William R. King

For other people named William King, seeWilliam King (disambiguation).

Not to be confused withRufus King.

William R. King
1839 portrait
13thVice President of the United States
In office March 4, 1853– April 18, 1853
President	Franklin Pierce
Preceded by	Millard Fillmore
Succeeded by	John C. Breckinridge
United States Senator fromAlabama
In office July 1, 1848 – December 20, 1852
Preceded by	Arthur P. Bagby
Succeeded by	Benjamin Fitzpatrick
In office December 14, 1819 – April 15, 1844
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Dixon Hall Lewis
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office May 6, 1850 – December 20, 1852
Preceded by	David Rice Atchison
Succeeded by	David Rice Atchison
In office July 1, 1836 – March 4, 1841
Preceded by	John Tyler
Succeeded by	Samuel L. Southard
United States Minister to France
In office April 9, 1844 – September 15, 1846
President	John Tyler James K. Polk
Preceded by	Lewis Cass
Succeeded by	Richard Rush
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's5thdistrict
In office March 4, 1811 – November 4, 1816
Preceded by	Thomas Kenan
Succeeded by	Charles Hooks
Member of theNorth Carolina House of Commons
In office 1807–1809
Personal details
Born	William Rufus DeVane King (1786-04-07)April 7, 1786 Sampson County, North Carolina,U.S.
Died	April 18, 1853(1853-04-18)(aged 67) Selma, Alabama,U.S.
Resting place	Old Live Oak Cemetery
Political party	Democratic-Republican(before 1828) Democratic(1828–1853)
Education	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill(BA)
Signature

William Rufus DeVane King(April 7, 1786 – April 18, 1853) was an American politician and diplomat. He was the 13thvice president of the United Statesfrom March 4 until his death in April 1853. Earlier he had served as aU.S. representativefromNorth Carolinaand asenatorfromAlabama.He also served asminister to Franceunder PresidentJames K. Polk.

ADemocrat,he was aUnionistand his contemporaries considered him to be a moderate on the issues of sectionalism, slavery, and westward expansion, which contributed to theAmerican Civil War.He helped draft theCompromise of 1850.He is the only United States vice president to take the oath of office on foreign soil; he was inaugurated inCuba,due to his poor health. He died oftuberculosis45 days later, becoming the third vice president to die in office. OnlyJohn TylerandAndrew Johnson,both of whom succeeded to the presidency, have hadshorter tenures.King was the only U.S. vice president from Alabama.

Early life

King was born inSampson County, North Carolina,to William King and Margaret DeVane. His family was large, wealthy, and well-connected. He graduated from theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hillin 1803, where he was also a member of thePhilanthropic Society.William Alexander Graham,whom King would later oppose in the election of 1852, attended the university at the same time (Graham was a member of the rival Dialectic Society). Admitted to the bar in 1806 afterreading the lawwith Judge William Duffy ofFayetteville, North Carolina,he began practice inClinton.King was an ardent Freemason and was a member of Fayetteville's Phoenix Lodge No. 8.

Political career

Portrait of King,c.1840

King entered politics and was elected as a member of theNorth Carolina House of Commons,where he served from 1807 to 1809, and he became city solicitor ofWilmington, North Carolina,in 1810. He was elected to the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and FourteenthCongresses,serving from March 4, 1811, until November 4, 1816, when he resigned to become Secretary of theLegationforWilliam Pinkneyduring Pinkney's appointment asMinister to Russiaand to a special diplomatic mission inNaples.King was only 24 years old when he became a congressman for the first time. (He did not reach the constitutional age of 25 for service in theHouse of Representativesuntil after the term began, but the Twelfth Congress did not convene until November 4, 1811, and King was not sworn in until then.)

When he returned to the United States in 1818, King joined the westward migration of the cotton culture to the Deep South, purchasing property at what would later be known as "King's Bend" between present-daySelmaandCahabaon theAlabama RiverinDallas Countyof the newAlabama Territory,which had been recently separated fromMississippi.He developed a large cottonplantationbased on slave labor, calling the property "Chestnut Hill". King and his relatives formed one of the state's largestslaveholdingfamilies, collectively owning as many as 500 people.

William Rufus King was a delegate to the convention that organized theAlabama state government.Upon the admission of Alabama as thetwenty-second statein 1819, he was elected by theState Legislatureas aDemocratic-Republicanto theUnited States Senate.

King was a follower ofAndrew Jackson,and was re-elected to the Senate as aJacksonianin 1822, 1828, 1834, and 1841, serving from December 14, 1819, until his resignation on April 15, 1844. During this time, in March–April 1824, William R. King was honored with a single vote at theDemocratic-Republican Partycaucus to be the party's candidate for the office of vice president of the United States in the upcoming1824 presidential election.Later, he served asPresident pro tempore of the United States Senateduring the24ththrough27thCongresses. King was Chairman of the Senate'sCommittee on Public Landsand theCommittee on Commerce.

He was appointedMinister to Franceand served from 1844 to 1846. After his return, King resumed serving in the Senate and was appointed and subsequently elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofArthur P. Bagby.He held his seat from July 1, 1848, until his resignation on December 20, 1852, because of ill health and his having been elected vice president of the United States.

