Career
After working as an attorney in his native Murfreesboro for three years, John Edwards moved to Missouri in 1828, establishing a law practice in Jefferson City and becoming involved in local politics. In 1830 Missouri Governor John G. Miller appointed Edwards as Secretary of State, a position he would hold until 1835, and then again briefly in 1837. In a move that would seem unusual by today's standards, Edwards also concurrently held the post of district judge of Cole County, Missouri from 1832 to 1837. Politically John Edwards was a Jacksonian democrat and a staunch ally of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton. In 1836 Edwards was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives but would serve only briefly as in 1837 he was appointed a judge to the Missouri Supreme Court, a position he would hold until 1839.
John Edwards entered national politics in 1841 after being elected to the 27th United States Congress, serving one term until March, 1843. While in the U.S. House of Representatives he worked on several key issues of importance to Missouri, such as opposing the Tariff of 1842 and helping block Federal settlement of the Missouri-Iowa border dispute, a.k.a. the Honey War. Congressman Edwards chose against seeking a second term in Washington D.C., instead setting his sights on the Missouri Governors mansion. In the election of 1844 John C. Edwards narrowly defeated Democrat-turned-Whig candidate Charles H. Allen to become Missouri's 9th Governor
Read more about this topic: John Cummins Edwards
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
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