Covode, John

Covode was a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania whose investigating committee in 1860 reported on widespread corruption within the Buchanan Administration. James Buchanan (Dickinson Class of 1809) denounced the Covode Report as partisan, but most historians accept many of its judgments as accurate.

Life Span
to
    Full name
    John Covode
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    2
    No. of Children
    9
    Family
    Jacob Covode (father), Sarah Hay Covode (first wife - died 1847), Margaret Ann Peale Covode (second wife)George H. Covode (son),
    Occupation
    Politician
    Businessman
    Other Occupation
    Blacksmith
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Church or Religious Denomination
    Methodist
    Political Parties
    Whig
    Republican
    Other Affiliations
    Abolitionists (Anti-Slavery Society)
    Government
    US House of Representatives

    John Covode (Congressional Biographical Directory)

    Reference
    COVODE, John, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born near West Fairfield, Westmoreland County, Pa., March 17, 1808; attended the public schools; engaged in agricultural pursuits, manufacturing, and transportation; largely interested in the coal trade; elected as an Opposition Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress and as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, and Thirty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1863); chairman, Committee on Public Expenditures (Thirty-seventh Congress); delegate to the Union National Convention at Philadelphia in 1866; elected as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1869); chairman, Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Fortieth Congress); contested with Henry D. Foster the election to the Forty-first Congress, neither being sworn pending the contest, as no credentials were issued by the Governor; on February 9, 1870, the House declared him duly elected, whereupon he qualified and served until his death; was not a candidate for reelection in 1870; died in Harrisburg, Pa., January 11, 1871; interment in Methodist Episcopal Cemetery, West Fairfield, Pa.
    "Covode, John," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000818.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Chester, Edward W. “The Impact of the Covode Congressional Investigation.” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 42 (1959): 343-350. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Covode, John," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/11743.