Joshua Reed Giddings
American politician
Died when: 68 years 234 days (823 months)Star Sign: Libra
Joshua Reed Giddings (October 6, 1795 – May 27, 1864) was an American attorney, politician and a prominent opponent of slavery.He represented Northeast Ohio in the U.S.
House of Representatives from 1838–59.He was at first a member of the Whig Party and was later a Republican, helping found the party.
Giddings is noted as a leading abolitionist of his era.He was censured in 1842 for violating the gag rule against discussing slavery in the House of Representatives when he proposed a number of Resolutions against federal support for the coastwise slave trade, in relation to the Creole case.
He quickly resigned, but was overwhelmingly re-elected by his Ohio constituents in a special election to fill the vacant seat.
He returned to the House and served a total of nearly twenty more years as representative.Giddings is one of the main reasons that the Western Reserve was, before the Civil War, one of the most anti-slavery regions of the country.
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