John B. Henderson

John B. Henderson

John Brooks Henderson (born November 16, 1826 in Danville , Virginia , † April 12, 1913 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1862 and 1869 he represented the state of Missouri in the US Senate .

Career

In his childhood, John Henderson and his parents moved to Lincoln County , Missouri. There he worked as a laborer on a farm. After he had acquired the necessary school knowledge himself, he became a teacher himself. After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1844, he began to work in his new profession. At the same time he began a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . Between 1848 and 1850 and again in the years 1856 to 1858 he sat in the State House of Representatives . In the run-up to the American Civil War , he was a supporter of the Union. In 1861 he became a brigadier general of the state militia loyal to the Union. Politically, he became a Unionist and later a Republican .

After the previous US Senator Trusten Polk was expelled from the Senate as a supporter of the Confederate States , Henderson was elected as his successor in Congress . After being re-elected, he was able to exercise this mandate between January 17, 1862 and March 3, 1869. This time was shaped by the events of the civil war and its consequences. Henderson was, among other things, temporarily chairman of the Indian Committee. He was also a co-author of the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery in the United States. During the narrowly unsuccessful impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson , Henderson was one of seven Republican Senators who left the party line and voted for Johnson. In 1868 he renounced another candidacy for the Senate.

John Henderson by no means gave up his political activities by renouncing a Senate candidacy in 1868. In the following years he ran unsuccessfully for governor of Missouri. In 1875 he was the special federal prosecutor who represented the prosecution in the Whiskey Ring case. Two years later he was appointed the federal government's Indian Commissioner, who was supposed to negotiate with hostile Indian tribes. From 1888 he lived in Washington, DC , where he died on April 12, 1913.

Web links

Commons : John B. Henderson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• John B. Henderson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John B. Henderson in the database of Find a Grave (English)