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Archibald Dixon (April 2, 1802 – April 23, 1876) was a
U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
from Kentucky. He represented the Whig Party in both houses of the
Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in th ...
, and was elected the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 1844, serving under
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
William Owsley William Owsley (March 24, 1782 – December 9, 1862) was an associate justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the List of Governors of Kentucky, 16th Governor of Kentucky. He also served in bicameral legislature, both houses of the Kentucky ...
. In 1851, the Whigs nominated him for governor, but he lost to Lazarus W. Powell, his former law partner. Dixon represented Henderson County at the Kentucky constitutional convention of 1849. In this capacity, he ensured that strong protections of slave property were included in the Kentucky Constitution of 1850. Later, the General Assembly chose Dixon to fill the unexpired Senate term of
Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...
. He served from September 1, 1852, to March 3, 1855, and did not stand for re-election. During his short tenure, Dixon's major accomplishment was convincing
Stephen Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas ( né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party to run for president in the 1860 ...
to include language in the
Kansas–Nebraska Act The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 () was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law b ...
that explicitly repealed the
Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise (also known as the Compromise of 1820) was federal legislation of the United States that balanced the desires of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand ...
's prohibition on slavery north of latitude 36°30'. Despite his pro-slavery views, Dixon was loyal to the Union during the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. He represented his county and his state in a number of failed conventions that sought to resolve the upcoming conflict before it began. In 1864, he joined Kentucky governor Thomas E. Bramlette in an audience with President
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
protesting the recruitment of former slaves as Union soldiers in Kentucky. Dixon died on April 23, 1876.


Personal life

Archibald Dixon was born near Red House,
Caswell County, North Carolina Caswell County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is located in the Piedmont Triad region of the state. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 22,736. Its county seat is Yancey ...
on April 2, 1802.Congressional Biography He was the son of
Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
Wynn and Rebecca Hart Dixon.Starling, p. 575 Both Dixon's father and grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War, the former enlisting at the age of sixteen. His grandfather,
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Henry Dixon, was born in Kirkmichael, South Ayrshire in 1729 and emigrated to America as a child in 1739. He was commended by "Light Horse Harry" Lee for his service at the
Battle of Camden The Battle of Camden (August 16, 1780), also known as the Battle of Camden Court House, was a major victory for the Kingdom of Great Britain, British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. On August 16, 1780, British forces ...
. He was later killed at the
Battle of Eutaw Springs The Battle of Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781, was the last major engagement of the Revolutionary War to be fought in the Carolinas. Both sides claimed a victory. Background In early 1781, Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the ...
. His paternal grandfather was born in
Newtownards Newtownards (; ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtow ...
, Uster in 1734 and emigrated in 1751 In 1805, Captain Dixon lost all of his property and moved the family to
Henderson, Kentucky Henderson is a home rule-class city along the Ohio River and the county seat of Henderson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 29,781 at the 2020 U.S. census. It is part of the Evansville–Henderson, IN–KY Combined Statis ...
. Archibald Dixon was educated by his mother and attended the common schools of Henderson. In 1822, he began to study law in the office of James Hillyer.Kleber, p. 268 He was admitted to the bar in 1824, and commenced practice in Henderson. He became well known as a skilled defense attorney and was employed in a number of cases in Kentucky and
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
. In 1834, Dixon married Elizabeth R. Cabell; the couple had six children. One of these was Rebecca Hart Dixon, second wife of future Kentucky governor John Y. Brown. Another daughter, Susan Bell Dixon, married Cuthbert Powell, a
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
from
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. One son, Henry, was elected a state senator in Kentucky, while another, Archibald, became a respected doctor in Henderson. Elizabeth Cabell Dixon died in 1852. On October 29, 1853, Dixon married Susan Peachy Bullitt. Bullitt was the paternal granddaughter of Alexander Scott Bullitt, the first lieutenant governor of Kentucky, and the maternal granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Walker, the first surveyor in the state of Kentucky.Starling, p. 576 Dixon and Bullitt had additional children.


