The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-03-23
HON "A. o. p. NICHOLSON THE NEW SENA7OR
FROM TENNESSEE
From lie uompAls DAILY Avalanche, March 10

nessee bat, as it may not be SO well known to all our
readers, we deem IL proper on the occasion of his reap
pearance upon the theatre of national politics 10 pub
lsh the following brief sketch Of his lse:
Alfred o. p. Nicholson was born ia Williamson eoun-
ty, Tennessee, on the 3lst day Of August, 1903. While
lac was yet very young his father removed with him 10
the adjoining county of Maury, where he soon after died,
leaving the subject Of this sketch and an elder brother
and sister TO the care Of his widow, AN excellent woman,
who is yet living. As soon as he was prepared for col
lege, Mr.. Nicholson entered the University Of North Car
olina at Chapel Hill, where he graduated at a very early
age. Upon leaving the college he commenced the study
OF medicine, but finding, after attending a course of lee
lures, that the profession was not suited TO his taste, he
abandoned IL for the law, and about the same time be-
came the conductor ota newspaper at Columbia, which
he continued TO edit for some years after he obtained Ii
cense 10 practice his profession. His first appearance in
public life was as a member Of the legislature of 1885.
Young as he was, he was one OF the few men Of that body
who had the moral courage 10 resist, in the face of an
overwhelming popular sentiment, the nomination OF
Judge White as a candidate for the presidency move
ment which he saw and predicted would inevitably end
in dividing and distracting the democratic party.
His speech in opposition TO this movement was printed
and extensively circulated throughout the State and he
was also the author of the address TO the people of Ten
nessee, issued and sent out over the names of the six
democratic members then in the legislature, and which
was generally used as a campaign document in the cele-
brated canvass of 1886. For the zeal, fidelity, and abii
ity with which he represented them In the legislature of
1885, and in the extra session of 1886, Mr.. Nicholson
constituents returned him to the legislature of 1887 by a
largely Increased vote. In 1889, when james h, FOLK
became "a candidate for governor, Mr.. Nicholson, at the
earnest solicitation of his friends, was announced as a
candidate for Congress, in order that Mr.. Folks old con-
gressional district--then thought to be doubtful might
be secured TO the democracy but, after canvassing the
district, and judging it entirely secure, he voluntarily re-
tired from the field, and his place was taken by the Hon.
Harvey M. Watterson, who was triumphantly elected.
In 1910 Mr.. Nicholson was appointed an elector on the
VUp Buren, ticket by the democracy of his district. He
at once accepted the post, though at a heavy personal
sacrifice. The cause he knew was hopeless, but its very
hopelessness neryed him to additional exertions, and
leaving his district in the hands of its other able and dis
tinguished democratic champions, he canvassed the
greater portion of the State, meeting and combating the
ablest speakers of the opposition, among whom was the
Hon. John Bell, then, as now, the Ajax Telemon of his
party in Tennessee. In 1871 Mr.. Nicholson was selected
by Gov. Polk to fill the vacancy in the Senate of the
United States, occasioned by the death Of the lamented
Judge Grundy. In that body he served two sessions, one
of which was the celebrated extra session of l841 and
no higher compliment could be paid him than to say
that, among such men rs Clay. Calhoun, Webster, Ben
ton, Buchanan, Woodbury., and Pierce, then members of
the Senate, he, the very youngest, we believe, of them
all, occupied a place in the front rank for ability and
craftsmanship. In l843 he made his last race before the
people, carrying his senatorial district, against the Hon
Terry IL. Calal, one of the ablcst and most popular men
of his party in the State. b a..aa.gs . .u.ar .
