Jesse D. Bright

Jesse David Bright
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives
In office
1867-1871
39th President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office
June 12, 1860  June 13, 1860
Preceded by Benjamin Fitzpatrick
Succeeded by Benjamin Fitzpatrick
In office
June 11, 1856  January 6, 1857
Preceded by Charles E. Stuart
Succeeded by James M. Mason
In office
December 5, 1854  June 9, 1856
Preceded by Lewis Cass
Succeeded by Charles E. Stuart
United States Senator
from Indiana
In office
March 4, 1845  February 5, 1862
Preceded by Albert S. White
Succeeded by Joseph A. Wright
9th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
In office
December 6, 1843  March 4, 1845
Governor James Whitcomb
Preceded by Samuel Hall
Succeeded by Paris C. Dunning
Member of the Indiana Senate
In office
1841-1843
Personal details
Born (1812-12-18)December 18, 1812
Norwich, New York, US
Died May 20, 1875(1875-05-20) (aged 62)
Baltimore, Maryland, US
Political party Democratic
Profession Politician, Lawyer, Judge

Jesse David Bright (December 18, 1812 May 20, 1875) was the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Indiana and U.S. Senator from Indiana who served as President pro tempore of the Senate on three separate occasions. He was the only senator from a Northern state to be expelled for being a Confederate sympathizer. As a leading Copperhead he opposed the Civil War.

Early life and career

Born in Norwich, New York, Bright was born into a German family. Bright moved to Madison, Indiana, with his parents in 1820 and attended public schools as a child. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1831, commencing practice in Madison. He was elected a judge of the probate court of Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1834, was a United States Marshal for the district of Indiana from 1840 to 1841 and served in the Indiana Senate from 1841 to 1843. In 1842, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Indiana and served as such from 1843 to 1845.

U.S. Senate

Bright was elected a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1844, was reelected in 1850 and 1856, serving from 1845 to 1862. He was chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills from 1845 to 1847, of the Committee on Public Buildings from 1845 to 1847, of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims from 1847 to 1849, of the Committee on Roads and Canals from 1849 to 1855 and of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds from 1857 to 1861. He was also President pro tempore of the Senate from 1854 to 1856, 1856 to 1857 and in 1860, serving as putative Acting Vice President of the United States in the first two terms due to the death of Vice President William R. King.

In the Senate, Bright was not known as a great orator, but was very able in committee work. One enemy of his was Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas after he voted against keeping Bright in the Senate. He was, however, a very close friend and confidant of William Hayden English, a U.S. Representative from Indiana. In 1857, President James Buchanan offered him the post of Secretary of State, but he declined.[1]

In the beginning of 1862, the Senate of the 37th Congress, which was composed of twenty-nine Republicans and ten Democrats, voted to expel him for acknowledging Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederate States and for facilitating the sale of arms to the Confederacy. The issue was brought up when Minnesota Senator Morton S. Wilkinson introduced the Senate to a letter dated March 1, 1861, written to Davis and signed by Bright, involving firearm trades. The letter was found on a captured gun trader crossing the Confederate border during the First Battle of Bull Run.[2]

He was the fourteenth senator expelled from Congress during the Civil War, and was (as of 2015) the last senator ever to be expelled. Soon after his expulsion from the Senate, Union authorities confiscated his property in Port Fulton, Indiana, which became Jefferson General Hospital, the third-largest hospital during the Civil War. He was an unsuccessful candidate in filling the vacancy caused by his own expulsion in 1863. Instead, Bright's longtime intra-party rival, Prussian minister and War Democrat Joseph A. Wright, succeeded him in the Senate.

Later life and career

After losing his home in Indiana, Bright moved to Covington, Kentucky. He was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871, was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket from Kentucky in the 1868 presidential election,[3] and was president of the Raymond City Coal Company from 1871 to 1875. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1874 and died there May 20, 1875. He was interred in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.

References

Further reading

Political offices
Preceded by
Samuel Hall
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
18431845
Succeeded by
Paris C. Dunning
Preceded by
Lewis Cass
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
December 5, 1854 June 9, 1856
Succeeded by
Charles E. Stuart
Preceded by
Charles E. Stuart
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
June 11, 1856 January 6, 1857
Succeeded by
James M. Mason
Preceded by
Benjamin Fitzpatrick
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
June 12, 1860 June 13, 1860
Succeeded by
Benjamin Fitzpatrick
United States Senate
Preceded by
Albert S. White
U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Indiana
March 4, 1845 February 5, 1862
Served alongside: Edward A. Hannegan, James Whitcomb, Charles W. Cathcart, John Pettit, Graham N. Fitch and Henry S. Lane
Succeeded by
Joseph A. Wright

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.

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