On this day in Alabama history: McKee began serving in Congress
Hill of Howth plantation in Greene County, built ca. 1816, an early open-hall or dogtrot-style log plantation house later altered by the addition of a long front gallery, wood siding and refined interior mantelpieces. The house was built by Indian agent and U.S. Congressman John McKee. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Historic American Building Survey)
March 4, 1823
John McKee (1771-1832) was one of the first settlers of Tuscaloosa County. A Virginia native, McKee was educated at what would become Washington and Lee University. He was a government agent to the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokees, securing their support during the War of 1812. He accompanied five Chickasaw chiefs to meet President George Washington in Philadelphia. McKee negotiated the Choctaw Treaty of 1816 and the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830, both ceding huge tracts of land to Alabama. He was register of the U.S. Land Office in Tuscaloosa 1821-23, then represented Tuscaloosa in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1823 until March 3, 1829.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
