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/node/11743.