Lucien Anderson (June 23, 1824 – October 18, 1898) was a Unionist slave owner and

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, 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 Artic ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Biography

Anderson was born near

Mayfield, Kentucky Mayfield is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule–class city and the county seat of Graves County, Kentucky, Graves County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,017 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Hi ...

. The spelling of his first name is disputed; his official Congressional biography and many contemporaneous accounts spelled it, "Lucien," but some modern biographers claim the original spelling was, "Lucian." He attended the public schools and studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

.
The Kentucky Encyclopedia
' In 1845, he was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

and commenced practice in Mayfield. He served in local office including

Graves County Graves County is a county located on the southwest border of the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,649. Its county seat is Mayfield. The county was formed in 1824 and was named for Major Benjamin Fra ...

Attorney. Anderson served as a

Presidential Elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

on the Whig ticket of

Winfield Scott Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army from 1841 to 1861, and was a veteran of the War of 1812, American Indian Wars, Mexica ...

and William A. Graham in 1852. He served as a member of 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 ...

from 1855 to 1857 He was elected as Union Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress, but once in office emerged as a leader of the new

Unconditional Union Party The Unconditional Union Party was a unionist political party in the United States during the American Civil War. It was a regional counterpart to the National Union Party that supported the wartime administration of Abraham Lincoln. The party wa ...

, which favored the abolition of slavery. Shortly following his election, he was kidnapped by Confederate sympathizers, but then released in a prisoner swap for some Confederate prisoners. While in Congress, he advocated for the emancipation of all slaves and voted for the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, despite having been a slave-owner, possibly even at the time of his voting for the Amendment. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1864. He served as a delegate to the 1864 National Union Convention that nominated

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 ...

for re-election. After leaving Congress, Anderson resumed the practice of law. Near the end of his life he was judged to be of unsound mind as the result of his age and ill health, and a trustee was appointed to manage his affairs. He died in Mayfield, Kentucky, on October 17, 1898.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Lucien 1824 births 1898 deaths People from Graves County, Kentucky Kentucky Whigs Kentucky Unionists Unconditional Union Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky Kentucky Republicans Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Kentucky county attorneys 19th-century American lawyers Members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves 19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives