David Rice Atchison David Rice Atchison ( August 11 , 1807January 26 , 1886 ) was a mid - 19th century Democratic United States Senator from Missouri . He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate for six years . He is best known for the claim that for one day ( March 4 , 1849 ) he may have been Acting President of the United States . Atchison , owner of many slaves and a plantation , was a prominent pro - slavery activist and Border Ruffian leader , deeply involved with violence against abolitionists and other free - staters during the " Bleeding Kansas " events . Early life . Atchison was born to William Atchison in Frogtown ( later Kirklevington ) , which is now part of Lexington , Kentucky . He was educated at Transylvania University in Lexington , where his classmates included five future Democratic senators ( Solomon Downs of Louisiana , Jesse Bright of Indiana , George W . Jones of Iowa , Edward Hannegan of Indiana , and Jefferson Davis of Mississippi ) . Atchison was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1829 . Missouri lawyer and politician . In 1830 he moved to Liberty in Clay County in western Missouri , and set up practice there , where he also farmed . Atchison ' s law practice flourished , and his best - known client was Mormon leader Joseph Smith , Jr . . Atchison represented Smith in land disputes with non - Mormon settlers in Caldwell County and Daviess County . Alexander William Doniphan joined Atchison ' s law practice in Liberty in May , 1833 . The two became fast friends and spent many leisure time hours playing cards , going the horse races , hunting , fishing , attending social functions and political events . Atchison , already a member of the Liberty Blues , a volunteer militia in Missouri , got Doniphan to join . Atchison was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1834 . He worked hard for the Platte Purchase , which extended the northwestern boundary of Missouri to the Missouri River in 1837 . When the earlier disputes broke out into the so - called Mormon War of 1838 , Atchison was appointed a major general in the state militia and took part in suppression of the violence by both sides . In 1838 he was re - elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives . Three years later , he appointed a circuit court judge for the six - county area of the Platte Purchase . In 1843 he was named a county commissioner in Platte County , where he then lived . Senate career . In October 1843 , Atchison was appointed to the U . S . Senate to fill the vacancy left by the death of Lewis F . Linn . He thus became the first senator from western Missouri . At age 36 , he was the youngest senator from Missouri up to that time . Later in 1843 , Atchison was appointed to serve the remainder of Linn ' s term , which he shared with fellow senator Jason Zein , and was re - elected in 1849 . Atchison was very popular with his fellow Senate Democrats . When the Democrats took control of the Senate in December 1845 , they chose Atchison as President pro tempore , placing him third in succession for the Presidency , and also giving him the duty of presiding over the Senate when the was absent . He was then only 38 years old and had served in the Senate just two years . In 1849 Atchison stepped down as President pro tempore in favor of William R . King . King in turn yielded the office back to Atchison in December 1852 , since King had been elected Vice President of the United States . Atchison continued as President pro tempore until December 1854 . As a Senator , Atchison was a fervent advocate of slavery and territorial expansion . He supported the annexation of Texas and the U . S . - Mexican War . Atchison and Missouri ' s other Senator , the venerable Thomas Hart Benton , became rivals and finally enemies , though both were Democrats . Benton declared himself to be against slavery in 1849 , and in 1851 Atchison allied with the Whigs to defeat Benton for re - election . Benton , intending to challenge Atchison in 1854 , began to agitate for territorial organization of the area west of Missouri ( now the states of Kansas and Nebraska ) so it could be opened to settlement . To counter this , Atchison proposed that the area be organized " and " that the section of the Missouri Compromise banning slavery there be repealed in favor of popular sovereignty , under which the settlers in each territory would decide themselves whether slavery would be allowed . At Atchison ' s request , Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced the Kansas - Nebraska Act , which embodied this idea , in November 1853 . The Act became law in May 1854 , establishing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska . Border Ruffians . Douglas ( and Atchison ) had assumed that Nebraska would be settled by Free - State men from Iowa and Illinois , and Kansas by pro - slavery Missourians and other Southerners , thus preserving the numerical balance between free states and slave states . In 1854 Atchison helped found the town of Atchison , Kansas , as a pro - slavery settlement . The town ( and county ) were named for him . In fact , while Southerners welcomed the opportunity to settle Kansas , very few actually chose to do so . Instead , most free - soilers preferred Kansas . Furthermore , anti - slavery activists throughout the North came to view Kansas as a battleground and formed societies to encourage free - soil settlers to go to Kansas and ensure that both Kansas and Nebraska would become free states . It appeared as if the Kansas Territorial legislature to be elected in March 1855 would be controlled by free - soilers and ban slavery . This was viewed as a breach of faith by Atchison and his supporters . An angry Atchison called on pro - slavery Missourians