James Xavier McLanahan

Who was James Xavier McLanahan?

James Xavier McLanahan was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

James X. McLanahan was born near Greencastle, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1827. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1837 and commenced practice in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1842 to 1844.

McLanahan was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses. He was the chairman of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary during the Thirty-second Congress. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1852. He resumed the practice of law and died in New York City in 1861. Interment in First Presbyterian Church Cemetery.