John Floyd ( Virginia politician ) John Floyd ( April 24 , 1783 – August 17 , 1837 ) was a Virginia politician and soldier . He represented Virginia in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 25th Governor of Virginia . During his career in the House of Representatives , Floyd was an advocate of settling the Oregon Territory , unsuccessfully arguing on its behalf from 1820 until he left Congress in 1829 ; the area did not become a territory of the United States until 1848 . In 1832 , Floyd received votes for the Presidency of the United States , running in the Nullifier Party . He carried South Carolina and its 11 electoral votes . While governor of Virginia , the Nat Turner slave rebellion occurred and Floyd initially supported emancipation of slavery , but eventually went with the majority . His term as governor saw economic prosperity for the state . Family and early life . Floyd was born at Floyds Station , Virginia , near what is now Louisville , Kentucky . His parents were pioneer John Floyd , who was killed by Native Americans twelve days before his son ' s birth , and Jane Buchanan . His first cousin was Charles Floyd , the only member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to die . Floyd was educated at home and at a nearby log schoolhouse before enrolling in Dickinson College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania at the age of thirteen . He became a member of the Union Philosophical Society in 1797 . Although he matriculated with the class of 1798 , he had to withdraw due to financial troubles . His guardian had failed in his payments and family accounts relate Floyd was so poor that " he was obliged to borrow a pair of panteloons from a boatman " to return to his home in Kentucky . When his step - father , Alexander Breckinridge , died in 1801 , he was able to return , but had to withdraw again due to a lung illness . He moved to Philadelphia and was placed under the care of Dr . Benjamin Rush , an experience that influenced his decision to pursue a medical career . After an apprenticeship in Louisville , Kentucky , Floyd enrolled in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1804 and became an honorary member of the Philadelphia Medical Society and a member of the Philadelphia Medical Lyceum . Floyd was graduated in 1806 and his graduating dissertation was entitled " An Enquiry into the Medical Properties of the Magnolia Tripetala and Magnolia Acuminata " . He moved to Lexington , Virginia and then to the town of Christiansburg , Virginia . Floyd also served as a Justice of the Peace in 1807 . In 1804 Floyd married Letitia Preston , who came from a prominent southwest Virginian family . She was the daughter of William Preston and Susannah Smith , and sister of Francis Preston , of Abingdon , Washington County Virginia . They had 12 children , including : Floyd was a surgeon with the rank of major in the Virginia State Militia from 1807 to 1812 . At the outbreak of the War of 1812 , Floyd moved his family to a new home near present - day Virginia Tech to be near friends and entered the regular army . On July 13 , 1813 , he was appointed surgeon of Lt . Col . James McDowell ' s Flying Camp in the Virginia militia . When he returned from a leave of absence , he discovered someone else had been appointed to replace him , and so his service in this role ended on November 16 , 1813 . Floyd was then commissioned as major of the militia on April 20 , 1814 and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general of the 17th Brigade of Virginia militia . He served until he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1814 . During this time , he moved his family again , this time to Thorn Spring , a large plantation in Montgomery County , Virginia . Thornspring ( Pulaski ) ( Thornspring Golf Course ) was inherited by Letitia Preston Floyd from her father William Preston and was located near her older brother , Virginia Treasurer , Gen John Preston , and his Horseshoe Bottoms Plantation ( Radford Army Ammunition Plant ) . They both were near the Prestons Smithfield home ( Virginia Tech ) that their father had completed in Montgomery county for their mother , Susannah Smith Preston , before he died . John Floyd used to keep Bears chained to the tree on the lawns of the Thornspring Plantation ( Pulaski , VA ) . Political career . From 1814 to 1815 , Floyd was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and established a record as a strong nationalist . He supported a joint resolution to coordinate Virginia ' s defense with the Federal government as opposed to the contending resolution to " authorize the governor to ' communicate ' with the ' Government of the United States . In addition , Floyd supported a bill that authorized Virginia to raise troops and place them at the order of the federal government , as well as supporting a resolution to condemn the terms of peace proposed by the British commissioners at Ghent . He was also an opponent of the tactics of the Federalist leader , Charles F . Mercer , who questioned whether the United States was a sovereign country . In 1816 , Floyd was elected as a Democratic - Republican to the United States House of Representatives , and served from March 4 , 1817 to March 3 , 1829 . When Henry Clay ' s proposition to send a minister to Buenos Aires and therefore recognize Argentina in its bid for independence from Spain , Floyd was in support and urged recognition as a matter of national self - interest and justice . As Floyd ' s biographer noted : This proposed recognition meant more to Floyd even than trade advantages and justice ; it was another step in the disenthrallment of America . It would afford relief from that political plexus which had made it impossible for one European nation to move , even in matters relating to America , without creating a corresponding movement in each of the others . He was tired of negotiating the things which related exclusively to America in London , Paris , and Madrid . When General Andrew Jackson tried and executed two British agents during the First Seminole War in Spanish - held Florida , it precipitated the Great Seminole Debate of 1818 – 1819 in Congress , with some claiming he exceeded his orders from President James Monroe and demanding his censure . Floyd , however , supported Jackson ' s actions , maintaining he had acted according to precedent and his orders . He also denied the sovereignty of the Seminole tribes . When Missouri sought statehood in 1820 , it sparked a heated debate that eventually ended with the Missouri Compromise , which allowed it to be a slave state with the admission of Maine as a free state . Prior to this compromise , various proposals were floated all swirling around allowing or prohibiting slavery in the new state . A majority of Virginia ' s representatives in Congress desired the retention of slavery in Missouri at any price , however Floyd was silent , and his biographer , Ambler , has inferred from various statements made by Floyd , that he preferred immediate statehood to an extension of slavery , though admits there is " little evidence to show that he opposed the latter on general principles . " However , when anti - slavery forces in Congress tried to expunge a clause in Missouri ' s state constitution that would have prevented free blacks from settling in the state , Floyd opposed on the principal of state ' s rights to decide its own matters and also because he was opposed to the growing Federal power . He stated : If gentlemen would only expunge from their memories the progress of European liberty and institutions , they would find in America a number of states , or separate , independent , and distinct nations , confederated for common safety , and mutual protection , taught wisdom by the eternal feuds of Spain , England , France , and Germany , now consolidated into large empires . These states before the confederation could make war and peace , raise armies , or build a navy , coin money , pass bankrupt laws , naturalize foreigners , or regulate commerce . . . Informed by Europe they knew Jealousies would arise , and constant strife render armies in every nation necessary to their defence , which would endanger their liberties and homes . These states then , in their sovereign and independent characters , were willing to enter into a compact , by which the power of making war and peace , and regulating commerce , possessed alike by all , should be transferred to a congress of the states , to be exercised with uniformity , for their mutual benefit ; thus avoiding the evils of " superanuated and enslaved " Europe . These two were the only powers ever intended to be granted by the states . All other powers conferred by the compact are necessary to carry these two into execution . Floyd ' s position was that Congress had allowed Missouri to become a sovereign state and that now its only choice was whether or not to admit it into the Union . Missouri came up again during the Presidential election of 1820 . At issue was whether its electoral votes were valid , since it was still awaiting final approval of its constitution by the Congress . Floyd argued for counting its votes and the " debate which followed precipitated one of the liveliest ' scenes ' ever witnessed . . . " . Disorder followed , and both Floyd and John Randolph were " so persistent in their interruptions as to necessitate an adjournment of the joint session " . A compromise was brought forward to count it as " so many with the vote of Missouri and so many without it " , but both Randolph and Floyd opposed this , which later prompted John Quincy Adams to describe their action as " an effort to bring Missouri into the Union ' by storm . ' " Oregon Territory . Since the end of the War of 1812 , the Oregon Territory was claimed by both Britain and the United States , but neither side pressed their claim . Floyd wanted to pursue America ' s interests there more aggressively and so on December 20 , 1820 , he brought this question , the first person to do so , to the attention of Congress with a resolution to appoint a committee and " inquire into the situation of the settlements upon the Pacific Ocean and the expediency of occupying the Columbia River . " The resolution passed and the committee was formed with Floyd as the chairman , and Thomas Metcalfe of Kentucky and Thomas Van Swearingen of Virginia as members . Floyd presented the committee ' s report on January 21 , 1821 , along with a bill to authorize the occupation of the Columbia River area . Nothing happened with the bill , and John Quincy Adams criticized Floyd and characterized him as " a ' flaunting ' canvasser and a politician seeking to win prestige and patronage , particularly the latter , by a vigorous opposition to the party in power " and attributed his motives for occupation by " a desire to provide a retreat for a defaulting relative and possibly for himself . " Floyd then brought forth a resolution on December 10 , 1821 , to inquire into the expediency of occupying the area , and a week later presented another resolution to have the Secretary of the Navy give an estimate for a survey of harbors on the Pacific Coast . On January 18 , 1822 , he introduced