Editing Davy Crockett (section)

==Public career==
[[File:Davy Crockett by William Henry Huddle, 1889.jpg|thumb|Davy Crockett by [[William Henry Huddle]], 1889]]
In 1817, Crockett moved the family to new acreage in [[Lawrence County, Tennessee|Lawrence County]], where he first entered public office as a commissioner helping to configure the new county's boundaries.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=152}} On November 25, the state legislature appointed him county justice of the peace.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=154}} On March 27, 1818, he was elected lieutenant colonel of the [[Tennessee Military Department|Fifty-seventh Regiment of Tennessee Militia]], defeating candidate Daniel Matthews for the position.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|pages=154–156}} By 1819, Crockett was operating multiple businesses in the area and felt his public responsibilities were beginning to consume so much of his time and energy that he had little left for either family or business. He resigned from the office of justice of the peace and from his position with the regiment.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=158}}

===Tennessee General Assembly===
In 1821, he resigned as commissioner and successfully ran for a seat in the Tennessee General Assembly,<ref>{{cite web|title=Members of the Tennessee General Assembly 1794–2010 |url=http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/misc/tga.htm|publisher=Tennessee State Library and Archives|access-date=November 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131108235812/http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/misc/tga.htm|archive-date=November 8, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> representing [[Lawrence County, Tennessee|Lawrence]] and [[Hickman County, Tennessee|Hickman]] counties.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=159}} It was this election where Crockett honed his anecdotal oratory skills.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|pages=159–160}} He was appointed to the Committee of Propositions and Grievances on September 17, 1821, and served through the first session that ended November 17, as well as the special session called by the governor in the summer of 1822, ending on August 24.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=163}}{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=326}} He favored legislation to ease the tax burden on the poor.{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=16}} Crockett spent his entire legislative career fighting for the rights of impoverished settlers who he felt dangled on the precipice of losing title to their land due to the state's complicated system of grants.{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=16}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Early North Carolina and Tennessee Land Grants|url=http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide10.htm|publisher=Tennessee State Library and Archives|access-date=November 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140123205007/http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/guides/guide10.htm|archive-date=January 23, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> He supported 1821 gubernatorial candidate [[William Carroll (Tennessee politician)|William Carroll]], over Andrew Jackson's endorsed candidate [[Edward Ward (businessman)|Edward Ward]].{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=15}}

Less than two weeks after Crockett's 1821 election to the General Assembly, a flood of the [[Tennessee River]] destroyed Crockett's businesses.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=165}} In November, Elizabeth's father Robert Patton deeded {{convert|800|acre}} of his [[Carroll County, Tennessee|Carroll County]] property to Crockett.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=169}} Crockett sold off most of the acreage to help settle his debts, and moved his family to the remaining acreage on the [[Obion River]], which remained in Carroll County until 1825 when the boundaries were reconfigured and put it in Gibson County.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|pages=177,190}} In 1823, he ran against Andrew Jackson's nephew-in-law [[William Edward Butler]]{{sfn|Wallis|2011|pages=183–185}} and won a seat in the General Assembly representing the counties of Carroll, Humphreys, Perry, Henderson and Madison.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=186}} He served in the first session, which ran from September through the end of November 1823, and in the second session that ran September through the end of November 1824, championing the rights of the impoverished farmers.{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|pages=19, 326}} During Andrew Jackson's election to the United States Senate in 1823, Crockett backed his opponent [[John Williams (Tennessee politician)|John Williams]].{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=18}}

===United States House of Representatives===
[[File:NPG-NPG 84 231Crockett-000002.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait by [[James Hamilton Shegogue]], 1831]]
On October 25, 1824, Crockett notified his constituents of his intention to run in the 1825 election for a seat in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]]. He lost that election to incumbent [[Adam Rankin Alexander]].{{sfn|Wallis|2011|pages=188–190}} A chance meeting in 1826 gained him the encouragement of [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] mayor Marcus Brutus Winchester<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Marcus Brutus Winchester|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1522|encyclopedia=Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture|access-date=November 6, 2013}}</ref> to try again to win a seat in Congress.{{sfn|Wallis|2011|pages=194–196}} The ''Jackson Gazette'' published a letter from Crockett on September 15, 1826, announcing his intention of again challenging Rankin, and stating his opposition to the policies of President [[John Quincy Adams]] and Secretary of State [[Henry Clay]] and to Rankin's position on the cotton tariff.{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=147}} Militia veteran William Arnold also entered the race, and Crockett easily defeated both political opponents for the 1827–29 term.<ref>{{cite book|title=Credential of election for David Crockett, 09/18/1827|series=File Unit: Credentials of Representatives and Delegates to the 20th Congress, 12/1827 - 3/1829|date=September 18, 1827|url=https://research.archives.gov/description/306597|publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration ARC Identifier 306597|access-date=October 12, 2013|archive-date=December 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207194803/http://research.archives.gov/description/306597|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Wallis|2011|pages=199–200}} He arrived in Washington, D.C. and took up residence at Mrs. Ball's Boarding House, where a number of other legislators lived when Congress was in session.{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=14}} Jackson was elected as president in [[1828 United States presidential election|1828]]. Crockett continued his legislative focus on settlers getting a fair deal for land titles, offering H.R. 27 amendment to a bill sponsored by [[James K. Polk]].{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=327}}

