Charles Biddle Shepard

Charles Biddle Shepard (December 5, 1808 – October 25, 1843) was a United States Representative from North Carolina who served in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses during a formative period in the antebellum era. He was born in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, on December 5, 1808, into a community that was then one of the state’s principal commercial and political centers. Raised in New Bern, he attended the private schools of his native city, receiving a classical education that prepared him for professional and public life.

Shepard pursued higher education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the earliest public universities in the United States, and graduated in 1827. His studies there reflected the standard curriculum of the period, emphasizing classical languages, rhetoric, moral philosophy, and law, and placed him among the educated elite of North Carolina. After completing his university education, he read law in the customary manner of the time and was admitted to the bar in 1828. He then commenced the practice of law in New Bern, where he built a professional career in a town that was an important legal and administrative hub for eastern North Carolina.

Shepard’s entry into public office came through state politics. He was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives to fill out the unexpired term of Jesse Speight, a prominent state and later federal legislator. Shepard served in the state house in 1831 and 1832, participating in legislative deliberations at a time when North Carolina was grappling with issues of internal improvements, representation, and the evolving party system. His service in the General Assembly helped establish his reputation as a capable young lawyer and legislator and provided a platform for his subsequent rise to national office.

In 1837, Shepard was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth Congress, representing North Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives. His first term in Congress coincided with the economic and political turmoil following the Panic of 1837 and with intense national debates over banking policy, federal power, and the scope of executive authority. Reflecting the fluid party alignments of the era, he was reelected as a Democrat to the Twenty-sixth Congress, serving continuously from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1841. During these two terms, he contributed to the legislative process and participated in the democratic governance of the nation, representing the interests of his North Carolina constituents as the Second Party System—dominated by Whigs and Democrats—took firm shape.

Shepard’s congressional service placed him in Washington, D.C., during the presidencies of Martin Van Buren and the brief administration of William Henry Harrison, followed by John Tyler. While detailed records of his specific committee assignments and floor speeches are limited, his tenure encompassed major questions of federal economic policy, including the Independent Treasury system, as well as ongoing sectional discussions that would later intensify in the decades before the Civil War. His shift in party designation between his first and second terms illustrates the dynamic and sometimes locally driven nature of party affiliation in North Carolina politics during this period.

After leaving Congress at the conclusion of his second term on March 3, 1841, Shepard returned to New Bern and resumed the practice of law. Back in his home city, he continued his professional work within the legal community that had first brought him to prominence, remaining engaged in the civic and legal affairs of eastern North Carolina. His post-congressional years were brief, as his life was cut short in his mid-thirties.

Charles Biddle Shepard died in New Bern, North Carolina, on October 25, 1843. He was interred in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New Bern, a burial ground that contains the graves of many of the city’s leading nineteenth-century citizens. Though his national service was relatively short and his death came early, his career reflected the pathways by which educated professionals in North Carolina moved from local legal practice to state office and then to the halls of Congress during a critical period in the nation’s political development.