In 1849, according to the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the Senate president pro tempore immediately followed the vice president in the presidential line of succession.
David Rice Atchison (August 11, 1807January 26, 1886) was a mid-19th century Democratic United States Senator from Missouri.
Atchison was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1829. ==Missouri lawyer and politician== In 1830 he moved to Liberty in Clay County in western Missouri, and set up practice there, where he also farmed.
Atchison was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1829. ==Missouri lawyer and politician== In 1830 he moved to Liberty in Clay County in western Missouri, and set up practice there, where he also farmed.
Atchison represented Smith in land disputes with non-Mormon settlers in Caldwell County and Daviess County. Alexander William Doniphan joined Atchison's law practice in Liberty in May 1833.
Atchison, already a member of the Liberty Blues, a volunteer militia in Missouri, got Doniphan to join. Atchison was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1834.
He worked hard for the Platte Purchase, which extended the northwestern boundary of Missouri to the Missouri River in 1837. When the earlier disputes broke out into the so-called Mormon War of 1838, Atchison was appointed a major general in the state militia and took part in suppression of the violence by both sides. In 1838 he was re-elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives.
Atchison served as a major general in the Missouri State Militia in 1838 during Missouri's Mormon War and as a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War under Major General Sterling Price in the Missouri Home Guard.
He worked hard for the Platte Purchase, which extended the northwestern boundary of Missouri to the Missouri River in 1837. When the earlier disputes broke out into the so-called Mormon War of 1838, Atchison was appointed a major general in the state militia and took part in suppression of the violence by both sides. In 1838 he was re-elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives.
In 1841, he was appointed a circuit court judge for the six-county area of the Platte Purchase.
In 1843 he was named a county commissioner in Platte County, where he then lived. ==Senate career== In October 1843, Atchison was appointed to the U.S.
When the Democrats took control of the Senate in December 1845, they chose Atchison as President pro tempore, placing him second in succession for the Presidency, and also giving him the duty of presiding over the Senate when the Vice President was absent.
He is best known for the claim that for 24 hours—Sunday, March 4, 1849 through noon on Monday—he may have been Acting President of the United States.
Atchison was re-elected in 1849. Atchison was very popular with his fellow Senate Democrats.
In 1849 Atchison stepped down as President pro tempore in favor of William R.
Benton declared himself to be against slavery in 1849, and in 1851 Atchison allied with the Whigs to defeat Benton for re-election. Benton, intending to challenge Atchison in 1854, began to agitate for territorial organization of the area west of Missouri (now the states of Kansas and Nebraska) so it could be opened to settlement.
This included the complete loss of his library containing books, documents, and letters which documented his role in the Mormon War, Indian affairs, pro-slavery activities, Civil War activities, and other legislation covering his career as a lawyer, senator, and soldier. ==Purported one-day presidency== Inauguration Day—March 4—fell on a Sunday in 1849, and so president-elect Zachary Taylor did not take the presidential oath of office until the next day.
In 1849, according to the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the Senate president pro tempore immediately followed the vice president in the presidential line of succession.
As Dallas's term also ended at noon on the 4th, and as neither Taylor nor vice president-elect Millard Fillmore had been sworn in to office on that day, it was claimed by some of Atchison's friends and colleagues that on March 4–5, 1849, Atchison was Acting President of the United States. Historians, constitutional scholars and biographers all dismiss the claim.
Green was chosen. ===Railroad proposal=== When the First Transcontinental Railroad was proposed in the 1850s, Atchison called for it to be built along the central route (from St.
Benton declared himself to be against slavery in 1849, and in 1851 Atchison allied with the Whigs to defeat Benton for re-election. Benton, intending to challenge Atchison in 1854, began to agitate for territorial organization of the area west of Missouri (now the states of Kansas and Nebraska) so it could be opened to settlement.
King in turn yielded the office back to Atchison in December 1852, since King had been elected Vice President of the United States.
To counter this, Atchison proposed that the area be organized and that the section of the Missouri Compromise banning slavery there be repealed in favor of popular sovereignty, under which the settlers in each territory would decide themselves whether slavery would be allowed. At Atchison's request, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which embodied this idea, in November 1853.
Atchison continued as President pro tempore until December 1854. As a Senator, Atchison was a fervent advocate of slavery and territorial expansion.
Benton declared himself to be against slavery in 1849, and in 1851 Atchison allied with the Whigs to defeat Benton for re-election. Benton, intending to challenge Atchison in 1854, began to agitate for territorial organization of the area west of Missouri (now the states of Kansas and Nebraska) so it could be opened to settlement.
The Act became law in May 1854, establishing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. ===Border Ruffians=== Both Douglas and Atchison had assumed that Nebraska would be settled by Free-State men from Iowa and Illinois, and Kansas by pro-slavery Missourians and other Southerners, thus preserving the numerical balance between free states and slave states.
In 1854 Atchison helped found the town of Atchison, Kansas, as a pro-slavery settlement.
Furthermore, anti-slavery activists throughout the North came to view Kansas as a battleground and formed societies to encourage free-soil settlers to go to Kansas and ensure that both Kansas and Nebraska would become free states. It appeared as if the Kansas Territorial legislature to be elected in March 1855 would be controlled by free-soilers and ban slavery.
On the election day, March 30, 1855, Atchison led 5,000 Border Ruffians into Kansas.
In other words, things were about to get much worse since Atchison had his hired men from Texas. ===Defeated for re-election=== Atchison's Senate term expired on March 3, 1855.
But in spite of the best efforts of Atchison and the Ruffians, Kansas did reject slavery and finally became a free state in 1861. Charles Sumner, in the epic "Crimes Against Kansas" speech on May 19, 1856, exposed Atchison's role in the invasion, tortures, and killings in Kansas.
No Senator was elected until January 1857, when James S.
But in spite of the best efforts of Atchison and the Ruffians, Kansas did reject slavery and finally became a free state in 1861. Charles Sumner, in the epic "Crimes Against Kansas" speech on May 19, 1856, exposed Atchison's role in the invasion, tortures, and killings in Kansas.
Atchison actively recruited State Guardsmen in northern Missouri and served with Missouri State Guard commander General Sterling Price in the summer campaign of 1861.
In September 1861, Atchison led 3,500 State Guard recruits across the Missouri River to reinforce Price, and defeated Union troops that tried to block his force in the Battle of Liberty. Atchison continued to serve through the end of 1861.
In March 1862, Union forces in the Trans-Mississippi theater won a decisive victory at Pea Ridge in Arkansas and secured Union control of Missouri.
Even supposing that an oath were necessary, Atchison never took it, so he was no more the president than Taylor. In September 1872, Atchison, who never himself claimed that he was technically president, told a reporter for the Plattsburg Lever: ==Death== Atchison died on January 26, 1886, at his home near Gower, Missouri at the age of 78.
David Rice Atchison (August 11, 1807January 26, 1886) was a mid-19th century Democratic United States Senator from Missouri.
In addition, his retirement cottage outside of Plattsburg, Missouri burned to the ground before his death in 1886.
Even supposing that an oath were necessary, Atchison never took it, so he was no more the president than Taylor. In September 1872, Atchison, who never himself claimed that he was technically president, told a reporter for the Plattsburg Lever: ==Death== Atchison died on January 26, 1886, at his home near Gower, Missouri at the age of 78.
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