Representative Charles Fenton Mercer

Charles Fenton Mercer (June 16, 1778 – May 4, 1858) was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer, and advocate of internal improvements and public education from Loudoun County, Virginia, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Virginia General Assembly. He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the younger son of James Mercer, a prominent Virginia planter, lawyer, legislator, and later judge, and his wife, the former Eleanor Dick. His paternal grandfather was John Mercer, a noted colonial lawyer, author, and land speculator. His mother died when he was two years old, the same year his father became a judge, and he was orphaned at the age of fifteen. The need to educate his sons is believed to have influenced James Mercer’s decision to become a trustee of the Fredericksburg Academy, about which he wrote to his friend George Mason, praising its advantages over the College of William and Mary, Hampden–Sydney College, and schools in Richmond. Mercer’s elder brother, John Fenton Mercer—named for an uncle killed and scalped in the French and Indian War—followed the family tradition as a lawyer and planter in Spotsylvania County, using enslaved labor and serving in the Virginia House of Delegates. The family was politically prominent beyond Virginia: their uncle John F. Mercer served in the U.S. Congress and as governor of Maryland, and their first cousins Robert Selden Garnett and James Mercer Garnett both served as members of Congress.

Mercer received his early education in Virginia and, unlike his father and uncles, did not attend the College of William and Mary. Instead, after the American Revolutionary War, he traveled to Princeton, New Jersey, and enrolled at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He graduated in 1797 and, in 1798, accepted a commission as a captain of cavalry from President George Washington, who anticipated a possible war with France that ultimately did not occur. Mercer then returned to Princeton for postgraduate study, receiving an additional degree in 1800. From 1802 to 1803 he toured Europe, an experience that broadened his intellectual and political horizons. Upon his return to Virginia, he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1802, beginning a private legal practice in Loudoun County. In 1810 he helped to found the village of Aldie, Virginia, near a mill he operated, reflecting both his entrepreneurial interests and his commitment to local development.

Mercer’s political career began in the Virginia House of Delegates, where Loudoun County voters elected him as one of their representatives in 1810. He was re-elected multiple times and served until 1817. During these years he served alongside veteran legislator William Noland for several sessions and later with Thomas Gregg in 1815 and 1816. Mercer quickly emerged as an advocate for public education and internal improvements. In his final term in the House of Delegates, he chaired the finance committee and introduced a bill to construct a canal along the Potomac River, an early expression of his long-standing interest in transportation infrastructure. He also authored a report in the state legislature in 1816 calling for state-supported primary schooling for all white children, to be supervised by a state Board of Public Instruction chosen by the legislature and financed by the state literary fund. In 1817 his bill for a system of free public education for white boys and girls passed the House of Delegates but died in the state senate. Thomas Jefferson opposed the plan on the grounds that heavy funding for primary schools would divert resources from his projected state university and would shift control from local to state authorities. Although Jethro Neville of Hardy County introduced a similar measure the following year, it too failed, but Mercer’s efforts marked one of the earliest comprehensive proposals for public education in Virginia.

During the War of 1812, Mercer combined his legislative work with military service. He accepted a commission as lieutenant colonel of a Virginia regiment and was later promoted to major. He took command of important defenses at Norfolk, Virginia, a key strategic point on the Chesapeake. In 1814 he served as inspector general and aide-de-camp to Governor James Barbour and subsequently as brigadier general in command of the 2nd Virginia Brigade. His wartime service enhanced his public stature and reinforced his reputation as a committed public servant at both the state and national levels.

In 1816 Mercer won election to the United States House of Representatives, where he would serve for twelve consecutive terms from March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1839, one of the longest continuous tenures in that era. Over the course of his congressional career he was variously aligned with the Federalists, Crawford Republicans, Adams Republicans, Anti-Jacksonians, and ultimately the Whig Party, reflecting the fluid and evolving party system of the early nineteenth century. As a member of the Whig Party representing Virginia, he contributed to the legislative process during these twelve terms in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American history. His seniority in the House enabled him to play a leading role in shaping national policy on internal improvements. From 1831 to 1839 he served as chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals, where he championed federal support for transportation infrastructure, including roads, canals, and related projects. Mercer believed strongly in internal improvements and the protection of domestic manufactures as essential to national development and economic independence.

Mercer’s commitment to internal improvements extended beyond Congress. He served as the first president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company from 1828 to 1833, working to realize the long-envisioned canal route linking the Potomac River to the Ohio River valley. His leadership in this enterprise reflected his broader vision of using transportation networks to bind the nation together economically and politically. In 1817 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, underscoring his standing in the intellectual and reform communities of his day. Throughout his congressional service he remained closely associated with reform causes, particularly education and infrastructure, which he viewed as mutually reinforcing pillars of national progress.

Mercer was also a prominent figure in the movement to end slavery through colonization. He opposed slavery and in 1816 helped to found the American Colonization Society, which sought to establish a colony in Africa for free African Americans; Bushrod Washington became its president and served until his death. By the following year the society had a national presence and would eventually help establish the Free State of Liberia. The organization attracted many leading statesmen, including James Madison, Henry Clay, John Marshall, John Randolph, John Taylor of Caroline, William H. Crawford, Daniel Webster, Francis Scott Key, and James Monroe. Within the society, members debated difficult questions, including how many free Black people would voluntarily emigrate and who would bear the financial burden of colonization. Federal census records are unclear as to whether Mercer owned slaves in 1820, but by 1830 he owned no slaves. He became vice president of the Virginia Colonization Society in 1836 and vice president of the National Society of Agriculture in 1842. In 1853 he again traveled to Europe, in part to confer with foreign leaders and reformers about the abolition of slavery, demonstrating his continued engagement with antislavery efforts late in life.

In addition to his legislative and reform work, Mercer played a notable role in Virginia’s constitutional development. Voters in a district encompassing Loudoun and neighboring Fairfax Counties elected him, along with former President James Monroe, William H. Fitzhugh, and Richard H. Henderson, to represent them at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829–1830; Joshua Osborn later replaced Monroe after his resignation. At the convention, Mercer served on the Committee of the Legislative Department. Two of the most contentious issues before the body were the demand for increased representation for the more populous and rapidly developing western counties of Virginia and the question of the gradual abolition of slavery. Mercer’s participation in these debates reflected his long-standing concern with political representation, regional equity, and the future of slavery in the state.

In his later years Mercer resided near Alexandria, Virginia, at an estate known as “Howard,” which later became the site of Episcopal High School. He continued to write and correspond on public questions, including education, internal improvements, and slavery, and his papers from 1852 to 1858 are preserved at the Library of Virginia. Charles Fenton Mercer died at Howard on May 4, 1858, and was buried in Union Cemetery in Leesburg, Virginia. His long career in state and national politics, his advocacy of public education and internal improvements, and his prominent role in the American Colonization Society made him a significant figure in the political and reform movements of the early nineteenth century.