The presidential canvass of 1874 found Mr.. Nicholson
a practising lawyer, with u large and lucrative business,
laboring to mend up his private affairs, then almost hope
lessly deranged by his constant service in the cause of de-
mocracy. But even under these circumstances, and
when he would have been fully justified in taking no
part in the canvass, Nh. Nicholson did not hesitate AZ to
his course. Promptly and cheerfully he laid aside his
iaw-books, gave up his practice, and enlisted for the war
and throughout that hare -fought and exciting contest,
James X. Polk had no more able, no more Jealous, no
more eloquent friend battling for his success than A. o.
p. Nicholson. Where the fight waxcd hottest and the
blows fell thickest, there was found this indolnitable
champion of democracy, welding his resistloss battle-axc,
and sending death and destruction into the ranks of the
enemy. In 1915 Mr.. Nicholson took charge of the
Nashville Union, which he edited for two years, and in
which position he rendered invaluable aid to the late Hon.
Aaron ". Brown, the democratic candidate for governor
ia 1915. In the winter Of the same year he was nomi-
mated by the democrats of the legislature as their candi-
date for the United States Senate, but was defeated by
the Hon. Hopkins L. Turney, through a combination be-
tween the wings and a few democrats. In 1913, when
the old veteran of Michigan, General Cass, was the dem
cratic candidate for the presidency, Mr.. Nicholson again
took the field as o volunteer speaker in behalf of his
election, and in this capacity labored throughout the can
vass. AS a member of the committee on resolutions in
the Southern Convention, which met in Nashville in
1850, Mr.. Nicholson maintained, by an able and elabo-
rate argument, that the Missouri Compromise was I'M
constitutional that the line established by that compro-
mise ought not To be extended, as was insisted by the ex-
trcmest of that convention, to the Pacific ocean, and that
the principle of congressional non intervention, after-
wards adopted as the basis of settlement in framing the
Compromise measures of 1850, was the only true solu-
ton of the slavery difficulty and that he was right in
all these positions has been fully determined by the peo-
pie of the United States IN their endorsement Of the Com
promise measures ana lHe Observation-Disclosures act, anu also
by the highest judicial tribunal of the country, in It's de-
cision upon the celebrated DEed Scott case.
Upon the death of Judge Cahal, Governor Trousdale
appointed Mr.. Nicholson to the vacant chancellorship.
lie accepted the appointment, and filed it with marked
ability, and to the entire satisfaction of the bar, until the
meeting of the Legislature, when he declined an election
and returned onee moro 10 the practice of his profession.
But he was not permitted to remain long in retirement.
In 1852 the democratic State convention appointed him
q delegate to the Baltimore convention, and an elector
for the State at large. Many of the delegates in the con
vention, both from his own and other States, insisted on
placing his name in nomination for the Vice Presidency
on the ticket with Gen. Pierce. This honor, however,
he promptly declined, and did all in his power to secure
the nomination of Gen. Pillow. Returning home he
took the field in the capacity of elector, and with Major
Gustavus A. Henry as his competitor, canyassed the
State, everywhere winning brilliant victories for his party
and golden opinions for himself. In 1853 Gen. Pierce,
who had served with him in the Senate, and knew his
worth rs a man, and his ability as a statesman, rendered
Mr.. Nicholson a place in his cabinet. This, too, he de
clined. He afterwards took charge of the Washington
Union, which he continued 10 edit until the close OF Presi-
dent Pierce's Administration. Every reader or the Union
knows the signal ability with which it was conducted du-
ring the period of Mr.. Nicholson's editorship, as we'll as
the great service IL rendered the cause of democracy and
southern rights during the pending of the Nebraska bill
before Congress, and throughout the Presidential canvass
of 1856 which followed. In 1856 Mr.. Nicholson left his
post no Washington and came to aid the democracy of
his native State in their great battle against know-noth-
ingism and to his eloquent and powerful efforts upon
the stump, and to his commanding influence with the
people, the democracy of Tennessee are, in no small de-
gree, indebted for the glorious result which followed.
: In the Cincinnati convention of 1858 the friends of Mr..
Nicholson again Insisted on placing his name in nomina-
ton for the vice presidency but he again declined the
honor, and this time in favor of another distinguished
1ennesscean, the late Hon. Aaron Y. Brown. The con
yenlion over, he returned to Washington, and, as We
h,yo Inc,ra soiI Iabnrad uaaJnusly and oasilunus1v fr