Alexander Contee Hanson
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Alexander Hanson |
Alexander Contee Hanson (
February 27,
1786 –
April 23,
1819) was an
American lawyer, publisher, and statesman. He represented the
third district of
Maryland in the
U.S. House, and the state of Maryland in the
U.S. Senate.
Hanson was born in
Annapolis, Maryland and attended local private schools. He graduated from
St. John's College in Annapolis in 1802. He proceeded to study law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Annapolis. He served as a member of the
Maryland House of Delegates from 1811 to 1815.
Hanson established and edited the
Federal Republican, an extreme
Federalist newspaper, in Baltimore. On
June 22,
1812, four days after the beginning of the
War of 1812, a mob that was irritated by his articles denouncing the administration destroyed his office. When he issued the paper from another building one week later, he was seriously injured by another mob. He moved the paper to
Georgetown, Washington, D.C., where he published it unmolested. Hanson later moved to
Rockville, Maryland.
In 1812, Hanson was elected as a Federalist representing the
third district to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, serving from
March 4,
1813 until his resignation in
1816. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1816 for election to the
Maryland House of Delegates, but was successfully elected as a Federalist to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
Robert Goodloe Harper. He served as senator from
December 20,
1816 until his own death on his estate, "Belmont", near
Elkridge, Maryland. He is interred in the family burial ground.
