From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Hemphill (senator)
John Hemphill (senator)
United States Senate Preceded by Sam Houston United States Senator (Class 2) from Texas 1859–1861
Served alongside: Matthias Ward, Louis T. Wigfall
Succeeded by vacant[1]
Political offices Preceded by none Representative to the Provisional Succeeded by none Confederate Congress from Texas 1861–1862 Confederate Congress, a position he held until his death in Richmond, Virginia. Hemphill County, Texas, and Hemphill, Texas, are both named in his honor. John Hemphill was a cousin of Charles Hare Hemphill, Lord Hemphill through his father the Rev. John Hemphill.
John Hemphill (December 18, 1803 – January 3, 1862) was Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, a United States Senator, and a veteran of wars with Native Americans. Hemphill’s father, Rev. John Hemphill, emigrated to the United States from County Tyrone, Ireland, his mother, Jane Lind, was a native of Pennsylvania. Hemphill was born in South Carolina and educated at Jefferson College, graduating in 1825. Admitted to the bar in South Carolina in 1829, he eventually moved his practice to Texas in 1838. Hemphill served as Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court for eighteen years while Texas was an independent republic and in the period of statehood before the Civil War. He was called the ’John Marshall’ of Texas for the role he played in the development of Texan law. He was also famous for having fought with Native American warriors who attacked him in his courtroom while court was in session. He was considered an expert on Spanish and Mexican law, and is remembered for expanding women’s rights and supporting homestead rights. Hemphill replaced Sam Houston as United States Senator from Texas when Houston did not support the right of states to secede from the United States. As Texas was one of the first seven states to secede, Hemphill was among fourteen United States Senators expelled by resolution in 1861. He was subsequently chosen as a Texas delegate to the Provisional
External links
• John Hemphill from the Handbook of Texas Online • Biographical Directory of the US Congress
Further reading
• Timothy S. Huebner, The Southern Judicial Tradition: State Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, 1790-1890 (1999). This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. [1] Note: Texas seceded from the Union in 1860. Seat declared vacant until Morgan C. Hamilton was elected after Texas’ readmission into the Union.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hemphill_(senator)"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Hemphill (senator)
Categories: 1803 births, 1862 deaths, People from Texas, Irish-American politicians, Texas Supreme Court justices, United States Senators from Texas, Expelled United States Senators, Deputies and delegates of the Provisional Confederate Congress, Washington & Jefferson College alumni, Burials at Texas State Cemetery This page was last modified on 23 February 2009, at 11:12 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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