Adam Huntsman was an American lawyer and politician who represented Tennessee's twelfth district in the United States House of Representatives from 1835 to 1837.
Huntsman was born in Charlotte County, Virginia on February 11, 1786. He came to Knox County, Tennessee in 1809, where he settled for about three years. It was here that he studied law under John Williams, one of Knoxville's most prominent attorneys in the early nineteenth century and later a United States Senator. He carried the legal skills he learned from Williams with him westward to Overton County, Tennessee and later Madison County, Tennessee, where he became a highly regarded criminal lawyer.
Huntsman served in the Tennessee state senate 1815-1819 and 1827-1829. A proponent of revision to the state constitution, he was elected a delegate for Madison County, Tennessee at the constitutional convention held in Nashville, Tennessee in 1834.
He defeated David Crockett for the Twelfth Congressional seat in 1835, a loss that led to Crockett's journey to Texas and his death at the Alamo.
He served one term as a Jacksonian Democrat to the Twenty-fourth Congress. A leader of the Democratic Party in West Tennessee in the 1830s and 1840s, he corresponded with notable politicians of his day such as Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, and John C. Calhoun. His term lasted from March 4, 1835 to March 3, 1837. He ran unsuccessfully for re-election to the Twenty-fifth Congress.
Huntsman died in Jackson, Tennessee on August 23, 1849 and was buried at Old Salem Cemetery.
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Davy Crockett |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 12th congressional district March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837 |
Succeeded by John Wesley Crockett |