a bill to authorize and require the president to occupy " the territory of the United States " on the waters of the Columbia River and to organize the territory north of the 42d parallel of latitude and west of the Rocky Mountains as the " Territory of Oregon " as soon as the population reached 2000 . Floyd then asked that all the correspondence relating to the Treaty of Ghent be presented to the House , which was possibly done in an attempt to damage John Quincy Adams ' political ambitions by intimating that his negotiation neglected the United States ' interests in the West . However , Floyd ' s bill was unsuccessful , as was possible attempt to discredit Adams . Floyd next capitalized on the fear of Russia ' s claims of sovereignty in the area and succeeded in having a resolution adopted asking the president to inform the House whether any foreign government had communicated any claims to the territory , but the information was then deemed too sensitive to disclose to the House . Not deterred in his attempt to discredit Adams , Floyd learned of a letter written by Jonathan Russell to James Monroe on December 15 , 1814 that contained " proof positive " of Adams ' neglect of the West in the treaty negotiations and he was successful in passing a resolution of inquiry that gave him the letter , but his actions backfired when the press attacked Floyd and forced him to defend his conduct . Adams certainly saw it as an attempt to damage his chances for the presidency . When President Monroe acknowledged that it was time to consider the rights of the United States in this area in December 1822 , Floyd reintroduced his bill , and argued for its passage . When a vote was taken on January 27 , 1823 , it failed to pass by a tally of 61 to 100 . Throughout the rest of 1823 and 1824 , Floyd continued in his pursuit , and when President Monroe suggested that the second session of the 18th United States Congress look into establishing a military base at the mouth of the Columbia River , Floyd reintroduced his bill . He argued : I . . . appeal to the House to consider well our interests in the Western Ocean , on our western coast , and the trade to China and India ; and the ease with which it can be brought down the Missouri . What is this commerce ? Thousands of years have passed by , and , year after year , all the nations of the earth have , each year , sought the rich commerce of that country ; all have enjoyed the riches of the East . That trade was sought by King Solomon , by Tyre , Sidon ; this wealth found its way to Egypt , and at last to Rome , to France , Portugal , Spain , Holland , England , and finally to this Republic . How vast and incomparably rich must be that country and commerce , which has never ceased , one day , from the highest point of Jewish splendor to the instant that I am speaking , to supply the whole globe with all the busy imagination of man can desire for his ease , comfort , and enjoyment ! Whilst we Rave so fair an opportunity offered to participate so largely in all this wealth and enjoyment , if not to govern and direct the whole , can it be possible that doubt , or mere points of speculation , will weigh with the House and cause us to lose forever the brightest prospect ever presented to the eyes of a nation ? " His bill passed this time , with a vote of 115 to 57 , but if failed in the Senate . He continued to argue for settling Oregon throughout the rest of his term in Congress . Role in Presidential elections . In the period leading up to the 1824 presidential election , a leading candidate was William H . Crawford . However , malfeasance charges were brought up against Crawford and a select committee was formed to investigate the charges , the chairman of which was Floyd . Crawford rivals were determined to remove Floyd , as it was known he favored Crawford ' s candidacy , but their efforts failed . The committee acquitted Crawford of the charges . The 1828 presidential election did not have a clear front runner at first for the southern politicians . They were united in their determination to unseat Adams , but thought at first that Andrew Jackson ' s time had passed after his unsuccessful bid in 1824 . However , his popularity had grown , and convinced that Jackson could serve as a figurehead only , while the cabinet ran things , an alliance was formed between northern " plain republicans " , with Martin Van Buren as their spokesperson , and southern " planters " , with Senator Littleton Waller Tazewell of Virginia , an intimate friend of Floyd , as their spokesperson , to put Jackson in the White House . Floyd later wrote : " At this moment [ 1828 ] came the direful struggle between the great parties in Congress founded upon the claim which the majority . . . from the north of the Potomac made to the right to lay any tax upon the importations into the United States which was intended to act as a protection to northern manufacturers by excluding foreign fabrics of the same kind . Hence all the states to the south of the Potomac became dependent upon the Northern States for a supply of whatever thing they might want , and in this way the South was compelled to sell its products low and buy from the North all articles it needed from twenty - five to one hundred and twenty - five per cent higher than from France to England . . . At this juncture the southern party brought out Jackson . " Floyd worked hard on Jackson ' s behalf and considered his efforts sufficient for a post in the new cabinet , and so declined to run again for Congress . However , he did not receive this post . Governor of Virginia . Floyd was Governor