- In full:
- John Cabell Breckinridge
- Died:
- May 17, 1875, Lexington (aged 54)
- Political Affiliation:
- Democratic Party
John C. Breckinridge
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Who was John C. Breckinridge?
John C. Breckinridge (1821–1875) was the 14th vice president of the United States (1857–61). A lawyer and politician from a distinguished Kentucky family, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate.
In 1860, the Democratic Party split, and Breckinridge ran for president as the Southern Democrat candidate, advocating for federal protection of slavery. After losing to Abraham Lincoln, he resigned from the Senate and became a Confederate officer during the Civil War. Following the war, he spent three years in exile before returning to his law practice in Lexington, Kentucky.
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When did John C. Breckinridge serve as Vice President of the United States?
John C. Breckinridge served as the 14th vice president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. At the age of 36, he was the youngest individual to hold this office. In 1856, the Democratic Party nominated James Buchanan for president, and Breckinridge balanced the ticket between the North and South.
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Which president did John C. Breckinridge serve under as vice president?
John C. Breckinridge served as Vice President under President James Buchanan from 1857 to 1861. At the age of 36, Breckinridge was the youngest individual to hold the office of vice president in United States history.
Breckinridge's tenure occurred during a period of increasing sectional conflict, which neither he nor Buchanan were able to resolve. In 1860, the Democratic Party split, leading to Breckinridge's nomination as a presidential candidate by the Southern wing, which demanded federal intervention to protect slavery. He lost the election to Abraham Lincoln.
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What political party did John C. Breckinridge belong to?
John C. Breckinridge was affiliated with the Democratic Party. During the 1860 presidential election, the Democratic Party split due to disagreements over slavery. Northern Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas, while Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge. Breckinridge's platform demanded federal intervention to protect slave holdings. He ultimately lost the election to Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate.
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What important events took place during Breckinridge's time as vice president?
During John C. Breckinridge's vice presidency (1857–1861), several significant events occurred that heightened sectional conflict in the United States.
Key events during his term:
* Dred Scott Decision: In March 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that enslaved people were not entitled to freedom even if they resided in a free state or territory, and that African Americans could not be citizens. This ruling further fueled the slavery debate.
* Lecompton Constitution: In 1857, pro-slavery advocates in Kansas framed the Lecompton Constitution to protect slaveholding and exclude free blacks. Though rejected by Kansas voters, President Buchanan's support for it deepened divisions.
* Lincoln-Douglas Debates: In 1858, these debates highlighted the issue of slavery extension into territories, with Abraham Lincoln challenging Stephen A. Douglas on popular sovereignty and the Dred Scott decision.
* Panic of 1857: This financial crisis, triggered by railroad defaults and declining securities, led to bank closures and increased unemployment in the United States and Europe.5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What happened to John C. Breckinridge after he was vice president, especially during the Civil War?
After serving as the 14th U.S. Vice President (1857–61), John C. Breckinridge ran for president as a Southern Democrat in 1860, advocating for federal protection of slavery but lost to Abraham Lincoln.
When the Civil War began, Breckinridge resigned from the Senate and joined the Confederate army, becoming a brigadier general in November 1861. He participated in key campaigns such as Shiloh, Vicksburg, and the Shenandoah Valley. In the war's final months, he served as Confederate secretary of war before fleeing to England. After three years in exile, Breckinridge returned to the U.S. and resumed his law practice in Lexington, Kentucky, where he died in 1875.
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John C. Breckinridge (born January 21, 1821, near Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.—died May 17, 1875, Lexington) was the 14th vice president of the United States (1857–61), an unsuccessful presidential candidate of Southern Democrats (November 1860), and a Confederate officer during the American Civil War (1861–65).
Descended from an old Kentucky family distinguished in law and politics, Breckinridge was the only son of Joseph Cabell Breckinridge and Mary Clay Smith. Graduating from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, he studied law at Princeton University and Transylvania University. He became an attorney and began his political career in 1849 as a member of the state legislature. In 1851 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. During this troubled antebellum period, he established his reputation as a faithful Democrat, and, when his party nominated James Buchanan of Pennsylvania for president in 1856, Breckinridge was a natural choice to balance the ticket between North and South. Once in office, however, Buchanan and Breckinridge—at age 36 the youngest vice president in American history—were unable to fend off the sectional conflict.
Challenged by the newly formed Republican Party, which resisted extension of slavery into the territories, the Democratic Party broke apart at its national convention in the summer of 1860. The Northern wing nominated Stephen A. Douglas on a platform favouring the doctrine of popular sovereignty, whereby the people of each territory would decide whether to allow slavery within their region’s boundaries, while the Southerners chose Breckinridge on a separate ticket demanding federal intervention to protect slave holdings. Breckinridge insisted that he was not anti-Union but held that slavery could not be banned in a territory until it had become a state. Defeated in the November election by Republican Abraham Lincoln, Breckinridge succeeded John J. Crittenden as United States senator from Kentucky in March 1861 but resigned later that year. He worked for accommodation and compromise, but after Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina (April 12), in the first engagement of the American Civil War, he maintained that the Union no longer existed and urged Kentucky to feel free to secede (it temporarily remained neutral).
His formal expulsion from the Senate in December was a meaningless gesture because he had already been commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederate army in November. After the Battle of Shiloh (April 6–7, 1862), in which he commanded the reserve, he was promoted to the rank of major general and thereafter took part in many campaigns, including Vicksburg (June 1863), the Wilderness (May 1864), and Shenandoah Valley (1864–65). In the final months of the war, Breckinridge served as Confederate secretary of war, and at the end of the hostilities he fled to England. After a self-imposed exile of three years, he returned to resume his law practice in Lexington, where he died seven years later.