Jonathan M. Atkins

John Bell was one of antebellum Tennessee's most prominent politicians and an acknowledged leader of the state's Whig Party. The son of a farmer and blacksmith, Bell was born in Davidson County and graduated from Cumberland College in 1814. After…

Newton Cannon, Tennessee's first Whig governor, was born in North Carolina. His family settled in Williamson County, Tennessee, in 1790, where Cannon received a common school education. He attempted several occupations before establishing himself as a wealthy planter. His public…

William Carroll served as Tennessee's governor for all but two years between 1821 and 1835. He was a prominent figure in the state's early Democratic Party, and his career symbolized the era's popular protest against established political interests. Carroll was…

Ephraim H. Foster, United States senator and early leader of the Whig Party, was born in Kentucky. Foster came to Davidson County with his family in 1797 and graduated from Cumberland College in Nashville in 1813. After serving as Andrew…

Felix Grundy, congressman, U.S. senator, and Democratic leader, was born in Virginia but first rose to prominence in Kentucky politics. After his admission to that state's bar at age twenty, Grundy was elected to a state constitutional convention in 1799…

The Immortal Thirteen were the Democratic members of the state Senate in the 1841-42 session of the general assembly. These thirteen Democrats maintained a one-seat majority in the Senate, but the rival Whig Party's majority in the House of Representatives…

Consisting of President Andrew Jackson and his circle of advisors, the Jacksonians were recognized as leaders of the Democratic Party both nationally and within Tennessee. Jackson's Tennessee associates included Judge John Overton; Senator John H. Eaton; Major William B. Lewis;…

George Washington Jones was a congressman and prominent Tennessee Democrat from the Jacksonian era through Reconstruction. Born in Virginia on March 15, 1806, Jones's family migrated to Giles County in 1816. After his father's death in 1820, he was apprenticed to a saddler in…

One of the most popular Whig politicians in antebellum Tennessee, James C. Jones was born in Wilson County. Reared by an uncle after his father's death, Jones learned farming by working for his guardian. He occasionally attended common schools and…

An associate and advisor of Andrew Jackson, William B. Lewis was born in Virginia, but moved to Nashville in 1809. Little else is known of his earliest years except that he received a good education and developed a strong friendship…

Hugh Lawson White was a U.S. senator whose 1836 presidential candidacy helped to establish the Whig Party both in Tennessee and in the South. The son of General James White, the founder of Knoxville, White briefly served as private secretary…