Abel P. Upshur

Abel P. Upshur

Abel Parker Upshur (born June 17, 1790 in Northampton County , Virginia , † February 28, 1844 on the steamer USS Princeton on the Potomac River , Maryland ) was an American lawyer, politician ( Whig Party ) and Secretary of State.

Upshur studied law at Yale University and Princeton University . After his admission in 1810, he first went to Baltimore , Maryland and then opened his own law firm in Richmond . From this time he also took an active part in political events. From 1812 he was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates . His political career took on national importance when the new President John Tyler accepted him into his cabinet and made him Secretary of the Navy on October 11, 1841 . He shaped this office through the Reformation and the reorganization of the Navy and held this office until July 23, 1843. One day later, on July 24, 1843, President Tyler appointed him Secretary of State and thus the successor to Daniel Webster . He held this office until his death on February 28, 1844. His successor as Secretary of State was John C. Calhoun .

Upshur died on the steamer "USS Princeton" during a cruise on the Potomac River when one of the guns on board exploded. He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC . The destroyer USS Abel P. Upshur (DD-193) , Upshur County , West Virginia , Upshur County , Texas and Upshur Street in northwest Washington were named after him .

literature

• Edward Crapol: Abel P. Upshur. In: Edward S. Mihalkanin (Ed.): American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell . Greenwood Publishing 2004, ISBN 978-0-313-30828-4 , pp. 498-503.

Web links

Commons : Abel P. Upshur  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Abel P. Upshur in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
• Abel P. Upshur in the database of Find a Grave (English)