of Virginia from 1830 to 1834 . A rift was already forming between Floyd and other Southern politicians , as Jackson failed to act on the tariff issue and other matters . On December 27 , 1830 , Floyd wrote to a friend : As you long ago wrote me , and told me personally , nay predicted , Jackson has thrown me overboard ; he is not only unwilling to give me employment , as he promised after I declined a reelection to Congress , but has in every single instance refused office to my friends , and even respectful consideration to my letters of recommendation to others . Nor does he stop here . I am at this moment enduring the whole weight of the opposition to him , his friends , and the power and patronage of his government to break down myself and my friends in Virginia , and to prevent my reelection to the office I now fill . Without having much reputation for political matters , I have read those folks at Washington thoroughly . . . I am not of a temper to pocket insult , neglect , or injury . I have , my dear friend , determined on my course . I can be as silent and patient as any of my aboriginal ancestors , and like them I feel that vengeance would be sweet , but when the day of retribution shall come , it will be marked by the effects of the tomahawk . You must know that notwithstanding all efforts to prevent it I calculate on a reelection . Then I will begin to formulate a message in which , as you know , my own principles will be maintained . In January 1831 , Floyd was successful in his bid for re - election as governor , this time for three years , and as the first governor under the new state constitution enacted in 1830 . Virginia ' s economy had seen an upswing under his stewardship and in his December address he wanted to see this continue . He unveiled a " bold economic program " that included a network of state - subsidized internal improvements designed to make Virginia a " commercial empire " . The success of his plan and Virginia ' s future , however , depended on national politics and who captured the White House in 1832 . His preoccupation with economic growth for Virginia , and how the Jackson plans were threatening this , made him different from other southern " nullifiers " , whose main fear was the abolition of slavery . Floyd opposed slavery , but purely for economic reasons as he viewed it as inefficient . " Though an implacable Southern - rights man , the governor was a foe of the peculiar institution . " The presidential election of 1832 was approaching , and Floyd was torn : He wanted to see Vice President Calhoun as the presidential candidate , but wondered if he should first be proposed as the vice presidential candidate for the second term . He felt Calhoun had a better chance to beat Jackson than Clay , and he wrote to Calhoun in April 1831 to know his opinion : " Under all these views I really do not know which course to take ; whether to announce you a candidate for the presidency and take the hazard of war , or wait the fate of Clay . We would be glad to know your opinion about these things . " Floyd , along with Tazewell and Tyler , were considered the leaders of the Virginians that had become disaffected with Jackson and had turned to Calhoun . They felt that Jackson had repudiated " virtue and ability as well as Old Republican tenets . " According to historian Stephen Oates , " In Floyd ' s opinion , the federal government under " King Andrew " had usurped power left and right , thus allowing the majority to run roughshod over the minority . " Clay , however , did not agree to postpone his bid for presidency in favor of Calhoun , and Calhoun did not put himself forward . At some point , Floyd went home to rest for a time , and then returned to in time to witness his political friends courting the Anti - Masonic party and their candidate for president , William Wirt . Floyd " refused absolutely to have anything to do with one of Wirt ' s ' laxity in morals ' and ' opportune ' political thinking ; with one who would turn the federal government over to ' fanatics , knaves , and religious bigots . ' " Floyd however , ceased his objections against Jackson for a time . It was at this time , that the Nat Turner slave rebellion occurred on August 21 , 1831 . In November , he decided to recommend to the General Assembly gradual abolition of slavery , either for the whole state , or for the counties west of the Blue Ridge Mountains if the former could not be attained , but with a goal for abolition for the whole state in time . However , something caused him to change his mind , for his annual message did not contain this recommendation . Instead he encouraged delegates from the western counties to introduce its discussion . However , the debate became heated and Floyd and others " became alarmed " and eastern delegates talked of splitting the state . As Floyd observed : " a sensation had been engendered which required great delicacy and caution in touching . " As a result , a vote was instead put forth on whether the state should legislate this issue . The pro - slavery party narrowly won sixty - seven to sixty . During Floyd ' s address to the General Assembly , he did , however , touch upon the national issues swirling around the country . As Floyd ' s biographer noted : In clear and forceful language Floyd reasserted the state sovereignty theory of government , as guaranteed by the ' Compact or Constitution , ' holding the Federal Government to be merely the ' Agent of the States ' entrusted only with such powers as were originally intended to operate ' externally ' and ' upon nations foreign to those composing