James Jefferson Britt

Biography

Britt attended the common schools and studied under private tutors. He was principal of Burnsville (N.C.) Academy from 1886 to 1893. He was then superintendent of the public schools of Mitchell County 1894-1896 and headmaster of Bowman Academy, Bakersville, N.C., 1895-1896.

Britt was deputy collector of internal revenue at Asheville, N.C., 1896-1899. He studied law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was admitted to the bar in 1900 and commenced practice in Asheville, N.C. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1904. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1906 to the Sixtieth Congress but was a special assistant United States attorney in 1906 and 1907. Britt became a member of the North Carolina Senate from 1909 to 1911, he was part of the special counsel to the Post Office Department from July 1, 1909-December 1, 1910. He was again special assistant to the Attorney General from July 13, 1910-December 1, 1910.

Britt was appointed Third Assistant Postmaster General by President Taft on December 1, 1910, and served until March 17, 1913. He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1917). He successfully contested the election of Zebulon Weaver to the Sixty-fifth Congress (March 1, 1919-March 3, 1919), but was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election to the Sixty-sixth Congress in 1918.

He resumed the practice of law in Asheville, N.C. and served as chief counsel for the Bureau of Prohibition, Treasury Department, 1922-1932. Britt was an unsuccessful candidate for the position of chief justice for the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1926. He once again resumed the practice of law in 1933.

James J. Britt died on December 26, 1939, in Asheville, N.C. and was interred in Riverside Cemetery.