a unique position in a border-state like Maryland, decrying it as "altogether unworthy of enlightened statesmen, and should be by all patriots repudiated". He served as governor from 1842 until 1845, narrowly beating William Cost Johnson, who he succeeded as Maryland's 6th district congressman, in 1841 for a three-year term. Thomas was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1844. Return to Congress After his term as governor, Thomas served as a member of the Maryland State Constitutional convention in 1850. He was again elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress as a Unionist, as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses, and as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress, serving from March 4, 1861 until March 3, 1869. When he left the House in 1869, he had served a total nine terms over almost four decades. While in the House, Thomas served as a delegate to the National Union Convention at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1866. Collector of internal revenue for Maryland Thomas served as collector of internal revenue for Maryland from 1870 until 1872. Minister to Peru Thomas was appointed by President Grant to serve as the United States Minister to Peru, and help this position from March 25, 1872 to July 9, 1875. Retirement and death After leaving the ministership to Peru he retired from public and professional life and devoted his time to agricultural pursuits. On January 22, 1876, while overseeing improvements on his estate near Frankville, Maryland, a community that once existed along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Garrett County, Thomas was killed instantly when he was struck by a locomotive. He is interred in a vault in Rose Hill Cemetery of Cumberland, Maryland. References Retrieved on 2009-04-14 Our Campaigns profile External links 1799 births 1876 deaths People from Frederick County, Maryland American people of Welsh descent Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland 19th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Unionist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Unconditional Union Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Governors of Maryland Democratic Party governors of Maryland Speakers of the Maryland House of Delegates Maryland lawyers People of Maryland in the American Civil War 19th-century American diplomats Ambassadors of the United States to Peru St.