White, Hugh Lawson

White, Hugh Lawson,

1773–1840, American political leader, b. Iredell co., N.C. He moved (1787) to what is now E Tennessee and served in the wars against the CreekCreek,
Native North American confederacy. The peoples forming it were mostly of the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages).
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 and CherokeeCherokee
, largest Native American group in the United States. Formerly the largest and most important tribe in the Southeast, they occupied mountain areas of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.
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. He was (1793) secretary to Gov. William BlountBlount, William,
1749–1800, American political leader, b. near Windsor, N.C. He served in the American Revolution and later became a legislator in North Carolina, a member of the Continental Congress (1782–83, 1786–87), and a delegate to the Federal
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, studied law in Lancaster, Ohio, and began (1796) practice in Knoxville, Tenn. He held various judicial offices in Tennessee and was a state senator (1807–9, 1817–25) before becoming a U.S. Senator in 1825. A supporter of Andrew Jackson and his policies, he split with the President when Jackson backed Martin Van Buren for President. White, in protest, ran (1836) for the presidency as a Whig party candidate and secured the electoral votes of Tennessee and Georgia. He resigned (1840) from the U.S. Senate after he fought, in opposition to the instructions of the Tennessee legislature, Van Buren's plan for the Independent Treasury System.