{{quote box
|quote =I believed it was a wicked, unjust measure.... I voted against this Indian bill, and my conscience yet tells me that I gave a good honest vote, and one that I believe will not make me ashamed in the day of judgement.
|source = —David Crockett, ''A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett''{{sfn|Crockett|1834|page=206}}
|width=25%
|align = right
}}

Crockett was re-elected for the 1829–31 session,<ref>{{cite web | title = Crockett, David, (1786–1836) | work = Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|publisher = [[United States Congress]] | url = http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000918 | access-date = January 4, 2013}}</ref> once again defeating Adam Rankin Alexander.{{sfn|Groneman|2005|page=95}} He introduced H.R. 185 amendment to the land bill on January 29, 1830, but it was defeated on May 3.{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=327}} On February 25, 1830, he introduced a resolution to abolish the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point, New York]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Congressman Davy Crockett's Resolution to Abolish the Military Academy at West Point, 02/25/1830|series=File Unit: Bills and Resolutions Originating in the House of Representatives, 21st Congress, 1829 - 1831|date=February 25, 1830|url=https://research.archives.gov/description/2173241|publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration ARC Identifier 2173241|access-date=October 20, 2013|archive-date=December 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207195856/http://research.archives.gov/description/2173241|url-status=dead}}</ref> because he felt that it was public money going to benefit the sons of wealthy men.{{sfn|Groneman|2005|pages=96–97}} He spoke out against Congress giving $100,000 to the widow of [[Stephen Decatur]], citing that Congress was not empowered to do that.{{sfn|Groneman|2005|pages=97–98}} He opposed Jackson's 1830 [[Indian Removal Act]] and was the only member of the Tennessee delegation to vote against it.{{sfn|Groneman|2005|page=97}} [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|Cherokee]] chief [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]] sent him a letter on January 13, 1831, expressing his thanks for Crockett's vote.{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|pages=198–199}} His vote was not popular with his own district, and he was defeated in the 1831 election by [[William Fitzgerald (Tennessee politician)|William Fitzgerald]].{{sfn|Groneman|2005|pages=98–99}}

Crockett ran against Fitzgerald again in the 1833 election and was returned to Congress, serving until 1835.{{sfn|Groneman|2005|pages=106–107–99}}{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=326}} On January 2, 1834, he introduced the land title resolution H.R. 126, but it never made it as far as being debated on the House floor.{{sfn|Boylston|Wiener|2009|page=327}} He was defeated for re-election in the August 1835 election by [[Adam Huntsman]].{{sfn|Wallis|2011|page=275}} During his last term in Congress, he collaborated with [[Kentucky]] Congressman [[Thomas Chilton]] to write his autobiography, which was published by E. L. Carey and A. Hart in 1834 as ''A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Written by Himself'',{{sfn|Groneman|2005|pages=109–110}} and he went east to promote the book. In 1836, newspapers published the now-famous quotation attributed to Crockett upon his return to his home state: 
<blockquote>I told the people of my district that I would serve them as faithfully as I had done; but if not, they might go to hell, and I would go to Texas.<ref>*[http://texasheritagesociety.org/David-Crockett-Quote.html Crockett quote from the ''Niles Weekly Register'' newspaper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112173608/http://texasheritagesociety.org/David-Crockett-Quote.html |date=November 12, 2013 }}, April 9, 1836</ref></blockquote>

Despite Crockett's opposition to the institution of [[slavery in the United States]], he did enslave people.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Richard Penn |title=On to the Alamo: Col. Crockett's Exploits and Adventures in Texas |date=2003 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-243764-3 |page=139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVacFJNvUvwC&pg=PA139 |access-date=8 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Wallis|2011|pp=174–175}}