Atchison was born in August 1807 in what’s known today as Lexington, Kentucky, and he studied law in his home state before relocating to Missouri. After he opened his own firm, though, he carved out his place in history by working for Joseph Smith. Smith, in case you didn’t know, was the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – otherwise known as the Mormon Church.
In 1833 there was a movement to expel Smith’s followers, popularly referred to as Mormons, from Jackson County, MI. But Atchison stepped forward to defend them, winning himself a whole heap of fans in the process. And after being backed by these supporters, he was able to secure a seat in the state’s House of Representatives in 1834.
Still, the Mormons’ troubles weren’t over, and in 1838 the persecution escalated into all-out war. That year, Atchison joined the state militia, serving as a senior officer and helping to control the fighting that was erupting across the state. Then, after peace of a sort was reached, he went on to take a post as a judge in the state court.
Ultimately, though, Atchison was destined for bigger and better things. But how did this promising career culminate in the shortest presidential term in recorded history? Well, the Kentucky native’s ascent to power began in 1843, when he was called upon to step into an empty U.S. Senate seat.
Atchison, being just 36 years old, was far younger than many of the men he served alongside. But that didn’t stop him from becoming well-liked among other Democrats. In fact, in 1845 he was appointed to a significant role within the Senate. This was a key development in the bizarre saga that was to come.
However, while Atchison’s support for the beleaguered Mormons may make him seem like a hero, he was actually nothing of the sort. While in the Senate, he spoke in support of slavery on numerous occasions. He also helped to bring in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Thanks to this legislation, the practice of slavery spread to other states – causing further friction in antebellum America.
In fact, according to the U.S. Senate’s own website, Atchison once went so far as to threaten violence against members of the Abolitionist movement. And while this attitude earned Atchison the dubious distinction of having a town named after him in Kansas, it also contributed to the bloodshed that consumed the state. Ultimately, then, he may have helped to fan the flames of the Civil War.
So, how did a vehemently pro-slavery senator wind up as president when many were skirting around abolition? And did this issue have anything to do with the laughable length of his term? Certainly, slavery was a topic that would make or break a number of political careers over the years.
In reality, though, what happened in 1849 was something altogether more bizarre. You see, during the early days of Atchinson’s stint in the Senate, the White House was occupied by President James K. Polk. However, before his election in 1844, Polk had promised to limit his tenure to just a single term.
Keeping his word, Polk left office at precisely midday on March 4, 1849. According to tradition, that was when the next president, the aforementioned Zachary Taylor, should’ve been sworn in. That year, though, Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday – a day that strict Christians tend to reserve for rest.
As a result, the staunchly religious Taylor pushed his inauguration ceremony back to March 5. But with Polk leaving office a day earlier, there was an undeniable gap. Does this mean someone else had been president between one man standing down and the next taking office? According to some historians, it did, and the man who filled the role was Atchison.
This isn’t as far-fetched a prospect as you may think. Back in 1845, Atchison had been appointed president pro tempore of the Senate. Essentially, this meant it was his job to watch over proceedings when the vice president, who was usually in charge at the Senate, was otherwise engaged.
But there was another element to Atchison’s title, and it’s this that inspired one of antebellum America’s strangest political stories. According to the laws of the time, the president pro tempore was also second in line to the presidency. So, technically, if anything had happened to both Polk and his vice president, then Atchison would have been in charge.
Of course, nothing untoward happened to Polk. But he did leave a vacuum of power behind when he stepped down – one that would not be filled for 24 hours. And given that the vice president’s term would also have ended at the same juncture, that may have left Atchison as de facto leader of the country.
Just seven days after Taylor’s eventual inauguration, the Virginia newspaper the Alexandria Gazette published an article seemingly confirming the bizarre theory. It read, “[Atchison] was on Sunday, by virtue of his office, president of the United States – for one day!”
And in 1907 the Philadelphia Press claimed that Atchison had embraced his temporary role with gusto. The newspaper revealed, “That Senator Atchison considered himself president there was no doubt. For on Monday morning, when the Senate reassembled, he sent to the White House for the seal of the great office and signed one or two official papers as president.”
That wasn’t all. According to the Senate’s official website, the article went on to claim that Atchison’s fellow Democrats had jokingly proposed he stage a coup to stop Taylor from taking power. By this point, the story of the shortest presidency ever had spread far and wide, even appearing in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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