Europe, to confer about the abolition of slavery. Voters in a district encompassing Loudoun and neighboring Fairfax Counties elected Mercer, former President James Monroe, William H. Fitzhugh and Richard H. Henderson to represent them in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830 (with Joshua Osborn replacing Monroe after he resigned). Fellow delegates selected Mercer to serve on the Committee of the Legislative Department. Increased representation for western Virginia and the gradual abolition of slavery were two key issues at that Virginia Constitutional Convention. Death and legacy Mercer died at the estate known as "Howard" which later became Episcopal High School, near Alexandria, Virginia, on May 4, 1858. He was interred at the Union Cemetery in Leesburg, Virginia. His papers from 1852-1858 are held by the Library of Virginia. See also Egerton, Douglas R., Charles Fenton Mercer and the Trial of National Conservatism. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1989) (revising his two-volume doctoral dissertation from Georgetown University). P.J. Staudenraus, The American Colonization Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961). References External links 1778 births 1858 deaths Canal executives Members of the Virginia House of Delegates American militiamen in the War of 1812 Politicians from Fredericksburg, Virginia Princeton University alumni People from Aldie, Virginia Virginia lawyers Mercer family of Virginia Virginia Whigs Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers American colonization movement American militia generals