Part 6

Each state is entitled to two United States senators. Until 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures; since that time, by popular vote. Our first senators, chosen in 1836, were Ambrose H. Sevier and William S. Fulton. In the following pages, biographies of Sevier and his successors are given first.

1. Ambrose H. Sevier 1836-1848

Lawyer, Democrat. Born in Tennessee, 1801. Came to Arkansas from Missouri, 1821. Clerk, Territorial House of Representatives, 1821. Member, Territorial House of Representatives, Pulaski County, 1823, 1825; speaker, 1827.

Territorial delegate to Congress, 1828-1836. United States senator, 1836-1848. United States Minister to Mexico, March-June 1848. Died 1848.

2. Solon Borland, 1848-1853

Physician, Democrat. Born in Virginia, 1808. Attended schools in North Carolina; studied medicine; located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Major, First Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry, Mexican War.

United States senator, 1848-1853. United States Minister to Central American Republics, 1853-1854. Brigadier general, Confederate Army. Died 1864.

3. Robert W. Johnson, 1853-1861

Lawyer, Democrat. Born in Kentucky, 1814. Moved with his father to Arkansas, 1821. Graduated from St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Kentucky, 1833, and from Yale Law School, 1835. Practiced law in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1835-1847.

Prosecuting attorney, 1840-1845. Congressman, 1847-1853. United States senator, 1853-1861. Delegate to provisional Confederate Congress, 1861-1862. Confederate States senator, 1862-1865. Practiced law in Washington, D.C. after the war. Died 1879.

4. Charles B. Mitchel, 1861

Physician, Democrat. Born in Tennessee, 1815. Graduated from University of Nashville, Tennessee, 1833, and from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1836. Moved to Washington, Arkansas, where he practiced medicine for twenty-five years.

Member, House of Representatives, Hempstead County, 1848-1849. Receiver of public moneys, 1853-1856. United States senator, 1861. Confederate States senator, 1862-1864. Died 1864.

Note: Arkansas was not represented in the United States Senate from its secession in 1861 until the state was readmitted to the Union in 1868.

5. Benjamin F. Rice, 1868-1873

Lawyer, Republican. Born in New York, 1828. Member, Kentucky House of Representatives, 1855-1856. Moved to Minnesota, 1860. Captain, Union Army.

Settled in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1864. Active in organizing Republican party in Arkansas. United States senator, 1868-1873. Moved to Colorado 1875, and to Washington, D.C. 1882. Died 1905.

6. Stephen W. Dorsey, 1873-1879

Businessman, Republican. Born in Vermont, 1842. Moved to Ohio and settled in Oberlin. Served in Union Army. After Civil War, returned to Ohio; became president of Sandusky Tool Company. Elected president, Arkansas Railway Company. Moved to Arkansas, settled in Helena.

United States senator, 1873-1879. After his service in Senate, devoted himself to cattle raising and mining in New Mexico and Colorado. Resided in Colfax County, New Mexico; Denver, Colorado; and Los Angeles, California. Died 1916.

7. James D. Walker, 1879-1885

Lawyer, Democrat. Born in Kentucky, 1830. Attended private schools in Kentucky, and Ozark Institute and Arkansas College, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Moved to Arkansas 1847. Admitted to bar 1850; practiced law in Fayetteville. Colonel, Confederate Army; captured at Oak Hills, Missouri in 1861 and spent two years in military prison.

Resumed practice of law in Fayetteville, 1865. United States senator, 1879-1885. Died 1906.

8. James K. Jones, 1885-1903

Lawyer, Democrat. Born in Mississippi, 1839. Moved with his parents to Dallas County, Arkansas, 1848. Served in Confederate Army. Admitted to bar 1874 and commenced practice in Washington, Arkansas.

State senator, 1873-1877; president of Senate, 1877. Congressman, 1881-1885. United States senator, 1885-1903. Chairman, Democratic National Committee, 1896, 1900. Died 1908.

9. James P. Clarke, 1903-1916

(See "Governors of the State of Arkansas," number 18).