John Forsyth (22 October 1780 – 21 October 1841) was a member of the US House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large district from 4 March 1813 to 23 November 1818 (preceding Robert R. Reid) and from 4 March 1823 to 3 March 1827 (succeeding Reid), and from the 2nd district from 4 March to 7 November 1827 (preceding Richard Henry Wilde); Governor of Georgia from 7 November 1827 to 4 November 1829 (succeeding George Troup and preceding George Rockingham Gilmer); a US Senator from 23 November 1818 to 17 February 1819 (succeeding George Troup and preceding Freeman Walker) and from 9 November 1829 to 27 June 1834 (succeeding John M. Berrien and preceding Alfred Cuthbert); and US Secretary of State from 1 July 1834 to 4 March 1841 (succeeding Louis McLane and preceding Daniel Webster). He was a Democratic Party member.
Biography[]
Forsyth in 1839
John Forsyth was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1780, and he worked as an attorney. He served in the US House of Representatives from Georgia from 1813 to 1828 and from 1823 to 1827, as Governor from 1827 to 1829, and as a US Senator from 1818 to 1819 and from 1829 to 1834, and he served as Secretary of State under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. As Secretary of State, he opposed John C. Calhoun during the nullification crisis, and also led the government's response to the Amistad case. During the case, he warned President Van Buren that a decision to free the African captives would lead to a civil war, as Calhoun and the southerners threatened secession if the government made any moves towards the abolition of slavery. Forsyth died in Washington DC in 1841.