Early life and education
David Trotter Patterson was born at Cedar Creek, near Greeneville, Tennessee, on February 28, 1818. He attended the common schools and later Greeneville College for two years. He reading law, studied law with a local attorney to prepare for a legal career.Career
After being admitted to the bar in 1841, Patterson practiced in Greeneville. He also engaged in manufacturing. He owned slaves. He was appointed as a judge of the first circuit court of Tennessee and served from 1854 to 1863. In addition, he acquired substantial amounts of land in East Tennessee and grew commodity crops.Marriage and family
On December 13, 1855, Patterson married Martha Johnson Patterson, Martha Johnson, daughter of Andrew Johnson and Eliza McCardle Johnson, Eliza McCardle. They had two children, a son named Andrew (1857–1932), and a daughter named Mary (1859–1891).Political career
A Unionist from East Tennessee, Patterson was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly to the U.S. Senate when Tennessee became the first Confederate States of America, Confederate U.S. state, state to be readmitted to the Union on July 24, 1866. His father-in-law Andrew Johnson had succeeded as President of the United States following Lincoln's assassination the year before. Johnson was Federal impeachment in the United States, impeached by the United States House of Representatives Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, in February 1868, which caused Patterson personal conflict. According to the Constitution of the United States, U.S. Constitution, the Senate had the duty Impeachment trial, to try Johnson on the charges, and Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, did so from March to May 1868. Their vote was one short of the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority for conviction. Patterson believed that his father-in-law was not guilty and that the charges against him were contrived. In the decades since the impeachment, historians generally have agreed to a consensus with the same conclusion, but some disagreed.Post-political career
Patterson retired from public life when his Senate term expired on March 3, 1869. He returned to East Tennessee to manage his relatively vast agricultural interests. On November 3, 1891, Patterson died in the small community of Afton. He was interred with the Johnson family in the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in Greeneville.Further reading
* McKellar, Kenneth. “David T. Patterson,” in ''Tennessee Senators as Seen by One of Their Successors,'' Kingsport, Tenn.: Southern Publishers, Inc., 1942, 316-324.External links
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