Editing Benjamin Fitzpatrick

{{short description|Democratic governor of and U.S. Senator from Alabama}}
{{redirect|Senator Fitzpatrick}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|birthname         = Benjamin Fitzpatrick
|name = Benjamin Fitzpatrick 
|image        = Hon. Benjamin Fitzpatrick, Ala - NARA - 528657.jpg
|office       = [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]]
|term_start   = June 26, 1860
|term_end     = December 2, 1860
|predecessor  = [[Jesse D. Bright]]
|successor    = [[Solomon Foot]]
|term_start1  = December 7, 1857
|term_end1    = February 26, 1860
|predecessor1 = [[Thomas Jefferson Rusk]]
|successor1   = [[Jesse D. Bright]]
|jr/sr2       = United States Senator
|state2       = [[Alabama]]
|term_start2  = January 14, 1853
|term_end2    = January 21, 1861
|predecessor2 = [[William R. King]]
|successor2   = [[George E. Spencer]] (1868)
|term_start3  = November 25, 1848
|term_end3    = November 30, 1849
|appointer3   = [[Reuben Chapman]]
|predecessor3 = [[Dixon Hall Lewis|Dixon Lewis]]
|successor3   = [[Jeremiah Clemens]]
|office4      = 11th [[List of Governors of Alabama|Governor of Alabama]]
|term_start4  = November 22, 1841
|term_end4    = December 10, 1845
|predecessor4 = [[Arthur P. Bagby]]
|successor4   = [[Joshua L. Martin]]
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1802|6|30}}
|birth_place  = [[Greene County, Georgia]], U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1869|11|21|1802|6|30}}
|death_place  = [[Wetumpka, Alabama]], U.S.
|resting_place= [[Oakwood Cemetery (Montgomery, Alabama)]]
|party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse       = Sarah Elmore<br>Aurelia Blassingame
}}
'''Benjamin Fitzpatrick''' (June 30, 1802 – November 21, 1869) was an American politician who served as the [[List of Governors of Alabama|11th Governor of Alabama]] and as a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from that state. He was a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]].

==Early life==
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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

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, Alabama|Autauga County]] in 1829. He engaged in [[planter class|planting]].

==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>

==Vice presidential nomination==
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.

==Confederacy==
Fitzpatrick did not take a particularly active role in the politics of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], although he served as president of the constitutional convention of Alabama in 1865.

==Family==
In 1827, Fitzpatrick married Sarah Terry Elmore, daughter of [[John Archer Elmore|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.<ref>https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/03291/#:~:text=Benjamin%20Fitzpatrick%20had%20several%20children,child%20was%20Benjamin%20Fitzpatrick%20Jr. 
Retrieved 2024-03-23</ref>

==Death==
He died on his plantation near [[Wetumpka, Alabama]], on November 21, 1869, aged 67.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{CongBio|F000174}}
*{{Find a Grave|6432299}}

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|-
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{{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]]