John McCracken Robinson

Who was John McCracken Robinson?

John McCracken Robinson was a United States Senator from Illinois.

Born near Georgetown, Kentucky, he attended the common schools and graduated from Transylvania University at Lexington. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar and began practice in Carmi, Illinois in 1818. He was a judge of the Illinois Supreme Court, and served as a general in the State militia. He was elected in 1830 as a Jacksonian to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John McLean. He was reelected in 1835 and served from December 11, 1830, to March 3, 1841, and was not a candidate for reelection. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills and a member of the Committees on Militia and Post Office and Post Roads.

Robinson was elected an associate justice of the Illinois Supreme Court in 1843 and served until his death two months later in Ottawa, Illinois. His interment was in the Old Graveyard, Carmi, Illinois.