Editing Benjamin Fitzpatrick (section)

==Governor of Alabama and Senator for Alabama==
Fitzpatrick became Governor of Alabama in 1841 and served until 1845. Later, he was appointed as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|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,<ref>{{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 }}</ref> 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 United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate]].

===Failure of state banks===
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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>