John Edwards
United States Senator
from Kentucky
In office
June 18, 1792 – March 4, 1795
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHumphrey Marshall
Member of the Kentucky Senate
In office
1796–1800
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives
In office
1795
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office
1781–1783, 1785, 1786
Personal details
Born1748
Stafford County, Virginia
Died1837 (aged 88–89)
Paris, Kentucky
Political partyAnti-Administration

John Edwards (1748–1837) was an American planter and statesman who played a key role in securing Kentucky statehood, and represented the new state in the United States Senate.

Edwards was born in Stafford County, Virginia, and moved to Fayette County to start a plantation in what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky, around 1780. He represented his county in the Virginia House of Delegates in several years and was part of the commission that determined the borders for Kentucky in 1788. In 1792 he was a delegate to the convention that drafted the first constitution for the new state, and when statehood was accomplished he and John Brown were the first U.S. senators for Kentucky.

After his term as a senator he served in both houses of the state legislature. He died on his plantation and was buried in the family graveyard near Paris, Kentucky.

His sons, Haden Edwards and Benjamin W. Edwards, were land speculators in Texas who led the failed Fredonian Rebellion against Mexican control.

  • United States Congress. "John Edwards (id: E000075)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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