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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—MissouriBLAIR, Francis Preston, Jr.
(1821—1875)
Senate Years of Service:
1871-1873
Party:
Democrat
BLAIR, Francis Preston, Jr., a Representative and a Senator from Missouri; born in Lexington, Ky., on February 19, 1821; as a child moved with his father to Washington, D.C.; attended private schools and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; graduated from Princeton College in 1841; studied law at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.; admitted to the bar in 1842 and commenced practice in St. Louis in 1843; enlisted as a private during the Mexican War; served as attorney general of the Territory of New Mexico; resumed the practice of law in St. Louis; member, State house of representatives 1852-1856; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1859); successfully contested the election of John R. Barret to the Thirty-sixth Congress and served from June 8 to June 25, 1860, when he resigned; unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Thirty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation; elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress and served from March 4, 1861, until his resignation in July 1862 to become a colonel in the Union Army; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Thirty-seventh Congress); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1863, to June 10, 1864, when he was succeeded by Samuel Knox, who contested the election; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States in 1868; member, State house of representatives 1870; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Charles D. Drake and served from January 20, 1871, to March 3, 1873; was not a candidate for reelection; State insurance commissioner in 1874; died in St. Louis, Mo., July 8, 1875; interment in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Bibliography
Dictionary of American Biography
; Smith, William E. The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics
. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1933; Wurthman, Leonard B., Jr. “Frank Blair: Lincoln’s Congressional Spokesman.” Missouri Historical Review
64 (April 1970): 263-88.
Croly, David Goodman. Seymour and Blair, Their Lives and Services with an Appendix Containing a History of Reconstruction
. New York: Richardson & Co., 1868.
Lane, Wheaton J. “Francis Preston Blair, Jr. [1821-1875]: Border Statesman.” In The Lives of Eighteen from Princeton
, edited by Willard Thorp, pp. 243-64. 1946. Reprint. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1968.
Phillips, Christopher. “The Radical Crusade: Blair, Lyon, and the Advent of the Civil War in Missouri.” Gateway Heritage
10 (Spring 1990): 22-43.
Rollins, C.B. “Some Impressions of Frank P. Blair.” Missouri Historical Review
24 (April 1930): 352-58.
Smith, William Ernest. The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics
. 2 vols. 1933. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1969.
Wurthman, Leonard B., Jr. “Frank Blair: Lincoln’s Congressional Spokesman.” Missouri Historical Review
64 (April 1970): 263-88.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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