When he was later diagnosed with tuberculosis, he believed he contracted the disease while he was living in Paris. In 1844, William King was appointed Minister to France and spent several years there before returning to the Senate in 1848.
o his honor be it spoken, he never vexed the ear of the Senate with ill-timed, tedious, or unnecessary debate." Minister to France He was emphatically a business member of the Senate, and, without ostentation, originated and perfected more useful measures than many who filled the public eye by greater display and daily commanded the applause of a listening Senate. He was remarkable for his quiet and unobtrusive, but active, practical usefulness as a legislator. One of his contemporaries described him as a "tall, prim, wigtopped mediocrity."Īnother fellow senator said, "he was distinguished by the scrupulous correctness of his conduct. Despite his experience and service, William King is not considered amongst the great statesmen of the day.
William King was selected that year as a delegate to the territory's first constitutional convention and then elected as one of Alabama's first U. One of Alabama's First United States Senators In March 1819, William King, along with several others, organized a land company and founded the town of Selma. King developed a large cotton plantation, he called "Chestnut Hill" where he and his relatives collectively owned as many as 500 slaves. He purchased 750 acres of land in an area that became known as "King's Bend," located six miles from the town of Cahaba, the new state capital. Minister to Russia.Īfter returning to the States in 1818, King moved from North Carolina to the newly organized Alabama Territory. King resigned from the House in 1816 to serve as legation secretary under William Pinkney, who had recently been appointed U. In 1810, William was elected to Wilmington district's seat in the US House of Representatives. He studied law with William Duffy, one of the leading lawyers of the time, and gained admissions to the North Carolina bar in 1805.ĭeciding on a career in politics, William King served in the North Carolina legislature's House of Commons from 1808-1809, also serving as a solicitor of the 5th Circuit of the state Superior Court in Wilmington. He attended the University of North Carolina in 1801 until his junior year. William was a student at local academies and at the University of North Carolina Preparatory School. The Encyclopedia of Alabama reports in a 2003 article that rumors circulating in Washington about King’s sexual orientation increased as his close friendship with Buchanan became widely known. Buchanan, also a lifelong bachelor, is believed by some historians to be the nation’s first gay president. president James Buchanan while the two served in the Senate. Ī lifelong bachelor, King lived for 15 years in the home of future U.S. At the time of his son's birth, he owned more than two dozen slaves. Constitution, and was an occasional member of the North Carolina state assembly. His father, a wealthy planter and justice of the peace, had fought in the Revolutionary War, served as a delegate in the state convention called to ratify the U.S. William Rufus Devane King was born in Sampson County, North Carolina, on April 7, 1786, the second son of William King and Margaret Devane. He was elected Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket with Franklin Pierce in 1852 and took the oath of office March 24, 1853, in Havana, Cuba, where he had gone for his health, which was a privilege extended by special act of Congress returned to his plantation, “King’s Bend,” Alabama, and died there Apinterment in a vault on his plantation reinterment in Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Dallas County, Ala. William Rufus de Vane King, a Representative from North Carolina, a Senator from Alabama, and a Vice President of the United States born in Sampson County, N.C., Apto William Rufus King and Margaret DeVane. 3.8 The 3rd Vice President to Die in Officeġ3th Vice President of the United States Summary.3.7 Only US Executive Official to Take the Oath of Office on Foreign Soil.3.6 The Only Vice President From The State of Alabama.3.4 One of Alabama's First United States Senators.3.2 United States House of Representatives.1 13th Vice President of the United States.
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