Jesse Speight

Jesse Speight
United States Senator from Mississippi
In office March 4, 1845 – May 1, 1847
Preceded by	John Henderson
Succeeded by	Jefferson Davis
Member of the Mississippi Senate
In office 1841–1844
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 4th district
In office March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1837
Preceded by	John H. Bryan
Succeeded by	Charles B. Shepard
Member of the North Carolina Senate
In office 1823–1827
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons
In office 1820
Personal details
Born	(1795-09-22)September 22, 1795 Greene County, North Carolina
Died	May 1, 1847(1847-05-01) (aged 51) Columbus, Mississippi
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Politician

Jesse Speight (September 22, 1795 – May 1, 1847) was a North Carolina and Mississippi politician in the nineteenth century.

Born in Greene County, North Carolina, Speight attended country schools as a child. He was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons in 1820, serving as Speaker of the House, and was a member of the North Carolina Senate from 1823 to 1827. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1828, serving from 1829 to 1837, not being a candidate for renomination in 1836.

Speight moved to Plymouth, Mississippi and was a member of the Mississippi Senate from 1841 to 1844, serving as its president from 1842 to 1843.^[1] He was elected a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1844, serving from 1845 until his death, where he was chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills and Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate. Speight died in Columbus, Mississippi on May 1, 1847, and was interred in Friendship Cemetery in Columbus.

His replacement as Senator was Jefferson Davis, the future President of the Confederate States of America.