Representative George Outlaw

George Outlaw (October 25, 1771 – August 15, 1825) was a North Carolina planter, merchant, and legislator who briefly served as a U.S. Representative in 1825. He was born near Windsor, in Bertie County, North Carolina, into a family that would become prominent in the state’s political life; he was a cousin of David Outlaw, who later also represented North Carolina in the United States Congress. Raised in the rural Albemarle region, he was educated by private teachers and in the common schools, a typical path for sons of established families in eastern North Carolina during the late eighteenth century.

After completing his schooling, Outlaw engaged in agricultural and mercantile pursuits in and around Windsor. Like many landowners of his era and region, he combined planting with commercial activity, participating in the local economy of coastal North Carolina, which was centered on the production and trade of agricultural commodities. His standing in the community and involvement in local affairs led him into public service at a relatively young age.

Outlaw entered state politics as a member of the North Carolina House of Commons, to which he was elected for the term spanning 1796 to 1797. His service in the lower house marked the beginning of a long and intermittent legislative career. He subsequently rose to the North Carolina Senate, where he served in multiple, nonconsecutive terms: in 1802, from 1806 to 1808, from 1810 to 1814, in 1817, and again in 1821 and 1822. During this period he became one of the more experienced legislators in the state, participating in debates over internal improvements, state finances, and the political realignments of the early nineteenth century.

Within the North Carolina Senate, Outlaw attained a position of particular influence when he was chosen as speaker of the Senate in 1812, 1813, and 1814. As speaker, he presided over the upper chamber during a critical period that included the War of 1812, when questions of militia organization, defense, and support for the national war effort were prominent in state deliberations. His repeated election to the speakership reflected the confidence of his colleagues in his leadership and parliamentary skills, as well as his stature within the state’s eastern political establishment.

Outlaw’s long state legislative career culminated in his brief service in the national legislature. Following the resignation of Representative Hutchins Burton, who left Congress after being elected governor of North Carolina, Outlaw was elected in a special election to represent North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District in the 18th U.S. Congress. He took his seat on January 19, 1825, and served until the expiration of that Congress on March 3, 1825, a tenure of less than two months. During this short period, he participated in the climactic phase of the 1824 presidential election, which had been thrown into the House of Representatives when no candidate secured a majority of the electoral vote.

In the contingent presidential election of 1825, Outlaw cast his vote for William H. Crawford, aligning his choice with the preference of his district, which had supported Crawford over Andrew Jackson by a vote of 1,516 to 957. This decision, however, became a central issue in the subsequent campaign for the full term in the next Congress. In a three-way race for re-election, Outlaw was challenged by Willis Alston, a veteran congressman who had previously served in the U.S. House from 1799 to 1815. Alston criticized Outlaw’s support for Crawford at a moment when national politics were fracturing into new party alignments, and the electorate of the 2nd District ultimately sided with Alston. In the general election, Alston defeated Outlaw by a margin of 42 percent to 31 percent, with a third candidate, an Adams supporter, receiving 27 percent of the vote.

After his defeat, Outlaw returned to private life in Bertie County. He resumed the agricultural and mercantile pursuits that had long formed the basis of his livelihood and local influence. Remaining in the Windsor area, he continued to be identified with the planter-merchant class that dominated the political and economic life of eastern North Carolina in the early republic. He died in Windsor, North Carolina, on August 15, 1825, only a few months after leaving Congress. George Outlaw was buried in his family cemetery near Windsor, in the community where he had been born, lived, and spent his career in public and private service.