United States Representative
What position did William Allen (governor) take in Nov 1833?
William Allen ( governor ) William Allen ( December 18 or 27 , 1803 – July 11 , 1879 ) was a Democratic Representative , Senator and 31st Governor of Ohio . Early life and family . Allen was born in Edenton , North Carolina and moved to Chillicothe , Ohio in 1819 , after his parents death . He was of Quaker ancestry . Allen and his sister Mary Granberry Allen lived in Chillicothe together . His sister married Reverend Pleasant Thurman , and their son , Allen G . Thurman , followed in his uncles footsteps , becoming a lawyer and politician . Allen attended Chillicothe Academy before studying law with Colonel Edward King . He was admitted to the bar in Ohio at age 21 . He began his career as a politician in the Democratic Party at a young age . Career . Allen served as United States Representative from Ohio from 1833 to 1835 , losing his bid for re-election . He served as United States Senator from Ohio from 1837 to 1849 , losing a bid for a third term in 1848 . While in the Senate , Allen was one of a group of Western Democrat expansionists who asserted that the U.S . had a valid claim to the entire Oregon Country , which was an issue during the 1844 U.S . presidential election . He suggested that the United States should be prepared to go to war with the United Kingdom in order to annex the entire Oregon Country up to Russian-owned Alaska at latitude 54°40′N . This position ultimately produced the slogan Fifty-Four Forty or Fight! , coined in 1846 by opponents of such a policy ( not , as popularly believed , a slogan in the 1844 Presidential campaign ) . Allen supported popular sovereignty and the presidential candidacy of fellow-Democrat Lewis Cass in 1848 . In 1849 , Allen retired to his farm , Fruit Hill , which had belonged to his father-in-law , and fellow Ohio Governor , Duncan McArthur , near Chillicothe , Ohio . Allen identified himself as a Peace Democrat by opposing the American Civil War . Allen did not return to public service for nearly a quarter century , until he served as Governor of Ohio from 1874 to 1876 . He unsuccessfully sought a second two-year term in an 1875 election . Allen was noted for his loud voice . A friend asked Senator Benjamin Tappan if a fellow Ohioan was still in Washington . Tappan replied No , he left yesterday and is probably by this time in Cumberland , Maryland , but if you will go to Bill Allen and tell him to raise that window and call him he will come back . Death . At the close of his administration , he retired to private life at Fruit Hill , where he died in 1879 . Allen is buried at Grandview Cemetery , Chillicothe . Legacy . Allen County , Kansas is named for William Allen . In 1887 , Ohio donated a statue of Allen to the National Statuary Hall Collection , which was exhibited in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S . Capitol . The statue was sculpted by Charles H . Niehaus . In 2010 , the Ohio Historical Society held a statewide poll on the suitability of Allen as a distinguished representative of the state . The poll found that many Ohioans objected to Allen . On August 26 , the Ohio National Statuary Committee voted to replace Allens statue with a statue of Ohio-born inventor Thomas Edison . The Ohio General Assembly agreed to replace the statue in part because Allen’s pro-slavery position and outspoken criticism of President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War make him a poor representative for Ohio in the U.S . Capitol . However , lack of funding for the Edison statue delayed replacement of the Allen statue . The Edison statue was completed in spring 2015 , and was installed on September 20 , 2016 . The statue of Allen was relocated to the Ross County Heritage Center in Chillicothe . External links . - National Statuary Hall Collection : William Allen at Architect of the Capitol