Background
DICKINSON, James Shelton was born on January 18, 1818 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, United States, United States.
DICKINSON, James Shelton was born on January 18, 1818 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, United States, United States.
Private school, law school.
After graduating from the University of Virginia Law School in 1844, he opened a law office at Grove Hill, Alabama, in 1845. In 1844, he married his first cousin, Mary F. Dickinson, by whom he had fourteen children. He married Alice A. Savage in June 1868 after the death of his first wife.
Dickinson was a Baptist, a Mason, and a member of the Sons of Temperance. He served in the Alabama Senate as a Democrat from 1853 to 1855. He was a presidential elector in the John C. Breckinridge (q. w.) ticket in 1860 and supported secession.
When the Civil War began, he raised and equipped a company, but he saw little military service. Dickinson served in the second Confederate House, defeating Charles C. Langdon in 1864. Generally a Davis administrator supporter, he held positions on the Claims, Commerce, and Conference Committees.
After the war, he returned home and became president of the Board of Trustees of the Grove Hill Academy. He also resumed his law practice.
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
He was a member of the Alabama State Senate from 1853 to 1855 and represented the state in the Second Confederate Congress.
Spouse Alice A.