David Walker (February 19, 1806 – September 30, 1879) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge and notable early settler of

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until ...

. Walker served on the

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction o ...

for a total of eight years, including two years as chief justice.

Early life and career

Walker was born near

Elkton, Kentucky Elkton is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Todd County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,062 at the 2010 census. History The city was founded by Major John Gray and established by the state assembly in 1820. It is ...

on February 19, 1806 to Jacob Wythe Walker and Nancy Hawkins Walker, members of a prominent family in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. He grew up with little formal schooling and

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

by himself. In 1830, Walker moved to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, where he was examined to become a lawyer by

Ben Johnson Ben, Benjamin or Benny Johnson may refer to: In sports Association football *Ben Johnson (footballer, born 2000), English footballer * Ben Johnson (soccer) (born 1977), American soccer player Other codes of football *Ben Johnson (Australian footb ...

and Edward Cross before moving to

, a small settlement in northwestern Arkansas. He became active in Whig politics and was elected to a two-year term as

prosecuting attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

for the Third Circuit Court of

Arkansas Territory The Arkansas Territory was a territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1819, to June 15, 1836, when the final extent of Arkansas Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Arkansas. Arkansas Post was the first territo ...

beginning September 13, 1833. He was re-elected in 1834, but resigned following election to the

9th Arkansas Territorial General Assembly 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

. Walker was elected to the state constitutional convention which authored the 1836 Arkansas Constitution. Having become one of the most wealthy citizens in the region, in addition to his law practice, Walker raised cattle and grew grains and fruit on a farm on the West Fork of the White River with twenty-three slaves.

Secession Convention

Following the election of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

and subsequent

South Carolina Declaration of Secession The South Carolina Declaration of Secession, formally known as the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union, was a proclamation issued on December 24, 1860, by the governm ...

, secession became an important issue in Arkansas. Voters approved convening a Secession Convention to discuss the matter; Walker was nominated as a unionist delegate to the meeting. Upon convening on March 5, 1861, the slim unionist majority elected Walker as president of the body by a 40-35 vote. Walker and other northwestern Arkansas unionists lodged together in

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

and strategized together in the evenings to resist the calls for secession by the southeast Arkansas delegates. Ultimately, the convention decided to put the question of secession to the voters, setting an election for August 5, 1861, and disbanded..

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, David 1806 births 1879 deaths 19th-century judges American judges Arkansas lawyers Arkansas Whigs Arkansas Democrats Arkansas state senators People from Fayetteville, Arkansas Justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court Political office-holders in the Confederate States of America Secession crisis of 1860–61 District attorneys in Arkansas American slave owners People from Todd County, Kentucky

Early life and career

Secession Convention

See also

References