Representative Lewis Maxwell

Lewis Maxwell (April 17, 1790 – February 13, 1862) was a U.S. Representative from Virginia who served three terms in Congress during a formative period in the nation’s political development. A member first of the Adams faction and later of the Anti-Jacksonian Party, he participated actively in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Virginia constituents in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Maxwell was born on April 17, 1790, in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Around 1800, during his childhood, he moved with his mother to Virginia, a relocation that would shape his professional and political life. After settling in Virginia, he completed a preparatory course of study, laying the groundwork for a career in the learned professions at a time when formal higher education was less systematized than in later generations.

Following his preparatory education, Maxwell studied law and was admitted to the bar. He commenced the practice of law in Weston, Virginia, in the region that is now part of West Virginia. His legal practice established him as a figure of some prominence in the community and provided both the experience and local standing that would support his entry into public life. In addition to his legal work, his later activities as a surveyor and land patentee reflected a close engagement with the development and disposition of land in western Virginia.

Maxwell’s political career began at the state level. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1821 to 1824, participating in the legislative affairs of the Commonwealth during a period of growing sectional and partisan tensions. His service in the state legislature helped to build his reputation as a public servant and prepared him for subsequent responsibilities in the national government.

In national politics, Maxwell was first elected to the Twentieth Congress (March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1829) as an Adams candidate, aligning himself with the supporters of President John Quincy Adams. He was then reelected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses, serving continuously from March 4, 1827, to March 3, 1833. As a member of the Anti-Jacksonian Party representing Virginia, he contributed to the legislative process during three terms in office, participating in debates and decisions at a time marked by the rise of Andrew Jackson, the realignment of political parties, and significant controversy over federal power, internal improvements, and economic policy.

During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Maxwell held important committee assignments that placed him at the center of federal oversight of military and naval expenditures. In the Twenty-first Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War, and in the Twenty-second Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy. In these roles he exercised responsibility for reviewing and scrutinizing the financial administration of key executive departments, reflecting the House’s constitutional role in appropriations and fiscal oversight. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1832, bringing his congressional service to a close at the end of the Twenty-second Congress in 1833.

After leaving Congress, Maxwell resumed the practice of law. He was also engaged as a surveyor and land patentee, occupations that were especially significant in the rapidly developing regions of western Virginia. Through these pursuits he remained an active participant in the economic and territorial growth of the area that would, during the Civil War, become the separate state of West Virginia.

Lewis Maxwell died in West Union, Virginia (now West Virginia), on February 13, 1862. He was interred in Odd Fellows Cemetery. His life spanned from the early national period through the opening years of the Civil War, and his career reflected both the local concerns of western Virginia and the broader national issues that shaped the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century.