William Rufus King - Clinton North Carolina
N 34° 59.888 W 078° 19.440
17S E 744225 N 3876107
Located on Vance St in Clinton North Carolina
Waymark Code: WM80A5
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 01/02/2010
Views: 4
Historical Marker Transcription
William Rufus King
1786-1853
Native of Sampson County
Congressman
Minister to France
Senator and Vice President of the United States
A little bit about William Rufus King:
He was the 13th Vice President of the United States, and earlier a U.S. Representative from North Carolina, Minister to France, and a Senator from Alabama. King died of tuberculosis after 45 days in office. With the exceptions of John Tyler and Andrew Johnson—both of whom succeeded to the Presidency—he remains the shortest-serving Vice President.
King was a delegate to the convention which organized the Alabama state government. Upon the admission of Alabama as a State in 1819 he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States Senate, and was reelected as a Jacksonian in 1822, 1828, 1834, and 1841, serving from December 14, 1819, until April 15, 1844, when he resigned. He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the 24th through 27th Congresses. King was Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on Commerce.
He was Minister to France from 1844 to 1846. He was appointed and subsequently elected as a Democrat to the Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Arthur P. Bagby and began serving on July 1, 1848. During the conflicts leading up to the Compromise of 1850, King supported the Senate's gag rule against debate on antislavery petitions, and opposed the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.[1] King supported a conservative proslavery position, arguing that the Constitution protected the institution of slavery in both the Southern states and the federal territories, placing King in opposition to both the abolitionists' efforts to abolish slavery in the territories and the Fire-Eaters' calls for Southern secession.
On July 11, 1850, just two days after the death of President Zachary Taylor, King was again appointed President pro tempore of the Senate, which made him first in the line of succession to the U.S. Presidency, because of the Vice Presidential vacancy. King served until resigning on December 20, 1852, due to poor health. He served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses and was Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations and Committee on Pensions.
King was elected Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket with Franklin Pierce in 1852 and took the oath of office March 24, 1853, in Cuba, where he had gone because of his health. This unusual inauguration took place because it was believed that King, who was terminally ill with tuberculosis, would not live much longer. The privilege of taking the oath on foreign soil was extended by a special act of Congress for his long and distinguished service to the government of the United States. Even though he took the oath 20 days after inauguration day he was still Vice President during those three weeks.
Shortly afterward, King returned to his plantation, King's Bend, across the river from Cahaba, Alabama, and died within two days. He was interred in a vault on the plantation. City officials of Selma and some of King's family wanted to move his body within Selma, where they believed the town's co-founder should be interred. Other family members wanted his body to remain at the family plot. In 1882, the Selma City Council appointed a committee to select a new plot for King's body. There are different versions of how his body was taken from King's Bend, however after 29 years he was reinterred in Live Oak Cemetery, Selma. He is entombed in a granite mausoleum.
Following King's death the office of Vice-President remained vacant until 1857 when John C. Breckinridge was inaugurated. In accordance with the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the President pro tempore of the Senate was next in order of succession to President Pierce from 1853 to 1857
Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.