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Spencer Pettis

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Spencer Darwin Pettis (1802 – August 28, 1831), U.S. Representative from Missouri. The fierce campaign of 1830 led to a quarrel over the United States Bank issue with Major Thomas Biddle. The quarrel escalated into a duel in which both men were killed on Bloody Island (Mississippi River) near St. Louis, Missouri.

He was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1802; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar about 1824 and commenced practice in Fayette, Missouri; held various local offices; appointed secretary of state on July 22, 1826, and served until December 31, 1828, when he resigned; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses and served from March 4, 1829 until his death.

Pettis County, Missouri is named for him.

Political offices
Preceded by Missouri Secretary of State
1826–1828
Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives

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