	Site Map \| FAQ in Daily Almanac for May 24, 2012
Skip Navigation Home Asian Pacific American Heritage Atlas Encyclopedia Dictionary Thesaurus Features Quizzes Timelines Countries

Fact Monster Kid's reference,
games, quizzes

Editor's Favorites

| Share

History and Government—Congressional Biographies—Missouri

Trusten POLK

(1811-1876)

Senate Years of Service:

1857-1862

Party:

Democrat

POLK, Trusten, a Senator from Missouri; born near Bridgeville, Sussex County, Del., May 29, 1811; attended the common schools and a private academy; graduated from Yale College in 1831; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1835 and commenced practice in St. Louis, Mo.; city counselor of St. Louis 1843; delegate to the Missouri State constitutional convention in 1845; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1848; inaugurated as Governor of Missouri in January 1857 but soon afterward resigned, having been elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate; served from March 4, 1857, to January 10, 1862, when he was expelled for support of the rebellion; during the Civil War served as colonel in the Confederate Army; judge in the military courts of the department of Mississippi in 1864 and 1865, until taken prisoner; resumed the practice of law in St. Louis, Mo., and died there April 16, 1876; interment in Bellefontaine Cemetery.