James Wilson II

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = James Wilson

| image = James Wilson (1797 1881) (New Hampshire Congressman).jpg

| state = New Hampshire

| district = 3rd

| term_start = March 4, 1847

| term_end = September 9, 1850

| preceded = New Hampshire's At-large congressional district

| succeeded = George W. Morrison

| office1 = Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives

| term1 = 1828–1829

| preceded1 = Henry Hubbard

| succeeded1 = James B. Thornton

| office2 = Member of the
New Hampshire House of Representatives

| term2 = 1825–1837, 1840, 1846, 1871–1872

| preceded2 =

| succeeded2 =

| birth_date = March 18, 1797

| birth_place = Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1881|05|29|1797|03|18}}

| death_place = Keene, New Hampshire, U.S.

| nationality =

| party = Whig

| otherparty =

| spouse = Mary Low Richardson

| relations = Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood

| children = 7

| residence =

| occupation =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

James Wilson II (March 18, 1797 – May 29, 1881) was a U.S. Representative from New Hampshire.

Early life and education

Born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, James Wilson II attended New Ipswich Academy and the academies at Atkinson and Exeter. He moved with his parents to Keene, New Hampshire, in 1815, and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1820.

Career

Wilson served as member of the New Hampshire State militia 1820-1840 and was successively promoted from captain to major general. A law student, he was admitted to the bar in 1823 and commenced practice in Keene. He served as member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives 1825–1837, 1840, and 1846, and served as Speaker in 1828. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1835 and 1838. He served as delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1840 and was Surveyor general of public lands in the Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa 1841–1845.

Wilson was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congresses and served from March 4, 1847, to September 9, 1850, when he resigned.{{Cite web |title=WILSON, James |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/W000587 |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress}} Politically, he was considered a "lackey" of Daniel Webster.{{Cite book |last=Holt |first=Michael F. |title=The rise and fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian politics and the onset of the Civil War |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-505544-6 |location=New York |pages=1074}}

He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Thirtieth Congress). He was appointed one of the land claim commissioners for California in 1851 and served in this capacity until 1853. He settled in San Francisco and remained there until 1867, when he returned to Keene, New Hampshire. He was again a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1871 and 1872.