john bell
united states senator
biography
John Bell was born near Nashville Tennessee on February 15, 1797. Graduating in 1814 from Cumberland College, he practiced law until he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1827. He served in the House until 1841, when he became secretary of war in the cabinet of William Henry Harrison. He held his position only a few weeks, however, as he resigned after Harrison’s death when President Tyler withdrew from the Whig Party.
From 1847 to 1859 he was a senator from his state, and was chairman of several important committees as he vigorously opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the Lecompton Constitution framed for Kansas.
In May of 1860, John Bell was nominated for president by the Constitutional Union party, up until which he had been a leader in the Whig party. The Bell-Everett ticket drew the old Whig, "American", and Unionist vote. Both Breckinridge and Bell groups professed loyalty to the south, but the "submissionists" were in the Constitutional Union movement while the "secessionists" remained in the Democratic camp. In the North the Bell movement attracted remnants of "Americans" and old Whigs. John Bell polled a large vote in the South. In total, his candidacy won 12.6% of the popular vote.
