DODDRIDGE, Philip, American lawyer and statesman: b. Bedford County, Pa., 1772; d. 19 Nov. 1832. His English ancestors had set tled in New Jersey. His father had married in Maryland in 1765 and soon thereafter settled near Middletown, Washington County, which at that time was claimed under the jurisdiction of Virginia. In 1789, young Philip was placed in school at Charlestown (now Wellsburg), W. Va. Soon thereafter he worked his way down the Ohio and the Mississippi as a laborer and super-cargo on one of the numerous flatboats. In 1797 he was admitted to the practice of law in Brooke County, and after a trip to Lancas ter, Pa., to get married, he made Wellsburg his permanent home. In his practice of law, which extended to all northwestern Virginia, he was greatly aided by the endless litigation resulting from the confused and complicated character of land titles. Always interested in public af fairs, he took an active part in politics. He was a member of the house of delegates of the Vir- • ginia legislature 1815-16 and 1822-23. Against the arbitrary and oligarchical principles of the aristocratic tide-water politicians he began an opposition which he never relaxed. He took
a leading part in the remarkable Virginia Con stitutional Convention of 1829-30 which was called to amend the State constitution and over which ex-President James Monroe pre sided. In the numerous debates, he urged a more equitable basis of representation and suf periodical appointment of the governor, selection of county courts independent of the legislature and other reforms. In 1829 he was elected to Congress and continued to serve until his death. He was active in opposing an at tempt to annul the control of the Supreme Court over State courts, which he regarded as equivalent to a motion to dissolve the Union; and he obtained a wide reputation through a speech which he made in favor of parliamentary privileges in the case of the arrest of Sam Houston. His last public service was per formed as chairman of a committee to draft a code of laws for the District of Columbia. He was buried in the Congressional Cemetery at the seat of government.