During the conflicts leading up to theCompromise of 1850,King supported the Senate'sgag ruleagainst debate on antislavery petitions and opposed proposals to abolish slavery in theDistrict of Columbia,which Congress administered.King supported a pro-slavery position, arguing that theConstitutionprotected the institution of slavery in both the Southern states and thefederal territories.He opposed both theabolitionists' efforts to abolish slavery in the territories as well as theFire-Eaters' calls for Southernsecession.

On July 11, 1850, two days after the death ofPresidentZachary Taylor,King was appointed SenatePresident pro tempore.BecauseMillard Fillmoreascended to the presidency, the vice presidency was vacant, making King first in theline of successionunder the law then in effect. He also served as Chairman of theSenate's Committee on Foreign Relationsand the Committee on Pensions.

Relationship with James Buchanan

See also:List of federal political sex scandals in the United StatesandSodomy laws in the United States

James Buchanan,15thpresident of the United States(served 1857–1861). He shared aWashingtonboardinghouse with his friend and colleague, William R. King.

The claim for King'shomosexualityhas been put forward by biographer Jean Baker.It has been supported (to a extent) by Shelley Ross,James W. Loewen,andRobert P. Watson.It focuses essentially on his close and intimate relationship with PresidentJames Buchanan.The two men lived together for 13 years, from 1840 until King's death in 1853. Buchanan referred to the relationship as a "communion",and the two often attended official functions together. Contemporaries also noted and commented on the unusual closeness.Andrew Jacksonmockingly called them "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy" (the former being a 19th-century euphemism for an effeminate man), while RepresentativeAaron V. Brownreferred to King as Buchanan's "better half".

However, historian Lewis Saum has pointed out, "Customs and expressions were different in the mid-1800s than they are today..." Miss Nancy "was" a fairly common designation for people who wore clean clothes and had good manners ". He also noted that Aaron Brown was a political rival of King.

Loewen has described Buchanan and King as "Siamese twins". Sol Barzman, a biographer of vice presidents, wrote that King's "fastidious habits and conspicuous intimacy with the bachelor Buchanan gave rise to some cruel jibes." Buchanan adopted King's mannerisms and romanticized southern culture. Both had strong political ambitions, and in 1844, they planned to run as president and vice president.They spent some time apart while King was on overseas missions in France, and their letters remain cryptic and avoid revealing any personal feelings at all. In May 1844, Buchanan wrote to Cornelia Roosevelt, "I am now 'solitary and alone,' having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, and [I] should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection." After King died in 1853, Buchanan described him as "among the best, the purest, and most consistent public men I have known."

Baker concluded that while some of their correspondence was destroyed by family members, the length and intimacy of the surviving letters illustrate "the affection of a special friendship" between King and Buchanan, with no way to know for certain whether it was a romantic relationship.

Vice presidency and death (1853)

The1852 Democratic National Conventionwas held at theMaryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic ArtsHall inBaltimore.Franklin Piercewas nominated for president, and King was nominated for vice president.

Pierce and King defeated theWhigcandidates,Winfield Scottand William Alexander Graham. Because King was ill with tuberculosis and had traveled toCubain an effort to regain his health, he was not able to be in Washington to take his oath of office on March 4, 1853. By a special Act ofCongresspassed on March 2,he was allowed to take the oath outside the United States, and was sworn in on March 24, 1853, nearMatanzas, Cuba,by the U.S. consul to Cuba,William L. Sharkey.King is the first and, to date, only vice president or president of the United States to take the oath of office on foreign soil.

Shortly afterward, King made the journey to return to Chestnut Hill. He died within two days of his arrival on April 18, 1853, aged 67, of tuberculosis. He was interred in a vault on the plantation and later reburied inSelma'sOld Live Oak Cemetery.King never carried out any duties of the office.

Following King's death, the office of vice president was vacant untilJohn C. Breckinridgewas inaugurated with PresidentJames Buchananin March 1857.

• 
  Engraving of Chestnut Hill, published following King's death in theIllustrated News,New York, April 30, 1853. The house was destroyed by fire during the 1920s.
• 
  Crypt of William R. King in Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Alabama.

Legacy and honors

Frontispieceof book of memorial addresses published after King's death

• In 1852, theOregon Territorial LegislaturenamedKing Countyfor him. King County became part ofWashington Territorywhen it was created the following year, and then part of the State ofWashingtonin 1889. In 1985, the King County government amended its designation and its logo to honor instead the late nationalCivil Rights MovementleaderMartin Luther King Jr.(1929–1968).The change was made official April 19, 2005, when GovernorChristine Gregoiresigned into law Senate Bill 5332, effective July 24, 2005.
• The King Residence Quadrangle at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,his alma mater, is named for him.
  • An 1830 portrait of King is held at New East Hall in the Philanthropic Chambers of theDialectic and Philanthropic Societies,a debating society which he had joined during college.
• King was a co-founder ofSelma, Alabama,which he named after theOssianicpoem "The Songs of Selma".After his death, city officials and some of King's family wanted to move his body to Selma. Other family members wanted his body to remain at Chestnut Hill. In 1882, the Selma City Council appointed a committee to select a new plot for King's body. His remains were then reinterred in the city'sLive Oak Cemeteryunder a white marble mausoleum erected by the city.

External links

• United States Congress."William R. King (id: K000217)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Who is William Rufus King?
• Obituary addresses on the occasion of the death of the Hon. William R. King, of Alabama, vice-president of the United States: delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, eighth of December, 1853