Spencer Darwin Pettis

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Spencer Darwin Pettis (1802 – August 28, 1831), U.S. Representative from Missouri. The fierce campaign of 1830 led to a quarrel over the United States Bank issue with Major Thomas Biddle. The quarrel escalated into a duel in which both men were killed on Bloody Island (Mississippi River) near St. Louis, Missouri.

He was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1802; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar about 1824 and commenced practice in Fayette, Missouri; held various local offices; appointed secretary of state on July 22, 1826, and served until December 31, 1828, when he resigned; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses and served from March 4, 1829 until his death.

Pettis County, Missouri is named for him.

[edit] External links

• Biography from U.S. House of Representatives

Preceded by Hamilton Rowan Gamble	Missouri Secretary of State 1826–1828	Succeeded by Priestly Haggins McBride
Preceded by Edward Bates	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's At-large congressional district 1829-1831	Succeeded by William Henry Ashley