Willie Person Mangum was an american politician. He served as a Jacksonian congressman from North Carolina.
Background
Willie Person Mangum was born on May 10, 1792, in Orange (now Durham) County, North Carolina. He was the son of William Person Mangum, a farmer and merchant, and of Catharine (Davis) Mangum, a native of Pennsylvania. Like that of Willie Jones his Christian name was pronounced Wylie.
Education
Mangum's preparatory education was received at home and at academies in Hillsboro, Fayetteville, and Raleigh, and in 1815, he was graduated from the University of North Carolina.
He studied law under Judge Duncan Cameron, while serving as tutor in his family, and was licensed in 1817.
Career
Beginning practice at home, Mangum was immediately successful, but his mind was set on public life. In 1818 and 1819, he was a member of the House of Commons, where he actively supported the cause of constitutional reform, thereby winning great popularity in the western part of the state. In 1819, he was elected a judge of the superior court but was compelled for financial reasons to retire at the end of a year.
In 1823, he began a service of two terms in the federal Congress. In 1824, he supported Crawford and voted for him when the election was thrown into the House. He resigned in 1826 and was soon appointed to fill a vacancy as judge, but the appointment was not confirmed by the legislature.
In 1828, he was a Jackson elector and was again elected judge, but once more he resigned after a year's service. He was a candidate for the United States Senate in 1828 but withdrew, and in 1830, he was elected. He entered the Senate a Jacksonian Democrat, a strong opponent of the protective tariff, and a champion of state rights.
In the House, he had been an opponent of the Bank of the United States, but by this time he was converted to its cause, though he objected to making it an issue in 1832 and voted against the rechartering bill. At this time, he was distrustful of Clay and in general disapproved of his policies. While opposed to nullification, he was friendly to South Carolina in 1832 and voted against the Force Bill in 1833.
This measure and the removal of the deposits led to a definite break with Jackson, and he voted for the resolution of censure and against the expunging resolution. The North Carolina legislature of 1834, in the hands of the Democrats, passed a resolution instructing him to vote to expunge. Mangum, denying the right of instruction, refused to obey, but the succeeding legislature was also Democratic and he resigned.
In 1837, he received the electoral vote of South Carolina for president. Except for service in the state Senate in 1840, he remained in private life busily engaged in the practice of law for several years. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1840 and served until 1853.
He was active in the Whig quarrel with Tyler, directing the caucus, and he offered the resolution reading him out of the party. He was elected president pro tempore of the Senate from May 31, 1842, to March 4, 1845, and was thus acting vice-president of the United States.
He seldom spoke in the Senate, but when he did so he proved himself an effective debater. In 1852, he was a supporter of Scott for the Whig nomination. He was defeated in 1852 and retired to private life.
Achievements
Mangum served in the House of Representatives from 1823-1826. He also served in the US Senate from 1831-1836 and from 1840-1853.
He was one of the founders and leading members of the Whig party and was a candidate for president in 1836 as part of the unsuccessful Whig strategy to defeat Martin Van Buren. He is, as of 2018, the only major-party presidential nominee to have been a North Carolinian at the time of his nomination.
Politics
Mangum identified himself with the Whig party and became one of its chief leaders in the state. He was a Clay delegate to the Whig convention of 1839, and was offered the nomination for vice-president, but refused it.
Personality
Mangum was a most astute political leader, and his personal charm and magnetism as well as his brilliancy in conversation gave him great strength. In North Carolina he was best known for his power as a campaign speaker. He was the intimate of Webster and, with his colleague, George E. Badger, persuaded him to make his Seventh of March speech.
Although in desperate health, he took an active part for Fillmore in the campaign of 1856 but not long thereafter suffered a stroke of apoplexy from which he never recovered. He was not a secessionist, but after Lincoln's call for troops he yielded the point. After the death of his only son in battle a second stroke proved fatal.
Connections
On September 30, 1819, Mangum married Charity Alston Cain, the daughter of William and Sarah (Alston) Cain of Orange County.