David Rice Atchison. President for a Day
David Rice Atchison
1807-1886
David Rice Atchison was born on August 11, 1807 in a place named Frogtown,
Kentucky. Today it is called Kirklevington.
At the young age of 36, Atchison was appointed to the United States Senate to
replace a Missouri Senator that had just died. He served 16 terms in this body
as President Pro Tem. By right of succession, some biographers claim he was U.S.
Vice President from April 18, 1853, until December 4, 1854, by virtue of the
death of President Franklin Pierce's vice
president, William R. King.
Some Historians claim that David Rice Atchison has the singular honor of having
served as U.S. President for one day when General Zachary
Taylor refused to be inaugurated on March 4, 1849, because it was a Sunday.
Mr. Atchison, however, never took the oath of office for either Vice President
or President. Consequently, despite the clear line of succession and expiration
of President Pierce's term, Mr. Atchison never held the constitutional offices
of Vice President and President of the United States of America as the oath of
office was never administered.
Edited 1887 Appletons' Encyclopedia,
Copyright © 2002 Virtualology
ATCHISON, David R., US senator,
born in Frog-town, Kentucky, 11 August 1807. He received a liberal education,
studied law, and began practice in Liberty County, Mo. In 1834 and 1838 he sat
in the Missouri legislature, in 1841 he was appointed judge of the Platte county
circuit court, and in 1843 appointed United States senator in the place of Lewis
F. Linn, deceased, and was subsequently elected and reelected, sitting until
1855. He was prominent in the legislation on the organization of the territories
of Kansas and Nebraska, and was a leader of the pro-slavery faction in the
Kansas troubles of 1856-'7.
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