Spencer Jarnagin (1792June 25, 1851) was a

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from

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 ...

from 1843 to 1847.

Life and career

Jarnagin was born in what was shortly to become Grainger County, Tennessee. He graduated from Greenville College in 1813 and after the study of law was admitted to the

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in 1817. 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 ...

from 1833 to 1835. From 1836 to 1851 he served on the Board of Trustees for East Tennessee College, now the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. He continued his practice of law after moving to Athens, Tennessee in 1837. Jarnagin was an

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for the Whig ticket of

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

and John Tyler in the

1840 United States presidential election The 1840 United States presidential election was the 14th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, October 30 to Wednesday, December 2, 1840. Economic recovery from the Panic of 1837 was incomplete, and Whig nominee William Henry Har ...

. In 1841 he was nominated for U.S. Senator by the Whig

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in 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 ...

. However, some of the Democrats in the legislature decided that no Senator would be preferable to a Whig. Known as the "Immortal Thirteen" by Tennessee Democrats, they refused to allow a quorum on the issue. By the time Jarnagin was eventually elected to the seat and sworn in, over two and half years, almost half of the term, had elapsed. Jarnagin finally assumed office on October 17, 1843 and served until March 3, 1847. During this time, he served as the Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. The Whigs nominated him for a second term in 1847, but he was not elected, apparently the Democrats being more amenable to John Bell, another Whig who was eventually elected his successor; a subsequent campaign by Jarnagin for the Tennessee Supreme Court was likewise unsuccessful. Jarnagin moved to Memphis and continued his practice of law there. Jarnagin died from cholera at 1 A.M. on the morning of June 25, 1851 in Memphis. He was interred in that city's Elmwood Cemetery.

References

External links

* 1792 births 1851 deaths People from Grainger County, Tennessee United States senators from Tennessee Tennessee state senators 1840 United States presidential electors Lawyers from Memphis, Tennessee Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee University of Tennessee people Tennessee Whigs 19th-century American politicians Whig Party United States senators Burials in Tennessee 19th-century American lawyers {{Tennessee-politician-stub