{{short description|American politician (1823–1899)}} {{for|other people with the same name|John Harris (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox officeholder | name=John Thomas Harris | image=JTHarris.jpg | office = Member of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] from Virginia | term_start = March 4, 1859 | term_end = March 3, 1861 | predecessor = [[John Letcher]] | successor = [[Rees Bowen]] | constituency = {{ushr|VA|9|9th district}} | term_start1 = March 4, 1871 | term_end1 = March 3, 1881 | predecessor1 = [[William Milnes, Jr.]] (6th)<br/>[[Elliott M. Braxton]] (7th) | successor1 = [[Thomas Whitehead (politician)|Thomas Whitehead]] (6th)<br/>[[John Paul (judge)|John Paul]] (7th) | constituency1 = {{ushr|VA|6|6th district}} (1871-73)<br/>{{ushr|VA|7|7th district}} (1873-81) |office2 = Chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Revision of Laws|Committee on Revision of Laws]] |term2 = March 4, 1879 &ndash; March 3, 1881 |predecessor2 = [[William Walsh (Maryland politician)|William Walsh]] |successor2 = [[William C. Oates]] |office3 = Chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Elections|Committee on Elections]] |term3 = March 4, 1875 &ndash; March 3, 1879 |predecessor3 = [[Horace B. Smith]] |successor3 = [[William M. Springer]] |office5 = Member of the [[Virginia House of Delegates]] from [[Rockingham County, Virginia|Rockingham County]] |term5 = 1863–1865<br />Alongside James Kenney | birth_date={{birth date|1823|5|8|mf=y}} | birth_place=Browns Gap, [[Albemarle County, Virginia]], US | death_date={{death date and age|1899|10|14|1823|5|8|mf=y}} | death_place=[[Harrisonburg, Virginia]], US | spouse= | profession=[[Politician]], [[Lawyer]], [[Judge]] | party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Independent Democrat]], [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] |}}

'''John Thomas Harris''' (May 8, 1823 &ndash; October 14, 1899) was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer and judge from [[Virginia]].<ref>CongBio|H000247</ref> He was often referred to after the [[American Civil War]] as "Judge Harris", even after his election to Congress. He was the first cousin of [[John Hill (Virginia politician)|John Hill]].

==Early and family life== [[Image:JohnTHarris.jpg|thumb|left|John T. Harris]] Born in [[Browns Gap, Virginia]], Harris completed academic studies and studied law.<ref>Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. 3, p. 119</ref>

==Career== Admitted to the Virginia bar in 1845, Harris began his legal practice in [[Harrisonburg, Virginia]]. He was elected the [[Commonwealth's Attorney|commonwealth attorney]] for [[Rockingham County, Virginia]], and served from 1852 to 1859. The practice prospered so that he owned $9000 in real estate and lived with his wife and three young children lived with a 17 year old white woman and 23 year old Black man according to the 1860 census.<ref>1860 U.S. Federal Census for Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia p.18 of 33 on ancestry.com</ref> By that time, he also owned $7000 in personal property, including three slaves (19, 13 and 5 year old Black girls).<ref>1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule for Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia p.2 of 4 on ancestry.com</ref>

Harris won election as an [[Democratic Party (United States)|Independent Democrat]] to the [[United States House of Representatives]] in 1858, serving from 1859 to 1861. He ran for reelection, but the seat was terminated from [[United States Congress|Congress]] after [[Virginia]]'s secession from the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] on April 17, 1861. Harris initially vehemently opposed secession, including in a large political rally in Rockbridge, but [[George Deneale]] took the opposite position, and Harris later lobbied voters to elect delegates who would allow a referendum on secession, which passed nearly unanimously in the county.<ref>C.E. May, Life under Four Flags: in North River Basin of Virginia (Bridgewater: McClure Press 1976); pp. 381-384</ref>

===American Civil War=== Rockbridge voters elected Harris to the [[Virginia House of Delegates]], and served from 1863 to 1865.

