- John Covode
John Covode (
March 17 1808 –January 11 1871 ) was aUnited States Congressman andabolitionist .Early life
Covode was born in West Fairfield,
Pennsylvania . After serving an apprenticeship to ablacksmith , he became involved in the WestmorelandCoal Company, serving as the first president of the company in 1854. [ [http://www.westmoreland.com/about.asp?topic=history Westmoreland Coal Company] ]United States House of Representatives
In 1854, he was elected to Congress as an anti-Masonic Whig.
After joining the Republican Party, he was re-elected to the 35th Congress in 1856. He was a strong supporter of the Freedmen's Bureau, the
Civil Rights Act of 1866 , and theReconstruction Act s. He attended theUnion National Convention in Philadelphia in 1866.Committees
He served as chairman of the
United States House Committee on Public Expenditures from 1857 until 1859 and theUnited States House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds from 1867 until 1869. He also served on theUnited States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War .Covode Committee
Covode is most famous for chairing a committee to investigate the possibility of impeaching President
James Buchanan during the spring and summer of 1860.United States House election, 1870 Covode contested with Henry D. Foster the election to the Forty-first Congress, neither being sworn pending the contest, as no credentials were issued by the Governor. On February 9, 1870, the House declared him duly elected, whereupon he qualified and served until his death. Covode died in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , aged 62.Family
His oldest son,
George H. Covode (1835-1864), was acolonel in theUnion Army during the Civil War. He died onJune 25 ,1864 after being shot in the arm and stomach by Confederate troops he had mistaken for Unionists.References
*CongBio|C000818
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcovode.htm Biography from Spartacus Schoolnet]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/courts-covode.html The Political Graveyard]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12605261 Find A Grave]Bibliography
*Chester, Edward W. “The Impact of the Covode Congressional Investigation.” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 42 (December 1959): 343-50
*Baker, Jean H.: James Buchanan, Times Books: 2004
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