Spouse Letitia Burwell Profession Politician, Secretary | Name William Burwell Role Former U.S. Congressman Resigned March 3, 1813 | |
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Preceded by Christopher H. Clark
Matthew Clay Succeeded by Thomas M. Bayly
Jabez Leftwich Born March 15, 1780
Boydton, Virginia, U.S. ( 1780-03-15 ) Died February 16, 1821, Washington, D.C., United States Party Democratic-Republican Party | ||
Political party Democratic-Republican Previous office Representative 1806–1813 Education College of William & Mary | ||
William Armisted Burwell (March 15, 1780 – February 16, 1821) was a nineteenth-century congressman and presidential secretary from Virginia.
Biography
Born near Boydton, Virginia, Burwell graduated from the College of William and Mary. He moved to Franklin County, Virginia in 1802 and became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, serving from 1804 to 1806. Burwell then became a private secretary for President Thomas Jefferson before being elected a Democratic-Republican to the United States House of Representatives to fill a vacancy. Burwell served from 1806 until his death on February 16, 1821, in Washington, D.C.. He was interred there in the Congressional Cemetery.
His home, the Burwell-Holland House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
In her 1974 biography of Jefferson, Fawn M. Brodie repeats a clergyman's claim that Burwell was an atheist and that he was expelled from New Jersey College for this reason and for "infidelity."