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Alexander O. Anderson

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Alexander Outlaw Anderson
United States Senator
fromTennessee
In office
February 26, 1840 – March 3, 1841
Preceded byHugh Lawson White
Succeeded bySpencer Jarnagin
Associate Justice of theCalifornia Supreme Court
In office
April 6, 1852 – January 2, 1853
Appointed byGovernorJohn Bigler
Preceded byHenry A. Lyons
Succeeded byAlexander Wells
Personal details
Born(1794-11-10)November 10, 1794
Jefferson County, Tennessee(nowHamblen County, Tennessee)
DiedMay 23, 1869(1869-05-23)(aged 74)
Knoxville, Tennessee
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Maria Hamilton
​
​
(m.1821; died 1825)​
Eliza Rosa Deaderick
​
​
(m.1825;died1866)​
RelationsJoseph Anderson,father;James W. Deaderick,cousin
Alma materWashington College
ProfessionPolitician,Lawyer,Judge

Alexander Outlaw Anderson(November 10, 1794 – May 23, 1869) was an American slave owner[1]and attorney who representedTennesseein theUnited States Senate,and later served in theCalifornia State Senate,and on theCalifornia Supreme Court.

Early life

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The son of Patience Outlaw and longtime U.S. SenatorJoseph Anderson,he was born at his father's home, "Soldier's Rest" inJefferson County(nowHamblen County),Tennessee.[2]He was named for his maternal grandfather, frontiersmanAlexander Outlaw(1738–1826).

As a youth he graduated fromWashington CollegenearGreeneville, Tennessee.He volunteered for service in theWar of 1812and fought underAndrew Jacksonin theBattle of New Orleansin 1815. Later that year he was admitted to thebarand began a practice inDandridge, Tennessee.In 1821, Jackson was appointed TerritorialGovernor of Florida,and Anderson the United States district attorney of West Florida.[3][4]

Afterward, he moved toKnoxville,and then served as the superintendent of the United StatesUnited States General Land OfficeinAlabamain 1836. He was an agent in theIndian removalsof 1838 for Alabama andFlorida,and held a contract through 1848.[5][6][7]

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In February 1840, Anderson was elected to the United States Senate by theTennessee General Assemblyto the vacancy caused by the resignation of SenatorHugh Lawson White.He was a member of theWhigparty whose resignation was orchestrated by GovernorJames K. Polkso that a Democratic senator could be appointed.[8][9][10][11]Anderson served in that body from February 26, 1840, to March 3, 1841, when the term expired.[12][13]In May 1840, he was a delegate to the national Democratic Party convention inBaltimore, Maryland.[14][15]Anderson did not stand for reelection to the seat; it was to remain vacant for a period when a group of TennesseeDemocraticlegislators called the "Immortal Thirteen" refused to meet and give a quorum sufficient to allow the election of a successor, apparently preferring no representation to that by a member of the other party, theWhigs.

After leaving the Senate, Anderson remained active in politics. In September 1844, he published a series of letters on the admission ofTexasas a new state, which were published as a book.[16][17]In July 1847, he announced his support forZachary Taylorof Louisiana as a candidate forPresident of the United States.[18]

Anderson was a leader of an overland company of leaving fromIndependence, Missouri,and going toCaliforniain 1849.[19][20]He served in theCalifornia State Senatein 1852 as a Democrat.[21]In February 1852, his name was put forward for U.S. Senator, but he lost the Democratic Party nomination.[22]He then was appointed by GovernorJohn Bigleras an associate justice of theCalifornia Supreme Court,serving from April 6, 1852, to January 2, 1853, before returning to Tennessee in 1853 or 1854.[23][24][25]While in the California Supreme Court, he co-authored a ruling supporting theFugitive Slave Act,writing, "Slaves are not parties to the Constitution, and although ‘persons,’ they are property."[26]

Anderson later practiced law inWashington, D.C.,appearing before both theCourt of Claimsand theSupreme Court of the United States.[27]During theAmerican Civil Warhe returned to Alabama, practicing law inMobileandCamden.[24]Again returning to Tennessee, he died in Knoxville on May 23, 1869, and is buried in theOld Gray Cemetery.[24]

Personal life

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In 1821, he married Maria Hamilton in Washington, D.C., who died in 1825 inJonesboro, Tennessee.[24]On June 7, 1825, he remarried married to Eliza Rosa Deaderick, his cousin, and they had 11 children.[24]She died October 15, 1866, in Knoxville, Tennessee.[28]

