Thomas Pratt

Thomas George Pratt (February 18, 1804November 9, 1869) was a lawyer and politician from Annapolis, Maryland. He was the 27th governor of Maryland from 1845 to 1848 and a U.S. senator from 1850 to 1857. Early life and career Pratt was born in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.), completed preparatory studies, and attended Georgetown University. He is believed to have attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) at some point, but this has yet to be proven. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in 1823. Pratt married and had five children with Adeline MacKubin Kent, daughter of Maryland governor Joseph Kent, on September 1, 1835. Pratt served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1832 to 1835, and as a presidential elector on the Whig ticket for William Henry Harrison in 1836. He was appointed president of the Governor's Council in 1836, serving until the position was abolished the following year. Pratt was elected a member of the Maryland State Senate, the first directly elected senator from Prince George's County, Maryland, and served from 1838 to 1843. In 1844, Pratt was nominated as a candidate for governor representing the Whig party. He campaigned with the promise of resolving the serious state debt, and defeated his opponent, James Carroll, by a margin of a mere 548 votes. Governor of Maryland Pratt immediately announced several long-term objectives, namely the immediate payment of the serious debt of the state. To raise state funds, Pratt put into effect direct taxes on the population by the government, an unpopular decision at the time, which nevertheless repopulated the state's treasury and allowed the repayment of the debt.