Willie P. Mangum

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Willie P. Mangum
Ambrose Hundley Sevier (acting)
United States Senator
from North Carolina
In office
November 25, 1840 – March 3, 1853
Preceded byBedford Brown
Succeeded byDavid Reid
In office
March 4, 1831 – November 26, 1836
Preceded byJames Iredell Jr.
Succeeded byRobert Strange
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from North Carolina's 8th district
In office
March 4, 1823 – March 18, 1826
Preceded byJosiah Crudup
Succeeded byDaniel Barringer
Personal details
Born(1792-05-10)May 10, 1792
Federalist (Before 1816)
Democratic (Before 1834)
Whig (1834–1852)
American (1856–1861)
SpouseCharity Cain
Children5
EducationUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA)

Willie Person Mangum (

unsuccessful Whig strategy to defeat Martin Van Buren by running four candidates with local appeal in different regions of the country.[1]

Most notably, Mangum served as

President pro tempore of the Senate for most of John Tyler's presidency, between 1842 and 1845. He was, therefore, first in the presidential line of succession during this time, as Tyler did not have a vice president. (There was no constitutional mechanism for filling an intra-term vice presidential vacancy at the time.) Had Tyler died, resigned or been removed from office at any time during his presidency, Mangum would have become acting president of the United States
.

Early life and education

Mangum was born in Durham County, North Carolina (then part of Orange County), to a family from the planter class. He was the son of Catherine (Davis) and William Person Mangum.[2] In his youth, he attended the respected private school in Raleigh run by John Chavis, a free black. They remained friends for years and had a long correspondence. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1815.

Career

Mangum began a law practice and entered politics. He was elected to the

Democrat
to the Senate from North Carolina in 1830.

Mangum's stay in the Democratic Party was short. He opposed President Andrew Jackson on most of the major issues of the day, including the protective tariff, nullification, and the Bank of the United States. In 1834, Mangum openly declared himself to be a "Whig", and two years later, he resigned his Senate seat.

Due to a lack of organizational cohesion in the new Whig Party during

the 1836 election, the Whigs put forward four presidential candidates: Daniel Webster in Massachusetts, William Henry Harrison in the remaining Northern and Border States, Hugh White in the middle and lower South, and Mangum in South Carolina. Some optimistic Whigs foresaw the nomination of several candidates resulting in denying a majority of electoral votes to any one candidate and throwing the election into the House of Representatives, much like what occurred in 1824, where Whig representatives could then coalesce around a single candidate. This possibility, however, did not come to fruition and Democratic candidate Martin Van Buren
won the election with an outright majority of electoral votes. The legislature of South Carolina (which chose their electors until 1865) gave Mangum its 11 electoral votes.

After a four-year absence, Mangum served two more terms in the Senate, where he was an important ally of

Whig national ticket; fellow North Carolinian William Alexander Graham
was nominated instead.

Realizing that he had little chance of being re-elected as the Whig Party broke up following the

American Party
, but a stroke soon afterward ended his political career.

Mangum died at his family estate in Red Mountain, an unincorporated area of Durham County, on September 7, 1861. He was buried in the family cemetery on his estate.

Marriage and family

Mangum married Charity Alston Cain of Pleasant Grove Plantation in 1819. They had five children. Their only son died in July 1861 at the First Battle of Bull Run, a month before his father.

Walnut Hall, Mangum's plantation in North Carolina

His slave plantation was known as Walnut Hall.[3] A 1931 biography of John Chavis noted that Mangum had allowed his former teacher to be buried on his land.[4] The gravesite was found in 1988 by the John Chavis Historical Society, and is now marked as the "Old Cemetery" on maps of Hill Forest.

References

  1. ^ Thompson, Joseph Conan (1995). Willie Person Mangum: Politica and Pragmatism in the Age of Jackson. University of Florida, George A. Smathers Library. p. 1. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  2. ^ "Willie Person Mangum".
  3. ^ "Willie P. Mangum House". Open Durham. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  4. ^ Shaw, G. C. John Chavis, 1763-1838, Binghamton, New York: The Vail-Ballou Press, 1931

External links

Further reading

  • Shanks, Henry. The Papers of Willie Person Mangum. Raleigh, N.C. : North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1950–1956 (5 vols).
  • Garraty, John A. and Mark C. Carnes. American National Biography, vol. 14, "Mangum, Willie Person". New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.
  • Schipke, Norman C. Mangum! Man from Red Mountain. North Charleston, South Carolina : CSI Publishing Platform, 2014.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from North Carolina's 8th congressional district
1823–1826 		Succeeded by
Daniel L. Barringer
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
James Iredell, Jr.
 U.S. senator (Class 3) from North Carolina
1831–1836
Served alongside: Bedford Brown 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
William H. Haywood, Jr., George E. Badger
 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President pro tempore of the United States Senate
May 31, 1842 – March 3, 1845 		Succeeded by
Ambrose Hundley Sevier
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Willie_P._Mangum&oldid=1222163981"