Andrew Stevenson

U.S. Congressperson

1784 – 1857

 Credit ยป
73

Who was Andrew Stevenson?

Andrew Stevenson was a Democratic politician in the United States. Educated at the College of William and Mary, he married three times. His second wife, Sarah Coles, was a cousin of Dolley Madison and sister of Edward Coles, a governor of Illinois. Stevenson served as a Congressman from Virginia from 1821 to 1834 and was the Speaker of the House from 1827 until 1834. From 1836 to 1841 Stevenson served as American minister to the United Kingdom. He presided over the 1835 Democratic National Convention and the 1848 Democratic National Convention. From 1856 to 1857 he served as rector of the University of Virginia.

His term as Minister to the United Kingdom was marked by controversy: the abolitionist cause was growing in strength, and some sections of public opinion resented the choice of Stevenson, who was a slaveowner, for this role. The Irish statesman Daniel O'Connell was reported to have denounced Stevenson in public as a slave breeder, generally thought to be a more serious matter than simply being a slaveowner. Stevenson, outraged, challenged O'Connell to a duel, but O'Connell, who had a lifelong aversion to dueling, refused, and suggested that he had been misquoted. The controversy became public and the repeated references to slave breeding caused Stevenson a good deal of embarrassment: there was a widespread view that if O'Connell's charges were false Stevenson would have done better to simply ignore them rather than engaging in a public squabble.

We need you!

Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!

Born
Jan 21, 1784
Culpeper County
Children
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • College of William and Mary
Died
Jan 25, 1857
Albemarle County

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Andrew Stevenson." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/andrew_stevenson>.

Discuss this Andrew Stevenson biography with the community:

0 Comments

    Browse Biographies.net