===Return to Congress=== After the war's end, Harris became judge of the twelfth [[Circuit court|judicial circuit]] of [[Virginia]] from 1866 to 1869. He became known for his "frank and manly" acceptance of the war's results, including his charge to the grand jury on May 11, 1867, exhorting members to do their duty "without fear or favor."<ref>John W. Wayland, A History of Rockingham County, Virginia (Ruebush-Elkins Company, 1912) pp. 161-163</ref>

Upon [[Virginia]]'s adopting a new Constitution which forbad slavery and thus allowed its readmission to the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] in 1869, and restoration of civil rights to Confederate officials, Harris ran for the U.S. House of Representatives at a special election held in July 1869, but lost.

The following year, 1870, voters sent him back to the U.S. Congress as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], and he won re-election several times, serving from 1871 to 1881. However, the numbering of the district Harris represented changed from Virginia's 6th District to Virginia's 7th District in 1872 due to reapportionment after the 1870 census. A [[White supremacist]] he opposed [[Civil Rights]] for African Americans.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cdJ7DwAAQBAJ&q=1873+National+Civil+Rights+Convention&pg=PA57|title = Welcoming Ruin: The Civil Rights Act of 1875|isbn = 9789004384071|last1 = Friedlander|first1 = Alan|last2 = Gerber|first2 = Richard Allan|date = 22 November 2018 | publisher=BRILL }}</ref>

Harris chaired the [[United States House Committee on Elections|Committee on Elections]] from 1875 to 1879 and chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Revision of Laws|Committee on Revision of Laws]] from 1879 to 1881. Harris declined a unanimous renomination in 1880. After a contested election, his successor as Commonwealth Attorney (and former state Senator) [[John Paul (judge)|John Paul]] succeeded him for one term, and was succeeded by the [[Charles Triplett O'Ferrall]], whom Harris had defeated in 1872 and 1874.

Harris served as chairman of the [[Democratic National Convention|Virginia Democratic Convention]] in 1884, and was a [[commissioner]] to the 1893 [[World's Columbian Exposition]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]].

==Death and legacy== He died in [[Harrisonburg, Virginia]], on October 14, 1899. His papers, including a diary, are held in the special collections division of the [[James Madison University]] library.<ref>http://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/manuscripts/2025Harris.aspx The John T. Harris collection (SC#2025) at James Madison University's Special Collections.</ref>

==Electoral history==

*'''1870'''; Harris was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives unopposed. *'''1872'''; Harris was re-elected with 61.79% of the vote, defeating Independent [[Charles T. O'Ferrall]]. *'''1874'''; Harris was re-elected with 73.6% of the vote, defeating Republican John F. Lewis and Independents [[John F. Early]] and O'Ferrall. *'''1876'''; Harris was re-elected with 73.28% of the vote, defeating Republican [[Everett W. Early]]. *'''1878'''; Harris was re-elected with 56.46% of the vote, defeating Conservative [[John Paul (judge)|John Paul]].

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=9 | before=[[John Letcher]] | after=[[Rees Bowen]]<sup>(1)</sup> | years=1859–1861 }} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=6 | before=[[William Milnes Jr.]] | after=[[Thomas Whitehead (politician)|Thomas Whitehead]] | years=1871–1873 }} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=7 | before=[[Elliott M. Braxton]] | after=[[John Paul (judge)|John Paul]] | years=1873–1881 }} {{s-ref|Because of [[Virginia]]'s secession, the House seat was vacant for twelve years before Bowen succeeded Harris.}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives06}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives07}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives09}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, John T.}} [[Category:1823 births]] [[Category:1899 deaths]] [[Category:Members of the Virginia House of Delegates]] [[Category:Virginia lawyers]] [[Category:People from Harrisonburg, Virginia]] [[Category:People of Virginia in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Virginia independents]] [[Category:Independent Democrat United States representatives]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Virginia]] [[Category:19th-century Virginia state court judges]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:Virginia circuit court judges]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly]]