Andrew Stevenson | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Stevenson (c. 1911) | |
| United States Minister tothe United Kingdom | |
| In office July 13, 1836 – October 21, 1841 | |
| President | Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler |
| Preceded by | Aaron Vail (aschargé d'affaires) |
| Succeeded by | Edward Everett |
| 11th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives | |
| In office December 3, 1827 – June 2, 1834 | |
| Preceded by | John W. Taylor |
| Succeeded by | John Bell |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia | |
| In office March 4, 1821 – June 2, 1834 | |
| Preceded by | John Tyler |
| Succeeded by | John Robertson |
| Constituency | 23rd district (1821–23) 9th district (1823–33) 11th district (1833–34) |
| Member of theVirginia House of Delegates fromRichmond City | |
| In office December 4, 1809 – November 11, 1816 | |
| Preceded by | William Wirt |
| Succeeded by | John Robertson |
| In office January 1819 – December 3, 1821 | |
| Preceded by | John Robertson |
| Succeeded by | Jacqueline B. Harvie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1784-01-21)January 21, 1784 |
| Died | January 25, 1857(1857-01-25) (aged 73) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | |
| Children | John White Stevenson |
| Alma mater | College of William & Mary |
| Profession | Law |
Andrew Stevenson (January 21, 1784 – January 25, 1857) was an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. He representedRichmond, Virginia in theVirginia House of Delegates and eventually became itsspeaker before being elected to theUnited States House of Representatives; its members subsequently elected him theirSpeaker. Stevenson also served in theJackson administration for four years as theU.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom before retiring to hisslave plantation inAlbemarle County. He also served on the board of visitors of theUniversity of Virginia and briefly as its rector before his death.
Andrew Stevenson was born inCulpeper County, Virginia on January 21, 1784. He was the son of James Stevenson (1739–1809) and Frances Arnette (née Littlepage) Stevenson (1750–1808).
He received a private education appropriate to this class, then attended theCollege of William & Mary where he studied law.
Admitted to the Virginia bar in 1809, Stevenson practiced inRichmond.[1]
Richmond voters elected Stevenson as a member of theVirginia House of Delegates, and he served in that part-time position from 1809 to 1816 and 1818 to 1821. Fellow members elected him asSpeaker of the House of Delegates during theWar of 1812 and he served from 1812 to 1815. In both 1814 and 1816, Stevenson unsuccessfully sought a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.[1]
In1820, Stevenson won election to the17th U.S. Congress as aDemocratic-Republican. When the party fragmented during the contentious1824 presidential election, he first aligned himself with theCrawford faction during the18th Congress, and then, for the remainder of his time in Congress, identified with theJacksonians.[1] He was electedSpeaker of the House on December 3, 1827, the opening day of the20th Congress. Reelected three times (1829,1831 and1833) he served until his resignation on June 2, 1834.[2]
In June 1834, Stevenson resigned from Congress to accept appointment from Andrew Jackson asMinister to the United Kingdom. In June of that year, theUnited States Senate denied him confirmation by a vote of 23 to 22.[3] Jackson's opponents in Congress argued that Jackson had offered Stevenson the appointment in 1833, and that when Congress convened later that year, Stevenson had organized the House, including committee assignments and chairmanships, in accordance with Jackson's preferences. In the Anti-Jacksonian view, this amounted to aquid pro quo that allowed executive branch interference with the prerogatives of the legislative branch. Following his denial by the Senate, he returned to Virginia and resumed the practice of law and in addition, he presided over the1835 Democratic National Convention.[1]
In February 1836,PresidentAndrew Jackson renominated Stevenson for Minister to the United Kingdom. The second time around, he was confirmed 26 votes to 19, and served from 1836 to 1841.[3]
His term as Minister to the United Kingdom was marked by controversy: theabolitionist cause was growing in strength, and some sections of public opinion resented the choice of Stevenson, who was aslaveowner, for this role.[4] The Irish statesmanDaniel O'Connell was reported to have denounced Stevenson in public as aslave breeder, generally thought to be a more serious matter than simply being a slaveowner.[5] Stevenson, outraged, challenged O'Connell to aduel, 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.[6]
In 1846, Stevenson purchased theBlenheim estate inAlbemarle County, Virginia.[7] In the 1850 U.S. Federal Census, the last of his lifetime, Stevenson owned 63 enslaved people in Albemarle County.[8] He had owned eight enslaved people in Richmond during the 1820 federal census,[9] and 1830 federal census.[10]
Stevenson presided over the1848 Democratic National Convention. In 1845 he was elected to the board of visitors of theUniversity of Virginia, and from 1856 to 1857, he served as the university'srector.[1]
Stevenson married three times.[11] In 1809, he married Mary Page White, a granddaughter ofCarter Braxton, a signer of theDeclaration of Independence.[12] She died during childbirth in 1812, giving birth to:[13]
In 1816, Stevenson married his second wife, Sarah "Sally" Coles (1789–1848), who was a cousin ofDolley Madison and a sister ofEdward Coles, who served asGovernor of Illinois. She died in 1848.[14] In 1849, he married for the third and final time to Mary Schaff.
Stevenson died at hisBlenheim estate on January 25, 1857. He was buried at Enniscorthy Cemetery inKeene, Virginia.[15] His firstborn son, John White Stevenson, followed his father's career path into law and politics, serving as Congressman during his father's lifetime, then as Governor of Kentucky following the American Civil War and later as U.S. Senator.[16]
Stevenson's manor house, Blenheim, remains today, having been listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1976.[17]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 23rd congressional district March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823 (obsolete district) | Succeeded by (none) |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 9th congressional district March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1833 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 11th congressional district March 4, 1833 – June 2, 1834 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives December 3, 1827 – March 3, 1829; December 7, 1829 – March 3, 1831; December 5, 1831 – March 3, 1833 December 2, 1833 – June 2, 1834 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by Aaron Vail (Chargé d'Affaires) | U.S. Minister to Britain 1836–1841 | Succeeded by |
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