Waddy Thompson Jr. (January 8, 1798 – November 23, 1868) was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina and U.S. Minister to Mexico, 1842–44. Born in Pickensville, Ninety-Six District, South Carolina—near Easley in present Pickens County—Thompson was reared in Greenville. He graduated from South Carolina College in 1814 when he was 16; and he was admitted to the bar in 1819, beginning practice in Edgefield, South Carolina, and marrying Emmala Butler, the daughter one of the state's richest plantation owners. About 1824 the couple moved to Greenville, where Thompson became politically active. He served as member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1826 to 1829. Thompson was elected solicitor of the western circuit in 1830.