Burwell Bassett, Jr. (March 18, 1764 – February 26, 1841) was an American planter and politician from New Kent County and for two decades from Williamsburg in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
[1][2][3] Born in at the family plantation, known as Eltham, in New Kent County, to the former Anna Marie Dandridge and her husband Burwell Bassett Sr.
[4] A decade later, his two New Kent slave plantations under separate overseers included 88 enslaved men and women,[5] and he owned another 19 in James City County.
[9] Although Bassett held an officer's commission in the county militia, his only combat experience occurred during the War of 1812, principally in 1814 as the British invaded Chesapeake Bay.
[10] After his father's death in January 1793, Bassett won election and re-election to that seat in the Virginia Senate; thus he served in that part-time position from October 1793 to 1805.
[11] Although Bassett lost his first three contests to become a member of the United States House of Representatives (to incumbent John Clopton in 1794[12] and 1796,[13] and to Thomas Griffin in 1802[14]), he was elected as a Democratic-Republican in 1804, and re-elected several times, serving from 1805 to 1813.
He again announced his retirement early in 1828, then was convinced to run again, but lost to Richard Coke, who in the interim had received pledges of support from other politicians in that district.
During his final congressional terms, Basset spoke only occasionally, criticizing President John Quincy Adams and attempted to reduce the U.S.
In 1811 he sponsored a bill in the House of Representatives to incorporate Alexandria's Episcopal Church, but President James Madison vetoed the proposed legislation, saying it violated the First Amendment.