Political career

Dixon was elected to represent Henderson County in the
Kentucky House of Representatives The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a ...
in 1830.Starling, p. 577 He served three consecutive one-year terms, leaving the House in 1833. Following this, he returned to his law practice and in 1835, partnered with Lazarus W. Powell.Memorial Record of Western Kentucky From 1836 to 1840, he represented Henderson, Daviess, and Hopkins counties in the
Kentucky Senate The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout Kentucky, the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky senators. T ...
. The next year, he returned to the Kentucky House, serving from 1841 to 1843. In 1844, Dixon was chosen as the Whig nominee for lieutenant governor on a ticket with
William Owsley William Owsley (March 24, 1782 – December 9, 1862) was an associate justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the List of Governors of Kentucky, 16th Governor of Kentucky. He also served in bicameral legislature, both houses of the Kentucky ...
. Dixon defeated his opponent, William S. Pilcher, by more than 11,000 votes. At the expiration of his term, the Whig party considered nominating Dixon for governor, but instead chose the more experienced John J. Crittenden, who defeated Dixon's former law partner, Lazarus Powell. The voters of Henderson County chose Dixon to represent them at the state constitutional convention of 1849. The Whigs nominated him to chair the convention, but he lost to the Democratic nominee James Guthrie by a vote of 50 to 43. A large slaveholder, Dixon introduced numerous measures to protect the rights of slaveholders in the new constitution.Rodgers, p. 99 Among them were assertions that slave property was just as inviolable as any other property, that the rights of property were above constitutional sanction, and that absolute power over property cannot exist in a republic. Though some of these ideas were challenged, all eventually found their way into the Kentucky Constitution of 1850. The Whigs nominated Dixon for governor in 1851. The Democrats countered with Lazarus Powell. Still friends from their earlier days as law partners, the two often traveled together during the campaign.
Cassius Marcellus Clay Major general (United States), Major General Cassius Marcellus Clay (October 9, 1810 – July 22, 1903) was an American planter, politician, military officer and abolitionist who served as the List of ambassadors of the United States to Russia, ...
also entered the contest, representing the emancipationist wing of the Whig Party.Starling, p. 579 Clay drew about 6,000 votes, mostly from Whigs, and Powell won the election by a small majority.


In the Senate

On December 17, 1851, Henry Clay submitted a letter of resignation of his seat in the U.S. Senate, to be effective September 1 of the following year (1852). Clay's announcement came while the
Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in th ...
was in session. This was intentional. The majority of the Assembly was Whig, and Clay knew that if he resigned while the Assembly was in session, the majority would elect a Whig to be his successor. By contrast, if he had waited until September 1 to announce his resignation the Assembly would already have closed its session, and Governor Powell, a Democrat, would appoint a temporary successor until the legislature convened again two years later."The Kentucky Senator The Assembly acted according to Clay's plans. By a vote of 71–58, they chose Dixon over Democrat James Guthrie to assume Clay's seat effective September 1. However, Clay died on June 29, 1852. Because Dixon's commission stipulated an effective date of September 1, Governor Powell proceeded to name Clay's successor for the period until September 1. He chose Democrat David Meriwether, who served those two months, then, with respect to the original commission issued by the legislature (or by simply not returning to the Senate upon the commencement of the next session), effectively relinquished the seat to Dixon. After a lengthy Senate debate on the validity of his commission—it having been issued prior to Clay's death, with an effective date subsequent to the executive appointment of a successor—Dixon was sworn in on December 20, 1852. He served the remainder of Clay's term, but did not stand for reelection in 1854. A major issue during Dixon's tenure in the Senate was the admission of the
Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...
to the Union. Specifically, the question hinged upon the issue of whether or not slavery would be allowed in the state. Under the Missouri Compromise, slavery was prohibited in the territory. Because of this, the southern states opposed its admission. In an attempt to allay southern fears, Stephen Douglas introduced a bill in January 1854 that included a provision that "all questions pertaining to slavery in the territories, and in the new states to be formed therefrom are to be left to the people residing therein, through their appropriate representatives." Douglas hoped to placate southerners with this language, which allowed for the possibility of legalized slavery in the potential state without specifically addressing the issue of the Missouri Compromise. Southerners, however, saw that Douglas' attempt was unlikely to result in legalization of slavery. While it allowed Nebraska to determine whether slavery would be legal there when it became a state, slavery was still forbidden under the Missouri Compromise as long as it remained a territory. If no slaveholders were allowed in the territory, it would be exceedingly unlikely that the state's voters would allow for slavery in their constitution. Following this line of thought, Dixon drafted an amendment to Douglas' bill that would repeal section eight of the Missouri Compromise, the section that prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30'. After a promise of support from
Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
senator James C. Jones, Dixon introduced the amendment on January 16, 1854. This forced Douglas to confront the Missouri Compromise issue outright, and two days later, he visited Dixon to discuss his position. Douglas was reluctant to repeal the Compromise, but was ultimately convinced by Dixon's logic. He concluded the interview by exclaiming "By God, Sir, you are right. I will incorporate it in my bill, though I know it will raise a hell of a storm." Over the next several days, Douglas incorporated Dixon's suggestion and other pro-slavery measures into the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which President
Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. A northern Democratic Party (United States), Democrat who believed that the Abolitionism in the United States, abolitio ...
signed into law on May 30, 1854.