to uphold slavery by force and " to kill every God - damned abolitionist in the district " if necessary . He recruited an immense mob of heavily armed Missourians , the infamous " Border Ruffian s " . On the election day , March 30 , 1855 , Atchison led 5 , 000 Border Ruffians into Kansas . They seized control of all polling places at gunpoint , cast tens of thousands of fraudulent votes for pro - slavery candidates , and elected a pro - slavery legislature . The outrage was nonetheless accepted by the Federal government . When Territorial Governor Andrew Reeder objected , he was fired by President Pierce , a Doughface . Despite this show of force , far more free - soilers than pro - slavery settlers migrated to Kansas . There were continual raids and ambushes by both sides in " Bleeding Kansas " . But in spite of the best efforts of Atchison and the Ruffians , Kansas did reject slavery and finally became a free state in 1861 . Defeated for re - election . Atchison ' s Senate term expired March 4 , 1855 . He sought election to another term , but the Democrats in the Missouri legislature were split between him and Benton , while the Whig minority put forward their own man . No Senator was elected until January 1857 , when James S . Green was chosen . Railroad proposal . When the First Transcontinental Railroad was proposed in the 1850s , Atchison called for it to be built along the central route ( from St . Louis through Missouri , Kansas , and Utah ) , rather than the southern route ( from New Orleans through Texas and New Mexico ) . Naturally , his suggested route went through Atchison . Civil War soldier . Atchison and A . W . Doniphan would fall out over the politics preceding the Civil War and on which direction Missouri should proceed . Atchison favored secession , while Doniphan was torn and would remain for the most part non - committal . Privately Doniphan favored the Union , but found it hard to go against his friends and associates . During the secession crisis in Missouri at the beginning of the American Civil War , Atchison sided with Missouri ' s pro - Confederate governor , Claiborne Jackson . He accepted an appointment as a general in the Missouri State Guard . Atchison actively recruited State Guardsmen in northern Missouri and served with Missouri State Guard commander General Sterling Price in the summer campaign of 1861 . In September 1861 , Atchison led 3 , 500 State Guard recruits across the Missouri River to reinforce Price , and defeated Union troops that tried to block his force in the Battle of Liberty . Atchison continued to serve through the end of 1861 . In March 1862 , Union forces in the Trans - Mississippi theater won a decisive victory at Pea Ridge in Arkansas and secured Union control of Missouri . Atchison then resigned from the army over reported strategy arguments with General Price and moved to Texas for the duration of the Civil War . After the war he retired to his farm near Gower , Missouri and was noted to deny many of his pro - slavery public statements made prior to the Civil War . In addition , his retirement cottage outside of Plattsburg , MO burned to the ground before his death in 1886 . This included the complete loss of his library containing books , documents and letters which documented his role in the Mormon War , Indian affairs , pro - slavery activities , Civil War activities and other legslation covering his career as a lawyer , senator and soldier . " President for One Day " . Atchison himself never claimed that he was technically President of the United States for one day — Sunday , March 4 , 1849 . Outgoing President James Polk ' s term ended at noon on March 4 , which was a Sunday . His successor , Zachary Taylor , refused to be sworn into office on Sunday . As President " pro tempore " , and therefore Acting Vice President , under the presidential succession law in place at the time , Atchison was believed by some to be Acting President . In an interview with the " St . Louis Globe - Democrat " , Atchison revealed that he slept through most of the day of his alleged presidency : " There had been three or four busy nights finishing up the work of the Senate , and I slept most of that Sunday . " Despite this , a museum exhibit opened in his honor , in which its owner claims it to be the country ' s smallest Presidential Library . Although it is not recognized as such by the U . S Government , it opened in February 2006 as the Atchison County Historical Museum in Atchison , Kansas . Atchison discussed the claim in a September 1872 issue of the " Plattsburg Lever " : Atchison was 41 years and 6 months old at the alleged time of the One - Day Presidency , younger than any official President . Theodore Roosevelt , the youngest to serve , was 42 years and 11 months old when he was sworn in following the death of William McKinley in 1901 , and John F . Kennedy , the youngest to be elected , was 43 years and 7 months old when he was inaugurated in 1961 . Memorials . Atchison died on January 26 , 1886 , at the age of 78 . He was buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Plattsburg , Missouri , where a statue honors him in front of the Clinton County Courthouse . His grave marker reads " President of the United States for One Day . " Atchison , Kansas , is named for him . The town subsequently gave its name to the famous Atchison , Topeka , and Santa Fe Railroad . In 1991 , Atchison was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians , and a bronze bust depicting him is on permanent display in the rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol . There is also a memorial for Atchison located in the Landsdowne area of Lexington , Kentucky . See also . Places named for David Atchison External links . Retrieved on 2008 - 02 - 13