Editing Howell Cobb (section)

{{Short description|American politician (1815–1868)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = Howell Cobb
|image        = Howell Cobb-crop.jpg
|office       = President of the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States|Confederate States Provisional Congress]]
|term_start   = February 4, 1861
|term_end     = February 18, 1862
|predecessor  = Position established
|successor    = Position abolished
|office1      = 22nd [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]]
|president1   = [[James Buchanan]]
|term_start1  = March 7, 1857
|term_end1    = December 8, 1860
|predecessor1 = [[James Guthrie (Kentucky politician)|James Guthrie]]
|successor1   = [[Philip Francis Thomas|Philip Thomas]]
|office2      = 40th [[List of Governors of Georgia|Governor of Georgia]]
|term_start2  = November 5, 1851
|term_end2    = November 9, 1853
|predecessor2 = [[George W. Towns|George Towns]]
|successor2   = [[Herschel Vespasian Johnson|Herschel Johnson]]
|office3      = 19th [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]]
|term_start3  = December 22, 1849{{efn|multi-ballot election; voting lasted 19 days (The total vacancy was over eight months; Congress simply didn't vote or do any work until December.)}}
|term_end3    = March 3, 1851
|predecessor3 = [[Robert Charles Winthrop|Robert Winthrop]]
|successor3   = [[Linn Boyd]]
|office4     = Leader of the [[House Democratic Caucus#Caucus Leader|House Democratic Caucus]]
|term_start4  =December 4, 1843
|term_end4  = March 4, 1845
|predecessor4 = [[John Winston Jones]]
|successor4   = [[Linn Boyd]]
|state5       = [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|district5    = {{ushr|GA|6|6th}}
|term_start5  = March 4, 1855
|term_end5    = March 3, 1857
|predecessor5 = [[Junius Hillyer]]
|successor5   = [[James Jackson (congressman)|James Jackson]]
|term_start6  = March 4, 1845
|term_end6    = March 3, 1851
|predecessor6 = Constituency established
|successor6   = [[Junius Hillyer]]
|state7       = [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|district7    = {{ushr|GA|AL|at-large}}
|term_start7  = March 4, 1843
|term_end7    = March 3, 1845<br />Seat 5
|predecessor7 = [[James Archibald Meriwether|James Meriwether]]
|successor7   = Constituency abolished
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1815|9|7}}
|birth_place  = [[Jefferson County, Georgia|Cherry Hill]], Georgia, U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1868|10|9|1815|9|7}}
|death_place  = {{nowrap|[[New York City]], New York, U.S.}}
|party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (Before 1851; 1853–1868)<br />[[Union Party (United States, 1850)|Constitutional Union]] (1851–1853){{efn|Not to be confused with [[Constitutional Union Party (United States)|Constitutional Union Party]] of 1860, the Constitutional Union Party in Georgia was a brief merger of the Democratic and Whig state parties.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Paul |date=1945 |title=Party Organization in Georgia Politics 1825–1853 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40576991 |journal=The Georgia Historical Quarterly |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=206–207 |jstor=40576991 }}</ref>}}
|relatives    = {{hlist|[[Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb|Thomas Cobb]] (brother)|[[Sarah Johnson Cocke]] (niece)}}
|education    = [[University of Georgia]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
|allegiance   = {{flag|Confederate States}}
|branch       = {{army|CSA}}
|rank         = [[File:Confederate States of America General-collar.svg|35px]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]]
|serviceyears = 1861–1865
|commands     = Cobb's Brigade<br />District of Georgia and Florida
|unit         = [[Army of Northern Virginia]]
|battles      = [[American Civil War]]
}}
'''Howell Cobb''' (September 7, 1815 – October 9, 1868) was an American and later Confederate political figure. A southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] and the [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|speaker of the House]] from 1849 to 1851. He also served as the [[List of governors of Georgia|40th governor of Georgia]] (1851–1853) and as a [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|secretary of the treasury]] under [[President of the United States|President]] [[James Buchanan]] (1857–1860).

Cobb is, however, best known as one of the founders of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], having served as the President of the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] where delegates of the Southern [[Slavery in the United States|slave]] states declared that they had seceded from the [[United States]] and created the [[Confederate States of America]].