Jesse D. Bright, U.S. Senator

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_D._Bright

Jesse David Bright (December 18, 1812 – May 20, 1875) was the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Indiana and U.S. Senator from Indiana who served as President pro tempore of the Senate on three separate occasions. He was the only senator from a Northern state to be expelled for being a Confederate sympathizer. As a leading Copperhead he opposed the Civil War.

Early life and career

Born in Norwich, New York, Bright was born into a German family. Bright moved to Madison, Indiana, with his parents in 1820 and attended public schools as a child. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1831, commencing practice in Madison. He was elected a judge of the probate court of Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1834. He was a United States Marshal for the district of Indiana from 1840 to 1841 and served in the Indiana Senate from 1841 to 1843. In 1842, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Indiana and served as such from 1843 to 1845.

U.S. Senate

Bright was elected a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1844, was reelected in 1850 and 1856, serving from 1845 to 1862. He was chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills from 1845 to 1847, of the Committee on Public Buildings from 1845 to 1847, of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims from 1847 to 1849, of the Committee on Roads and Canals from 1849 to 1855 and of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds from 1857 to 1861. He was also President pro tempore of the Senate from 1854 to 1856, 1856 to 1857 and in 1860, serving as putative Acting Vice President of the United States in the first two terms due to the death of Vice President William R. King.

In the Senate, Bright was not known as a great orator, but was very able in committee work. One enemy of his was Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas after he voted against keeping Bright in the Senate. He was, however, a very close friend and confidant of William Hayden English, a U.S. Representative from Indiana. In 1857, President James Buchanan offered him the post of Secretary of State, but he declined.[1] In 1862, the Senate, at the time composed of twenty-nine Republicans and ten Democrats, voted to expel him for acknowledging Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederate States and for facilitating the sale of arms to the Confederacy. The issue was brought up when Minnesota Senator Morton S. Wilkinson introduced the Senate to a letter dated March 1, 1861, written to Davis and signed by Bright, involving firearm trades. The letter was found on a captured gun trader crossing the Confederate border during the First Battle of Bull Run. He was the fourteenth senator expelled from Congress during the Civil War, and was (as of 2011) the last senator ever to be expelled. Soon after his expulsion from the Senate, Union authorities confiscated his property in Port Fulton, Indiana, which became Jefferson General Hospital, the third-largest hospital during the Civil War. He was an unsuccessful candidate in filling the vacancy caused by his own expulsion in 1863.

Later life and career

After losing his home in Indiana, Bright moved to Covington, Kentucky. He was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871, was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket from Kentucky in the 1868 presidential election, and was president of the Raymond City Coal Company from 1871 to 1875. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1874 and died there May 20, 1875. He was interred in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.

Personal family story: A cousin of mine found a story of Sentor Jesse D Bright he wasn't sure where he found story love to confirm the story.

He was shafted. Long before the civil war Jefferson Davis, later the President of the confederacy, was shopping for weapons for his state's national guard and he wrote our Jesse and asked who in the northern states manufactured guns. The correspondence was found somewhere and it was taken as treason. In reality he was just helping the chamber of commerce.

The President pro tempore ( /ˌproʊ ˈtɛmpəriː/;[1][2] or /ˌproʊ ˈtɛmpəreɪ/;[2][3] also President pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and the highest-ranking official of the Senate despite not being a member of the body. During the Vice President's absence, the president pro tempore presides over its sessions or appoints another senator to do so. The president pro tempore is elected by the Senate and is customarily the longest serving senator in the majority party.[4] Normally, neither the Vice President of the United States nor the President pro tempore presides; instead, the duty is generally delegated to the junior senators of the majority party to help them learn parliamentary procedure.[5] The president pro tempore is third in the line of succession to the presidency, after the vice president and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.[6]

Senator Jesse David Bright Jesse David Bright was born in Norwich, New York, on 18 December 1812. When eight years old, his family moved to Indiana, where he eventually studied law. Admitted to the bar in 1831, he settled in Madison and began practicing law, but by 1834 he was elected probate court judge. In 1836, Jesse embarked on a political career, serving one term in the state legislature.

By 1841, he was elected to the state senate, and subsequently, in 1843, elected lieutenant-governor. After serving two years as lieutenant-governor, Bright was elected to three terms as a U.S. senator, serving as president pro tempore from 1854-1857 and 1860-1861.

On 1 March 1861, in what became his last term, Bright enraged several members of the Senate by referring to "His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States." This blunder, in combination with his previous leniency and compromise on slavery issues, motivated Senator Edwin V. Sumner and his followers to build an expulsion case on the grounds that Bright was disloyal. Several lengthy speeches were delivered in which Bright claimed he had made a mistake, but in the end, he was ousted 2 February 1862, by a vote of 32-14. Disgraced and branded a traitor, Jesse moved to Carollton, Kentucky and finally to Covington, Kentucky, to resume practicing law.

However, in 1866, he again entered politics, being elected to two terms in the Kentucky legislature. Commencing in 1871, he was named president of the Raymond (West Virginia) City Coal Company, a position he held until his death, 20 May 1875 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was interred in Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore.

From old family document on the Brecht family.

Jesse D. Bright was born 1812 - Norwich, N.Y. Died in 1875 in Baltimore. Moved with his faterh to Madison, Indiana, 100 miles below Cincinnati, Ohio in 1820. He attended the schools there, studied law, and in 1831 was admitted to the Indiana bar. Became circuit Judge, State Senator, Lieutinent Governor, 1845-1857 United States Senator and President of the Senate during several sessions. His third term would have expired in 1863. In April 1862 there was a charge of disloyalty preferred against him. Was expelled from teh senate. Afterwards settled in Kentucky and elected to State Senate.

U.S. Senator. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1831 and commenced to practice law in Madison, Indiana. He was elected judge of the probate court of Jefferson County, in 1834, was U.S. Marshal for the district of Indiana, (1840-41), a member Indiana State Senate, (1841-43) and Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, (1843-45). In 1845, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate, serving until 1862, when he was the only Senator expelled for being a Confederate States sympathizer during the Civil War. Moving to Kentucky, in 1863, he was a member of the Kentucky State House of Representatives, in 1866 and president of the Raymond City Coal Company, (1871-75). He then relocated to Maryland, until his death at age 62.

Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith