Benjamin Fitzpatrick

Born in Greene County, Georgia, Fitzpatrick was orphaned at the age of seven and was taken by his sister (Celia Fitzpatrick Baldwin) to Alabama in 1815.

Fitzpatrick helped his brothers manage the land they owned on the Alabama River and served as deputy under the first sheriff of Autauga County. He worked in the law office of Nimrod E. Benson before he was admitted to the bar.{{cite web |url=http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_fitzpa.html |title=Benjamin Fitzpatrick |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives and History |access-date=2012-06-23 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212741/http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_fitzpa.html |url-status=dead }}

Fitzpatrick studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1821, commencing practice in Montgomery, Alabama. Fitzpatrick served as solicitor of the Montgomery circuit from 1822 to 1823 but moved to his plantation in Autauga County in 1829. He engaged in planting.

Fitzpatrick became Governor of Alabama in 1841 and served until 1845. Later, he was appointed as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dixon H. Lewis and served from November 25, 1848, to November 30, 1849, when a successor was elected.

He was again appointed on January 14, 1853, and elected on December 12, 1853,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PeHByMYxVm8C&pg=PR1 |title=The Senate, 1789-1989: Historical Statistics, 1789-1992 |edition=volume 4 Bicentennial |page=164 |first1=Robert C. |last1=Byrd|author-link1=Robert Byrd |first2=Wendy |last2=Wolff |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |date=October 1, 1993|isbn=9780160632563 }} to the Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William R. King, who had been elected Vice President of the United States, and served from January 14, 1853, to March 3, 1855. He served in that Congress as Chairman of the Committee on Printing and the Committee on Engrossed Bills. He was elected to the Senate again to fill the vacancy caused by the failure of the legislature to elect his successor on November 26, 1855. In that role, he served several times as President pro tempore of the Senate.

The country was plagued by economic depression due to the Panic of 1837. Fitzpatrick's predecessor as Governor, Arthur P. Bagby, introduced measures to assist the state banks, but the state legislature rejected most of the measures. All of the state banks were closed by Fitzpatrick.{{cite web |url=http://www.archives.alabama.gov/govs_list/g_bagbya.html |title=Arthur Pendleton Bagby |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives and History |access-date=2012-06-23}}

In 1860, Fitzpatrick was nominated for Vice President of the United States by the wing of the Democratic Party that had nominated Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois for president. However, he refused the nomination, and Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia was ultimately nominated. Fitzpatrick withdrew from the Senate on January 21, 1861, following the secession of his home state.

Fitzpatrick did not take a particularly active role in the politics of the Confederacy, although he served as president of the constitutional convention of Alabama in 1865.

In 1827, Fitzpatrick married Sarah Terry Elmore, daughter of John Elmore. Their marriage resulted in multiple children, Elmore J., Morris, Phillips, James M., and John A., with Sarah dying in 1839.

Fitzpatrick married his second wife, Aurelia Blassingame, in 1846. Only one child of theirs, Benjamin Jr., survived to adulthood.https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/03291/#:~:text=Benjamin%20Fitzpatrick%20had%20several%20children,child%20was%20Benjamin%20Fitzpatrick%20Jr.

Retrieved 2024-03-23

He died on his Oak Grove Plantation near Wetumpka, Alabama, on November 21, 1869, aged 67.

{{reflist}}

{{CongBio|F000174}}

• {{Find a Grave|6432299}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-ppo}}

{{s-bef|before=Arthur P. Bagby}}

{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Governor of Alabama|years=1841, 1843}}

{{s-aft|after=Nathaniel Terry}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=John C. Breckinridge}}

{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States⁽¹⁾
Withdrew|years=1860}}

{{s-aft|after=Herschel Vespasian Johnson}}

|-

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef|before=Arthur P. Bagby}}

{{s-ttl|title=Governor of Alabama|years=1841–1845}}

{{s-aft|after=Joshua L. Martin}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Thomas Jefferson Rusk}}

{{s-ttl|title=President pro tempore of the United States Senate|years=1857–1860}}

{{s-aft|after=Jesse D. Bright}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Jesse D. Bright}}

{{s-ttl|title=President pro tempore of the United States Senate|years=1860}}

{{s-aft|after=Solomon Foot}}

|-

{{s-par|us-sen}}

{{s-bef|before=Dixon Lewis}}

{{s-ttl|title=U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Alabama|years=1848–1849|alongside=William R. King}}

{{s-aft|after=Jeremiah Clemens}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=William R. King}}

{{s-ttl|title=U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Alabama|years=1853–1861|alongside=Clement Clay}}

{{s-vac|next=George E. Spencer}}

{{s-ref|The Democratic Party split in 1860, producing two vice presidential candidates. Fitzpatrick was nominated by the Northern Democrats; Joseph Lane was nominated by the rebel Southern Democrats.}}

{{Governors of Alabama}}

{{USSenAL}}

{{USSenPresProTemp}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, Benjamin}}

Category:1802 births

Category:1869 deaths

Category:Democratic Party (United States) vice presidential nominees

Category:Democratic Party governors of Alabama

Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Alabama

Category:People from Greene County, Georgia

Category:Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama

Category:Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate

Category:1860 United States vice-presidential candidates

Category:19th-century United States senators