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^"Congress slaveowners",The Washington Post,January 13, 2022,retrievedJanuary 15,2022
  2. ^Historic American Buildings Survey."Historical and Descriptive Data".Rural Mount, Hamblen County, TN.U.S. Dept. of the Interior.RetrievedAugust 10,2017.
  3. ^Tennessee Blue Book.Tennessee Secretary of State. 1890. p. 25.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.Year 1821
  4. ^Force, Peter (1822).A National Calendar..., Volume 3.Davis and Force. p. 135.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.State Governments, The Floridas, Officers Appointed by the President in the Floridas..., Alexander Anderson, of Tennessee, to be Attorney of the United States for West Florida, and for that part of East Florida which lies westward of the Cape, to reside in Pensacola.
  5. ^Senate Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Public Documents and Executive Documents: 14th Congress, 1st Session-48th Congress, 2nd Session and Special Session, Volume 3.Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton. 1845. p. 7.RetrievedAugust 10,2017.Discussion of the contract status from 1843 to 1845.
  6. ^"The Report of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs".The New York Herald.Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. January 6, 1848. p. 6.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.Under the circumstances stated in my report of last year, the contract for their removal made on the 5th September, 1844, with Alexander Anderson and others, and which expired by limitation on the 31st December 1846, was extended to the 1st day of June last; yet, at the end of the period of extension there were nearly as many remaining East as had gone West.
  7. ^Calhoun, John Caldwell; Wilson, Clyde N. (1993).The Papers of John C. Calhoun, Volume 21.Columbia, SC: Univ of South Carolina Press. p. 302.ISBN0872498891.RetrievedAugust 10,2017.
  8. ^Borneman, Walter R. (2008).Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America.New York: Random House, Inc. p.43.ISBN978-1-4000-6560-8.
  9. ^"Tennessee".Lexington Union (Lexington, MS).Library of Congress Historical Newspapers. February 14, 1840. p. 2.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.Mr. Anderson is a tried and true Democrat-so we go.
  10. ^"Tennessee Senator".The North-Carolinian.Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. February 22, 1840. p. 3.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  11. ^"Tennessee Senator".The Ohio Democrat and Dover Advertiser.Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. February 21, 1840.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.Judge White...He is one of the old school Republicans
  12. ^"Twenty-Sixth Congress".The North-Carolina Standard (Raleigh, NC).Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. March 4, 1840. p. 3.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.On the 26th, Mr. Grundy presented the credentials of the Honorable Alexander Anderson
  13. ^"U.S. Senate".Salt River Journal (Bowling Green, MO).Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. May 30, 1840. p. 2.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  14. ^"National Democratic Convention".The North-Carolina Standard (Raleigh, NC).Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. May 13, 1840. p. 3.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  15. ^"National Democratic Convention".The North-Carolinian (Fayetteville, NC).Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. May 16, 1840. p. 1.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  16. ^"Letter of Alexander Anderson".The Daily Madisonian (Washington, D.C.).Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. September 16, 1844. p. 3.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  17. ^"Gen. Anderson's Letter".The Daily Madisonian (Washington, D.C.).Library of Congress Historic Newpspapers. September 20, 1844. p. 2.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  18. ^"Taylor Meeting at Knoxville".Boon's Lick Times (Fayette, MO).Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. July 10, 1847. p. 1.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.Gen. A came out boldly for old Rough and Ready.
  19. ^"Intelligence by the Mails".The New York Herald.Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. February 11, 1849. p. 3.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  20. ^"For California".The Daily Crescent (New Orleans, LA).Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. February 22, 1849. p. 2.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  21. ^"Democratic Meeting in Sonora".Sacramento Transcript.Vol. 3, no. 17. California Digital Newspaper Collection. April 18, 1851. p. 2.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  22. ^"Grand Democratic Caucus for U.S. Senatorial Candidate".Daily Alta California.Vol. 3, no. 31. California Digital Newspaper Collection. February 1, 1852. p. 5.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  23. ^"California's First Supreme Court".San Francisco Call.California Digital Newspaper Collection. June 22, 1895. p. 5.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  24. ^abcdeJohnson, J. Edward (1963).History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850-1900, vol. I(PDF).San Francisco, CA: Bender-Moss Co. pp. 46–47. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on December 27, 2016.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.
  25. ^Durham, Walter T. (1997).Volunteer Forty-niners: Tennesseans and the California Gold Rush.Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press. p. 142.ISBN0826512984.RetrievedAugust 10,2017.
  26. ^Egelko, Bob (December 27, 2021)."How 'free state' California wrote slavery and white supremacy into its law books".San Francisco Chronicle.RetrievedJanuary 15,2022.
  27. ^"Court of Claims".Washington Sentinel.Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. July 19, 1855. p. 2.RetrievedAugust 9,2017.The following gentlemen...have been sworn in as attorneys of this court, viz: Alexander Anderson
  28. ^Moon, Anna Mary (1933).Sketches of the Shelby, McDowell, Deaderick, Anderson families.p.102.RetrievedAugust 10,2017.general alexander anderson.

References

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U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 2) from Tennessee
February 26, 1840 – March 3, 1841
Served alongside:Felix GrundyandAlfred O. P. Nicholson 		Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by Associate Justice of theCalifornia Supreme Court
April 6, 1852–January 2, 1853 		Succeeded by
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