Archibald Dixon

Archibald Dixon

Archibald Dixon ( April 2, 1802 in Redhouse , Caswell County , North Carolina , † April 23, 1876 in Henderson , Kentucky ) was an American Whig Party politician who was Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky between 1844 and 1848 and later from 1852 represented this state in the United States Senate until 1855 .

Life

Attorney and Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky

Dixon moved with his parents to Henderson as a toddler in 1805 and received his schooling first from his mother and later in a common school . After graduating from school, he studied law and, after being admitted to the bar in 1824, began working as a lawyer in Henderson. He later ran a law firm with Lazarus W. Powell .

Dixon began his political career in the early 1830s and was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1830 . In 1836 he was elected a member of the Kentucky Senate . He was then re-elected to the House of Representatives of that state in 1841.

In 1843 Dixon was elected Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, replacing Manlius Valerius Thomson . He held the office of lieutenant governor from 1844 to 1848 and was thus Deputy to Governor William Owsley . His successor as Lieutenant Governor was John L. Helm , who was then from 1850 to 1851 and again for five days until his death on September 8, 1867 governor of Kentucky.

Unsuccessful candidacy for governor and US Senator

Dixon, who was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1849 , ran himself for governor of Kentucky in 1851. His rival candidate was his law firm partner Lazarus W. Powell, who ran for the Democratic Party . The election result was very close. Powell won with 48.8 percent of the vote against Dixon, who came to 48.1 percent. The two traveled together to their election events and remained friends. In absolute votes, Powell had a lead of only 800 votes.

A year later, Dixon was elected U.S. Senator for Kentucky for the Whig Party to end the vacancy created by Henry Clay's resignation . Previously, the former Secretary of State of Kentucky, David Meriwether of the Democratic Party, succeeded Clay in the US Senate from July 6 to August 31, 1852. Dixon was a Kentucky Senator representative from September 1, 1852 to March 3, 1855. In 1854 he did not run again. He was succeeded by John J. Crittenden of the Know-Nothing Party , who had previously been US Senator for Kentucky three times, Governor of Kentucky and most recently US Attorney General again between 1850 and 1853 .

After leaving the Senate, he resumed his legal work and was also a plantation owner. After his death he was buried in Fernwood Cemetery .

Dixon has been married twice. His first marriage to Elizabeth Robertson Cabell Dixon had three daughters and three sons. His second marriage to Susan Peachy Bullitt Dixon had four other daughters.

His town was named in honor Dixon the administrative center named ( the county seat ) of Webster County (Kentucky) .

Web links

• Archibald Dixon in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Archibald Dixon in the database of Find a Grave (English)