{{Short description|American politician}} {{Use American English|date=March 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Wiley P. Harris | office = Deputy from [[Mississippi]]<br />to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States|Provisional Congress<br />of the Confederate States]] | term_start = February 4, 1861 | term_end = February 17, 1862 | predecessor = New constituency | successor = Constituency abolished | office1= Member of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] from Mississippi's [[Mississippi's 4th congressional district|4th district]] | term_start1 = March 4, 1853 | term_end1 = March 3, 1855 | predecessor1 = [[Albert G. Brown]] | successor1 = [[William Augustus Lake]] | birth_name = Wiley Pope Harris | birth_date = {{birth date|1818|11|9}} | birth_place = [[Pike County, Mississippi]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1891|11|9|1818|11|9}} | death_place = [[Jackson, Mississippi]], U.S. | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)]] | education = [[University of Virginia]]<br/>[[Transylvania University]] | image = Wiley P. Harris.png }}

'''Wiley Pope Harris''' (November 9, 1818 – December 3, 1891) was a [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. representative]] and delegate to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] from [[Mississippi]].

==Biography== Born on November 9, 1818, in [[Pike County, Mississippi|Pike County]], Mississippi, Harris attended the common schools and the [[University of Virginia]] in [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]]. He graduated from the law department of [[Transylvania College]], [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]], Kentucky, in 1840.<ref>{{cite book |title=Memorials of the life and character of Wiley P. Harris, of Mississippi. |date=1892 |publisher=Clarion Printing Estab. |location=Jackson, Mississippi |page=36 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89077021723;view=1up;seq=9 |accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref> He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice in [[Hazlehurst, Mississippi|Gallatin, Mississippi]]. He was Circuit judge of the second district from 1844 to 1850 and served as member of the State constitutional conventions in 1850, 1861, and 1890.

Harris was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] to the [[Thirty-third Congress]] (March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855).<ref name="Warner">{{cite book |last1=Warner |first1=Ezra J. |last2=Yearns |first2=W. Buck|date=1975 |title=Biographical Register of the Confederate Congress |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biographical_Register_of_the_Confederate/riBfDwAAQBAJ |location= |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |pages=110-111 |isbn= |access-date=10 April 2026}}</ref> He declined to run for another term in Congress and resumed the practice of law in [[Jackson, Mississippi|Jackson]], Mississippi.

During the buildup to the [[American Civil War]], Harris, a staunch secessionist, was elected as a delegate to the [[Mississippi Secession Convention|Mississippi state secession convention]] in January, 1861.<ref name="Warner" /> He was then chosen by the convention to serve as one of Mississippi's delegates to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] in 1861.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Harris Genealogy|url=https://archive.org/details/harrisgenealogy00harr|last=Harris|first=Gideon Dowse|publisher=Keith Printing Co.|year=1914|isbn=1298495261|location=Columbus, Mississippi|pages=[https://archive.org/details/harrisgenealogy00harr/page/58 58]}}</ref> Harris was an active member of the Provisional Congress, but chose not to stand for election to the first regular session of the Confederate Congress, leaving his seat in 1862.<ref name="Warner" /> He then returned to the practice of law in Jackson, and took part in the Mississippi constitutional convention of 1890. He died the following year on December 3, 1891, and was interred in [[Greenwood Cemetery (Jackson, Mississippi)|Greenwood Cemetery]].

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{CongBio|H000256}} * {{Find a Grave|67274028}} * [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/harris9.html#658.22.17 Wiley P. Harris] at [[The Political Graveyard]]

{{Navboxes |title=Offices and distinctions |list1= {{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box| state=Mississippi| district=4| before=[[Albert G. Brown|Albert Brown]]| years=1853&ndash;1855| after=[[William A. Lake|William Lake]]}} {{s-off}} {{succession box|title=Deputy from [[Mississippi]] to the<br />[[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]]|years=1861–1862|before=New constituency|after=Constituency abolished}} {{s-end}} }}

{{Navboxes |title=Articles related to Wiley P. Harris |list1= {{CSProvisionalConstitutionSig}} {{Confederate States Constitution signatories}} {{Mississippi Constitution signatories|state=collapsed}} }}

{{Portal bar|American Civil War|Biography|Mississippi|Politics}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Wiley P.}} [[Category:1818 births]] [[Category:1891 deaths]] [[Category:People from Pike County, Mississippi]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Mississippi]] [[Category:Signatories of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Signatories of the Constitution of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Mississippi lawyers]] [[Category:Transylvania University alumni]] [[Category:People of Mississippi in the American Civil War]] [[Category:19th-century Mississippi state court judges]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]] [[Category:Burials at Greenwood Cemetery (Jackson, Mississippi)]]