Later life

On June 1, 1852, the stockholders of the Henderson and Nashville Railroad met at
Madisonville, Kentucky Madisonville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States, located along Interstate 69 in the state's Western Coal Fields region. The population was 19,591 at the 2010 census. Madisonville is a ...
and elected Archibald Dixon as president of the company. He served until his resignation in spring 1853. Despite his pro-slavery views, Dixon loyally supported the Union during the lead-up to the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. His sons, however, had Confederate sympathies.Bigham, p. 62 Dixon's home county of Henderson was one of the first counties in Kentucky to express their feelings about the secession crisis. The county called an assembly at the county courthouse on November 10, 1860. Dixon was elected chair of the meeting, and immediately expressed a pro-Union sentiment. A committee of five was appointed to draft resolutions stating Henderson County's position. At a second meeting one week later – which Dixon also chaired – the committee reported their pro-Union resolutions, which were approved. In an attempt to stave off the Civil War, Dixon participated in a convention of border states and a peace convention in
Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...
, both in 1861. Both conventions were unsuccessful. At the outset of the war, the Kentucky General Assembly elected six arbiters to recommend a course of action for the Commonwealth. Dixon represented the pro-Union position along with John J. Crittenden and Samuel S. Nicholas. Kentucky governor Beriah Magoffin, John C. Breckinridge, and Richard Hawes represented the southern sympathizers. The arbiters met on May 11, 1861. After the pro-Union men defeated a proposal to call a sovereignty convention, the six arbiters recommended a position of neutrality, which the General Assembly adopted. In March 1864, Dixon accompanied Kentucky Governor Thomas E. Bramlette and
John Marshall Harlan John Marshall Harlan (June 1, 1833 – October 14, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1877 until his death in 1911. He is often called "The Great Disse ...
, the state's attorney general, to an audience with President Lincoln to protest the recruitment of blacks into the ranks of the Union Army. The governor eventually agreed to allow the practice, but only when whites failed to meet their draft quotas. Since recruitment of blacks had been taking place in the Commonwealth for more than two months already, the concession was little more than a face-saving gesture by Bramlette. Following the end of the Civil War, Dixon retired from public life. He died in Henderson on April 23, 1876, and is buried in Fernwood Cemetery.


Legacy

Archibald Dixon is the namesake of Dixon, Kentucky.


Notes

Kleber, the more contemporary source, lists Dixon's first wife as Elizabeth Pollit, while Starling gives the name Elizabeth Robertson Cabell, a marriage date of 1832, and lists only five children. Genealogical records, including death certificates of Dixon's children, also give the first wife's name as Elizabeth R. Cabell, with a marriage date of March 13, 1834, in Henderson County, Kentucky.


References

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Further reading

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External links

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Archibald Dixon at The Political Graveyard

Obituary in The New York Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Archibald United States senators from Kentucky 1802 births 1876 deaths People from Caswell County, North Carolina Kentucky lawyers Lieutenant governors of Kentucky Whig Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Whig Party Kentucky state senators People from Henderson County, Kentucky Kentucky Whigs Whig Party United States senators 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly