Professional and Political Career
After receiving his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Burton had a practice in Lewes, Delaware for a time, and then permanently in Milford. He was Brigadier-General of the Sussex County militia in 1827, and was elected as a Whig to the office of Sheriff of Kent County, and served from 1830 until 1834. With the disintegration of the Whig Party over the issue of slavery, Burton moved to the more “states rights” Democratic Party in 1848. He was his party’s candidate for Governor in 1854, but lost to his neighbor, Peter F. Causey, a former Democrat who had left the increasingly conservative party for the seemingly more progressive American Party.
Read more about this topic: William Burton (governor)
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