William L. Sharkey

William Lewis Sharkey (born July 12, 1798 in Muscle Shoals , Sumner County , Tennessee , † March 30, 1873 in Washington, DC ) was an American lawyer and politician and in 1865 governor of the state of Mississippi .

Early years and political advancement

William Sharkey attended public schools in his home town of Tennessee and later Mississippi. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1822. He then began to work in this profession in Warrenton . Between 1828 and 1829 he was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives . He became a member of the Whig Party . In 1832 he was a district judge for a short time. He was then a judge on the Supreme Court of Mississippi until 1851 . In 1851, he turned down an offer from President Millard Fillmore asking for him to be his Secretary of War . Instead, he became the American consul in Havana on the island of Cuba between 1851 and 1853 .

Between 1854 and 1856 he was involved in the revision of the laws of the state of Mississippi. In the years leading up to the Civil War , Sharkey spoke out strongly against the separation of his state from the Union. He was against the division of the American nation on principle. He maintained this attitude during the war. As a result, he had a difficult time with his neighbors and only his good reputation as a lawyer protected him from hostility from supporters of the Confederate States .

Mississippi Governor and other résumé

In 1865, Sharkey was dispatched to President Andrew Johnson by Governor Charles Clark as one of the state's negotiators . These explorations were intended to determine the fate of the state of Mississippi after the defeat of the south. For his part, the President appointed Sharkey as the new Provisional Governor. He took up this position on June 13, 1865. During his short term in office, a meeting was called to revise the state constitution and new elections were announced for all state offices. The new governor Benjamin G. Humphreys was also elected, who replaced Sharkey on October 16, 1865.

Sharkey himself was elected to the US Senate . He was refused his seat there because the state of Mississippi had not ratified the 13th Amendment . Thereupon William Sharkey withdrew from politics. He died in Washington in March 1873. He had a child with his wife, Minerva Wren.

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personal data
SURNAME	Sharkey, William L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Sharkey, William Lewis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	July 12, 1798
PLACE OF BIRTH	Muscle Shoals , Tennessee
DATE OF DEATH	March 30, 1873
Place of death	Washington, DC