Ambrose Hundley Sevier

Infobox Senator
name=Ambrose Hundley Sevier


jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Arkansas
party=Democrat
term=September 18, 1836 – March 15, 1848
preceded="(none)"
succeeded=Solon Borland
date of birth=birth date|1801|11|4|mf=y
place of birth=Greeneville, Tennessee, U.S.
date of death=death date and age|1848|12|31|1801|11|4|mf=y
place of death=Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
spouse=Juliette Johnson Sevier
profession=Politician, Lawyer

Ambrose Hundley Sevier (November 4, 1801 – December 31, 1848) was a Democratic member of the United States Senate from Arkansas.

Ambrose Hundley Sevier was born near Greeneville, Tennessee in Greene County, Tennessee. Sevier moved to Missouri in 1820 and to Little Rock, Arkansas in 1821.

In Arkansas he became clerk of the Territorial House of Representatives. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1823. Sevier became a member of the House of Representatives and served from 1823 to 1827 and served as speaker of that body in 1827.

Sevier was elected as a Delegate to the Twentieth US Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Wharton Conway. Sevier was reelected and served as delegate in three successive congresses from 1828 to 1836 when Arkansas was admitted to the Union. Sevier is known as the "Father of Arkansas Statehood".

In 1836 Sevier was elected as the first member of the United States Senate from Arkansas. He was reelected in 1837 and 1843. He resigned from office in 1848. During the twenty-ninth Congress he was allowed to hold the seat of President pro tem of the Senate for a day, though he was not actually elected to that post. During his tenure he served as chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs and was a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

In 1848 he was appointed an ambassador to Mexico to negotiate the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American War.

Ambrose Hundley Sevier died on his plantation in Pulaski County, Arkansas. He was buried in the historic Mount Holly Cemetery. The State of Arkansas erected a monument in the cemetery in his honor.

Sevier was the grandnephew of John Sevier, first cousin of Representative Henry Wharton Conway, Governor James Sevier Conway, Governor Elias Nelson Conway, brother-in-law of Senator Robert Ward Johnson and father-in-law of Governor Thomas James Churchill.

Sevier County, Arkansas is named in his honor.

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000256 Ambrose Hundley Sevier on congress.gov]

###@@@KEY@@@###USRepSuccessionBox
type=Delegate
state=Arkansas Territory
before=Henry Wharton Conway
reason=Arkansas admitted to the Union
years=February 13, 1828 – June 15, 1836U.S. Senator box
state=Arkansas
class=3
before="(none)'
years=September 18, 1836 – March 15, 1848
alongside=William Savin Fulton and Chester Ashley
after=Solon Borlandsuccession box
title=Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee
before=Hugh Lawson White
years=1840 – 1841
after=James T. Moreheadsuccession box
title=Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee
before=Albert White
years=1845 – 1846
after=Arthur Bagbysuccession box
title=Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
before=William Allen
years=1846 – 1848
after=Edward A. Hannegansuccession box
before=Willie P. Mangum
title=President pro tempore of the United States Senate
after=David R. Atchison
years=December 27, 1845⁽¹⁾