William Campbell Preston Breckinridge

William Campbell Preston Breckinridge

William Campbell Preston Breckinridge (born August 28, 1837 in Baltimore , Maryland , †  November 18, 1904 in Lexington , Kentucky ) was an American politician . Between 1885 and 1895 he represented the state of Kentucky in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William Breckinridge was a member of a well-known family of politicians. His grandfather John C. Breckinridge (1821–1875) was Vice President of the United States between 1857 and 1861 . Other family members held high political offices in various states and at the federal level. He attended the public schools in his home country. In 1855 he graduated from Center College in Danville . After a subsequent law degree at the University of Louisville and his admission to the bar in 1857, he began to work in Lexington in this profession.

During the Civil War , he rose from captain to colonel in the Confederation Army . Towards the end of the war he and his cavalry unit were responsible for the safety of President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. After the war, Breckinridge became a District Attorney in Fayette County . Between 1866 and 1868 he also published two daily newspapers there. He later taught law at the University of Kentucky .

Breckinridge was a member of the Democratic Party . In 1876 and 1888 he was a delegate to the respective Democratic National Conventions . In the congressional election of 1884 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the seventh constituency of Kentucky , where he succeeded Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn on March 4, 1885 . After four re-elections, he was able to complete five legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1895 .

In 1894 he was not re-elected. In the following years he practiced as a lawyer again. He also published the Lexington Herald newspaper. He died on November 18, 1904 in Lexington, where he was also buried.

Web links

Commons : William Campbell Preston Breckinridge  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• William Campbell Preston Breckinridge in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William Campbell Preston Breckinridge in the database of Find a Grave (English)