November 23, 1817

On this date, William Charles Cole Claiborne of Tennessee, the youngest person ever elected to the House of Representatives died. Born in Sussex County, Virginia, in 1775, Claiborne worked as an assistant for John Beckley, the first Clerk of the House of Representatives. Claiborne later studied law in Virginia and became a criminal attorney in Tennessee. Governor John Sevier of Tennessee—a former Congressman from North Carolina who later represented Tennessee in the House—appointed the 21-year-old Claiborne as a judge on the Tennessee state supreme court in 1796. The next year, Claiborne earned a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives when he was elected as a Jeffersonian Republican to complete Andrew Jackson’s term in the 5th Congress (1797–1799). As only the second Congressman to represent the new state of Tennessee, Claiborne, elected at the age of 22, failed to meet the constitutional age requirement of 25 years. He also won election to the 6th Congress (1799–1801) at age 24, but the House chose to seat him in both instances. During his brief tenure in Congress, Claiborne served on the Ways and Means and Elections committees. Claiborne did not seek a third term in the House; in July 1801 President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of the Territory of Mississippi. He later served as Governor of the Orleans Territory and as Governor of Louisiana. Claiborne’s rich political lineage included several family members who served in the House of Representatives: Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne of Virginia; Thomas Claiborne of Virginia; John Francis Hamtramck Claiborne of Mississippi; and Corinne Claiborne (Lindy) Boggs of Louisiana.

November 26, 1904

On this date, Jose Francisco Chaves was murdered by an unknown assailant. Born on June 27, 1833, in Los Padillas, New Mexico, Chaves was a member of a prominent political family. A decorated U.S. soldier and Mexican War veteran, Chaves fought against Confederate and Navajo insurgents during the Civil War. Upon his discharge from the military in 1865, Chaves was elected as a Territorial Delegate to the 39th Congress (1865–1867). In the 40th Congress (1867–1869), Chaves successfully contested the election of C. P. Clever, and was re-elected to serve in the 41st Congress (1869–1871). One of Chaves’s legislative interests was acquiring statehood for New Mexico. Twenty–five years after its annexation by the United States, New Mexico remained a territory. In 1871, Chaves informed his colleagues that New Mexicans felt that they had, “no part in the general legislation of this country, and only a limited and subordinate part…which directly relates to their own local interests.” New Mexicans, according to Chaves, were “anxious to assume that relation to the Government of the United States which will… advance their local interests, and will enable them, through their Senators and Representatives in Congress, to demand…protection and consideration from the Government which they now have to solicit as a matter of grace.” Although Chaves was defeated for re-election to the 42nd Congress (1871–1873), he remained active in New Mexico politics. In 1912, eight years after Chaves’s death, New Mexico was admitted to the Union as a state.

November 29, 1908

On this date, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.,  the first African American to represent New York in Congress, was born. Powell used his position as pastor of the Abyssinian Church and his strong record of community activism in Harlem to win election to a newly-created, majority-black congressional seat in New York City in 1944. When Congress convened on January 3, 1945, William Dawson of Illinois, the only other black Member, escorted Powell into the House Chamber; Powell and Dawson remained the only African-American Representatives from 1945 to 1955. Promising to “represent the Negro people first and after that all the other American people,” Representative Powell symbolized hope and pride for African Americans in his district and across the country. “Keep the faith, baby; spread it gently and walk together, children,” became a legendary slogan of the charismatic and flamboyant New York Representative. During his career, Powell adopted a confrontational approach toward racial discrimination as a tireless and outspoken advocate for civil rights. Soon after his arrival in Washington, Powell followed the lead of Oscar De Priest of Illinois—the first African American elected to Congress in the 20th century—by challenging the informal regulations forbidding black Representatives from using Capitol facilities reserved for white Members. During his tenure as chairman of the Education and Labor Committee from the 87th through the 89th (1961–1967) Congresses, the panel approved more than 50 measures authorizing federal programs for increases in the minimum wage, education and training for the deaf, school lunches, vocational training, student loans, and aid for elementary and secondary schools and public libraries. Ultimately, a myriad of legal problems and unpredictable behavior undermined Powell’s influential but controversial political career.