Representative Matthew Walton

Matthew Walton (1750 – January 18, 1819) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky and an early political leader in the Commonwealth, and was a cousin of George Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia, and John Walton, a delegate to the Continental Congress. Born in 1750, likely in the colonial South, Walton came of age during the period leading up to the American Revolution. Details of his parents, exact birthplace, and early youth are not well documented, but he was part of the extended Walton family that played a notable role in the political life of the early United States.

Walton received only a limited formal schooling, a common circumstance on the frontier in the late eighteenth century. Despite this, he acquired sufficient education and practical experience to participate actively in public affairs. By the 1780s he had settled in what would become Kentucky, then part of Virginia’s western frontier, and emerged as a figure in the region’s political development. His involvement in local and regional deliberations reflected both his standing in the community and his interest in the organization and governance of the trans-Appalachian settlements.

Walton’s public career began in earnest with his service as a member of the conventions held in Danville in 1785 and 1787. These Danville conventions were a series of assemblies of Kentucky leaders that debated separation from Virginia and laid the groundwork for Kentucky’s eventual admission to the Union. Walton’s participation placed him among the early advocates and architects of Kentucky statehood. He later served as a member of the first Kentucky state constitutional convention in 1792, which drafted the initial constitution for the new state when Kentucky was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1792.

Following the achievement of statehood, Walton continued his service in the new Commonwealth’s legislature. He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1792, the year of statehood, and returned to that body in 1795 and again in 1808. In the House he took part in shaping the early statutory framework of Kentucky, representing the interests of his constituents during a period of rapid settlement, land disputes, and institutional formation. His repeated elections indicate a sustained level of confidence from the voters in his district.

Walton advanced to national office when he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth and Ninth Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1803, to March 3, 1807. As a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, which was led nationally by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Walton aligned with the dominant political current in Kentucky and much of the West, favoring agrarian interests and a limited federal government. During his tenure in Congress, he represented Kentucky at a time when the young nation was dealing with issues such as western expansion, relations with European powers, and the administration of newly acquired territories following the Louisiana Purchase.

After leaving Congress in 1807, Walton returned to Kentucky and remained a respected figure in his community. He continued to be associated with public life through his service in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1808 and through his broader role as an experienced statesman of the early Commonwealth. Although specific details of his private pursuits and occupations outside of public office are sparse, his long involvement in conventions, constitutional drafting, and legislative service suggests that he was closely engaged with the political and civic development of Kentucky throughout his adult life.

Matthew Walton died in Springfield, Washington County, Kentucky, on January 18, 1819. His death in Springfield, a community in central Kentucky, marked the passing of one of the generation of leaders who had helped guide the region from a remote district of Virginia to full statehood and representation in the federal government. He was interred locally, and his career remains part of the early political history of Kentucky and of the Democratic-Republican era in the United States Congress.