Political and Military Career
He was elected Clerk of the Georgia House of Representatives in 1821 and served twelve years in that post. From 1828, he compiled Dawson's Digest of Laws of Georgia, published in 1831.
From 1834 to 1835 he served as a state Senator.
In 1836 he was Captain of Volunteers under General Winfield Scott in the Creek and Seminole Indian War in Florida.
Dawson was then elected as a States' Rights candidate to the United States House of Representatives for the 24th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of General John E. Coffee, taking office on December 26, 1836, then re-elected as a Whig to the 25th, 26th, and 27th Congresses. He served from November 7, 1836, to November 13, 1841.
He was the Whig candidate for Governor of Georgia in 1841 but was defeated by Charles James McDonald. He saw his defeat as gubernatorial candidate as disapproval of his congressional service, particularly his vote earlier in the year to tax coffee and tea, and so resigned from Congress.
During his service in the United States House, he chaired the Committee on Mileage (25th Congress), the Committee on Claims (26th Congress), and the Committee on Military Affairs (27th Congress).
He was appointed by Governor George W. Crawford to fill a vacancy as Judge of the Ocmulgee Circuit Court in 1845 but declined being a candidate for the bench at the completion of his term.
Dawson was elected in November, 1847 as the Whig candidate for Georgia's Class 3 seat in the United States Senate for the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Congresses, serving from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1855. Dawson supported the compromises that preserved the union in 1850. He chaired the Committee on Private Land Claims (32nd Congress) and presided over the Southern convention at Memphis in 1853.
He was twice a delegate to the convention to amend the U.S. Constitution.
Read more about this topic: William Crosby Dawson
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