locomotive.[citation needed] He is interred in a vault in Rose Hill Cemetery of Cumberland, Maryland.
Media related to Francis Thomas at Wikimedia Commons