Henry Cooper (August 22, 1827February 4, 1884) was a
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
attorney,
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
, and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
who served one term in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
, 1871–1877. During his career, Cooper had various political affiliations, including
Whig,
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...
, and
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
.
Early life
Henry Cooper was born on August 22, 1827 in
Columbia, Tennessee
Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Maury County, Tennessee. The population was 41,690 as of the 2020 United States census. Columbia is included in the Nashville metropolitan area.
The self-proclaimed "mule capital of the world," Colum ...
.
He had three brothers, including
William Frierson Cooper
William Frierson Cooper (March 11, 1820 – May 7, 1909) was a lawyer, planter and politician. He was nominated to the Supreme Court of the Confederate States of America by President Jefferson Davis, but the court never sat because of the American ...
and
Edmund Cooper
Edmund Cooper (30 April 1926 – 11 March 1982) was an English poet and prolific writer of speculative fiction, romances, technical essays, several detective stories, and a children's book. These were published under his own name and several pe ...
, and two half-brothers, including
Duncan Brown Cooper.
[
Cooper attended Dixon Academy in ]Shelbyville, Tennessee
Shelbyville is a city in and the county seat of Bedford County, Tennessee, United States. The town was laid out in 1810 and incorporated in 1819. Shelbyville had a population of 20,335 residents at the 2010 census. The town is a hub of the Tenness ...
, and graduated from Jackson College in Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...
in 1847.[ He studied ]law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
and was admitted to the bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
in 1850.[
]
Political career
Cooper served as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.
Constitutional requirements
According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...
from 1853 to 1855 and again from 1857 to 1859.[ He was appointed judge of the former 7th Judicial Circuit in April, 1862.][ In January, 1866 he resigned this position and moved to ]Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metropolit ...
where he became a professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
at the Cumberland School of Law
Cumberland School of Law is an American Bar Association, ABA accredited law school at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1847 at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee and is the 11th oldest law schoo ...
.[ In 1867 he moved to ]Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
, where he served in the Tennessee State Senate
The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...
, 1869-1870.[
The ]Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...
elected him to the United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
for the term beginning March 4, 1871.[ He did not seek another term, and his Senate service ended on March 3, 1877.][
]
Mining career and death
By the early 1880s, he was engaged in mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
operations in Tierra Blanca, Guadalupe y Calvo
Guadalupe y Calvo is one of the 67 municipalities of Chihuahua, in northern Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the U ...
, Chihuahua, Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
.[
Cooper was murdered there by bandits on February 4, 1884.] He was buried nearby, and a cenotaph to his memory was erected at Old City Cemetery in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
References
Sources
Henry Cooper
at The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Henry
1827 births
1884 deaths
People from Columbia, Tennessee
Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives
Democratic Party Tennessee state senators
Democratic Party United States senators from Tennessee
American people murdered abroad
People murdered in Mexico
19th-century American politicians