Background
He was born in 1779 in Louisa County, Virginia, United States, the seventh child of Thomas and Lucy (Jones) Poindexter.
(Excerpt from Speech of Mr. Poindexter in the House of Rep...)
Excerpt from Speech of Mr. Poindexter in the House of Representatives, U. S. On the Seminole War His invincible valor, fortitude, and perse shed over his brow a resplendent ray of 1the1 clouds or tempeste can obscure, so. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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judge lawyer politician statesman
He was born in 1779 in Louisa County, Virginia, United States, the seventh child of Thomas and Lucy (Jones) Poindexter.
He read law in several offices.
He was admitted to the practice of law, which he began at Milton, Virginia. In 1802 he removed to Natchez, Mississippi, taking little with him beyond his own great ability and deep loyalty to Jeffersonian Democracy.
Shortly after he reached his destination, W. C. C. Claiborne, the newly chosen governor of the Mississippi Territory, appointed him attorney-general, and, in this capacity, he took part in the efforts to bring Aaron Burr to trial. In 1805 he became a member of the territorial Assembly, which soon sent him as a delegate to Congress. Possibly the most important event of his three terms, from March 4, 1807, to March 3, 1813, was his spirited opposition to the celebrated disunion speech of Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts. In 1813 he became a district judge for the territory and though he was bitterly assailed by Andrew Marschalk, an able newspaper editor of the territory, the bar considered him an able and upright judge.
In 1815 he published To the Public, a pamphlet designed to meet the charges against him. Reentering Congress as the first representative of the state of Mississippi he served from December 10, 1817, to March 3, 1819. He defended Andrew Jackson's conduct of the Seminole campaign, "and the national verdict then was that his arguments were unanswerable".
He was governor of Mississippi from 1820 to 1821. His health was poor, and at times he was unable to walk. The enemies he had made were bitter and unrelenting in exposing the seamy side of his life, particularly by accusing him of unfairness in a duel in which he had killed Abijah Hunt.
Because of poor health he refused the commission of chancellor tendered him by Governor Brandon in 1828, and this was also the probable cause of his defeat for the Senate the following year. His condition improving, he was appointed to the Senate to fill the unexpired term of Robert H. Adams, and later he was elected with negligible opposition to this office. He served from October 15, 1830, to March 3, 1835. Beginning with a dispute over the distribution of the patronage in Mississippi he became an unrelenting enemy of Andrew Jackson. The Democratic party in Mississippi detested his course, and hints were dropped that financial transactions with the Bank of the United States explained the change.
He did not again serve his state in public office. Broken in body by dissipation and by a severe fall, he removed to Lexington, Kentucky, but later returned to Jackson, Mississippi, where he practised law until his death.
George Poindexter was a very influential member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Mississippi in 1817, and he founded this document on the philosophy of the Virginia school of democracy. Serving as the governor of Mississippi, he codified the laws of the state in Revised Code of the Laws of Mississippi (1824), the first real code in Mississippi. During his time in office he also oversaw a reorganization of the militia, the state created its first free public schools, state courts were reorganized and Jackson was selected as the site for the state capital.
(Excerpt from Speech of Mr. Poindexter in the House of Rep...)
It seems to be true that he sensed the essential difference between Jacksonian and Jeffersonian Democracy, and he believed his course was more consistent than that of the Democratic party. So he was a Democratic-Republican.
He had divorced Lydia (Carter) Poindexter, his first wife, and disinherited their son; and his second wife, Agatha (Chinn) Poindexter, and their only son died.