the Confederacy . ' He called attention to the disregard with which ' an unrestrained majority ' had received the memorials and protests of some of the ' sovereign states , ' justifying their acts by precedent and expediency and thus melting away ' the solder of the Federal chain ; ' also to the fact that it was then ' strongly insinuated ' that the states could not ' interpose to arrest an unconstitutional measure . ' Such a course , he was certain , could result only in nullifying the federal constitution and in a complete failure in our experiment in government . When the Democratic Party announced that Van Buren would be their vice presidential candidate , Floyd was not happy . He renewed his antagonism with Jackson accordingly . Floyd felt that Van Buren ' s would inject " Northern principles " into the government and would " lead with a rapidity of lightening [ sic ] to the sudden and immediate emancipation of slavery " . Virginians led the movement to prevent Van Buren ' s election . Philip P . Barbour was brought forward as a running mate on a Jackson - Barbour ticket . " In this way Floyd expected to throw the choice of the vice - president into the Senate , where , it was thought , Van Buren ' s election could be prevented . " As historian William J . Cooper noted , " For the Calhounites in Virginia , replacing Van Buren with Barbour would achieve two desired goals : eliminate the man they designated as the great enemy both of Calhoun and of the Virginia doctrine as well as symbolize the political resurgence of Virginia . " Barbour , however , later withdrew his candidacy to accept Jackson ' s appointment as judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Virginia , and Van Buren became Vice President . The Nullification Crisis had been ongoing since 1828 , and in December 1832 , Jackson came down squarely against " the nullifiers " in his proclamation . However , in the presidential election of 1832 , Jackson confirmed his power in the South by winning his re - election . Jackson had skillfully neutralized Barbour ' s movement , and Clay did not even appear on several southern tickets . It was only in Calhoun ' s stronghold of South Carolina that Jackson did not fare well : they put all their electoral votes ( 11 ) for Floyd , their ally , for President of the United States . South Carolina , at that time , had the legislature appoint their electors , and was the only state in this election to do so . Floyd ' s biographer commented that despite advocating moderation in his annual message in December 1832 , he was " secretly counting the costs and horrors of war " and that Floyd characterized Jackson ' s Proclamation in response to South Carolina ' s Nullification Ordinance as an " outrage upon our institutions " and a " satire upon the revolution " making war inevitable . A letter to Tazewell at this time called Jackson the " tyrant usurper " and feared a civil war would be the result . When Floyd learned that Clay was willing to compromise on the tariff and that South Carolina would submit her issues to a " convention of the states " , he supported both . The crisis averted , he toned down his opposition to Jackson , but was unwilling to return to the Democratic Party while Van Buren was the leader . As a result , he turned to Clay , and attempted to bring him and John C . Calhoun together in a new political party to support these views . " . . . the elimination of both Clay and Calhoun from the list of eligibles for the presidency had become temporarily imperative . Accordingly Floyd set himself to the task of working out a fighting alliance between all the factions opposed to the administration . To this end he encouraged discord within the Democratic party , while scrupulously keeping the conflicting ambitions of his own friends in the background . " This was the beginnings of the Whig Party . Floyd suffered a stroke in 1834 while still in office , but was able to serve out his term . He approached Littleton Waller Tazewell to be his successor , who was ultimately successful . " Believing that ' great events are in the gale ' he urged Tazewell to hasten to Richmond and to be prepared to lay down his share in the power of the state as he had it down for the ' Confederacy , ' ' uninjured and undiminished . On April 16 , 1834 , he left Richmond for his home , escorted by Bigger ' s Blues , Richardson ' s Artillery , Myer ' s Cavalry , and Richardson ' s Riflemen , Richmond ' s volunteer companies . 1817 . Floyd was elected to the U . S . House of Representatives with 57 . 6 % of the vote , defeating Federalist Elijah McClannahan . 1819 . Floyd was re - elected unopposed . 1821 . Floyd was re - elected unopposed . Catholicism and death . In 1832 , Floyd ' s daughter , Letitia Floyd Lewis , converted to Catholicism , and " owing to her prominence , caused a sensation throughout the state " of Virginia . Then followed other family members , including Floyd himself after he left office as governor . " The conversion of the Floyd and Johnston families led into the Catholic Church other members of the most distinguished families of the South " . Floyd suffered a stroke and died on August 17 , 1837 , in Sweet Springs in Monroe County , Virginia ( now West Virginia ) , and his tombstone can be found in the Lewis Family Cemetery , on the hill behind the remains of the historic Lynnside Manor . His grave is near to that of John Lewis . On January 15 , 1831 , the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act creating the present county of Floyd out of Montgomery County , named after Floyd , who was governor at the time .