Benjamin Fitzpatrick

Benjamin Fitzpatrick
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office June 26, 1860 – December 2, 1860
Preceded by	Jesse D. Bright
Succeeded by	Solomon Foot
In office December 7, 1857 – February 26, 1860
Preceded by	Thomas Jefferson Rusk
Succeeded by	Jesse D. Bright
United States Senator from Alabama
In office November 26, 1855 – January 21, 1861
Succeeded by	George E. Spencer (1868)
In office January 14, 1853 – March 3, 1855
Preceded by	William R. King
In office November 25, 1848 – November 30, 1849
Appointed by	Reuben Chapman
Preceded by	Dixon Lewis
Succeeded by	Jeremiah Clemens
11th Governor of Alabama
In office November 22, 1841 – December 10, 1845
Preceded by	Arthur P. Bagby
Succeeded by	Joshua L. Martin
Personal details
Born	Benjamin Fitzpatrick (1802-06-30)June 30, 1802 Greene County, Georgia, U.S.
Died	November 21, 1869(1869-11-21) (aged 67) Wetumpka, Alabama, U.S.
Resting place	Oakwood Cemetery (Montgomery, Alabama)
Party	Democratic
Spouses	Sarah Elmore ​ ​ (m. 1827; died 1839)​ Aurelia Blassingame ​ (m. 1846)​

Benjamin Fitzpatrick (June 30, 1802 – November 21, 1869) was an American politician who served as the 11th governor of Alabama and as a United States senator from that state. He was a Democrat.

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.^[1]

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,^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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

• United States Congress. "Benjamin Fitzpatrick (id: F000174)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Benjamin Fitzpatrick at Find a Grave