John Dawson (US politician)

John Dawson (1762 – March 31, 1814) was an 18th century and 19th century politician and lawyer from Virginia.

Born in Virginia, Dawson graduated from Harvard University in 1782, studied law and was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1786 to 1789, a member of the Continental Congress in 1788 and a delegate to the Virginia Convention in 1788 that ratified the United States Constitution. He was elected privy councilor in 1789 and elected a Democratic-Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1796, serving from 1797 to his death in 1814. There, he served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia from 1813 to 1814 and was the bearer of dispatches from President John Adams to the Government of France in 1801. Dawson served as an aide to Generals Jacob Brown and future President Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812. He died in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 1814 and was interred there at Congressional Cemetery.

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