Background
William Alexander Graham was born on September 5, 1804, near Vesuvius Furnace in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States. He was the eleventh child and youngest son of Joseph and Isabella Davidson Graham.
Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Entering the University of North Carolina in the summer of 1820, William graduated with high honor in 1824.
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William Alexander Graham was born on September 5, 1804, near Vesuvius Furnace in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States. He was the eleventh child and youngest son of Joseph and Isabella Davidson Graham.
Graham was educated in the private schools in the neighborhood, at Dr. Muchat's Classical Academy at Statesville, and at the Hillsboro Academy. Entering the University of North Carolina in the summer of 1820, he graduated with high honor in 1824.
He studied law under Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin at Hillsboro, obtained his county court license in December 1826, and his superior court license a year later, and settled at Hillsboro for the practice of his profession. In the course of a decade, he was a recognized leader of that bar.
William Alexander Graham's public life commenced as a member of the House of Commons in 1833. He was continuously a member of that body, serving twice as its speaker, until his election as United States senator, November 24, 1840.
In November 1840, Graham was elected for the unexpired term of Senator Strange, but since the General Assembly of North Carolina of 1842-1843, was Democratic, he was retired to private life on March 4, 1843.
On December 7, 1843, he was unanimously nominated for governor by the Whig convention in Raleigh and was elected the following August by a substantial majority. He retired from that office at the end of his second term in January 1849. In both terms, he demonstrated his superior ability as an administrator, particularly in the building and financing of railroads.
In the summer of 1849, President Taylor offered him his choice of missions to Russia and Spain. He refused to accept either, but at the death of Taylor and the reorganization of the cabinet by his successor Fillmore, he was tendered and accepted the secretaryship of the navy.
During his incumbency of this office, he was a moving spirit in four measures of far-reaching importance: namely, the reorganization of the coast survey; the reorganization of the personnel of the navy; the exploration of the Amazon; and the expedition to Japan. The third was suggested to him by M. F. Maury and the fourth by Commodore M. C. Perry.
In June 1852, Graham was nominated for the vice-presidency by the Whig National Convention at Baltimore, with General Winfield Scott as his chief. He then resigned his seat in the cabinet. The result of the election was foredoomed; it was not a Whig year.
At the end of the Fillmore administration, Graham returned to North Carolina with a reputation as man and statesman as extensive as the country itself. Thenceforward until his death, he was distinctly a leader of the moderates.
He was elected to the Senate of the Confederacy in February 1864 and took his seat in May of that year.
Here he worked to secure the opening of negotiations looking to peace without independence, and, after the failure of the Hampton Roads conference, he urged action on the part of individual states - an utterly hopeless scheme.
He was elected by the General Assembly. The same year he was a delegate to the Philadelphia union convention.
From 1873 to 1875, he was an arbitrator on the issue of the disputed state boundary line. Graham, who was also interested in preserving and collecting the sources of the history of the state, served as president of the North Carolina Historical Society.
Graham was a Presbyterian.
In 1860, Graham supported John Bell for president and opposed the calling of the state convention.
Although he was strongly opposed to secession, he was a delegate to the convention from Orange County. He not only signed the Ordinance of Secession, but he also ran (unsuccessfully) for president of the convention. He opposed North Carolina’s supporting the Confederate Constitution.
Graham generally opposed the Davis administration. An extreme advocate of states' rights, Graham feared executive tyranny because of the president's excessive use of the veto.
In 1864, he urged Governor Zebulon Vance to negotiate for a separate peace. He supported the Hampton Roads Conference and in 1865 joined R.M.T. Hunter and James L. Orr in urging President Davis to accept favorable peace terms short of independence.
William's loyalty and diligence, along with his sound political ability, made him one of the most respected men in the Confederate Senate.
On June 8, 1836, Graham was married to Susannah Sarah Washington of New Bern, North Carolina. Of their ten children, seven sons and one daughter survived him.