Senator John Pool

Dublin Core

Title

Senator John Pool

Subject

Civil Service

Description

Another in the category of Unionist political leaders in North Carolina, this is Pasquotank County native, John Pool.

Pool was an active member of the Whig party in the antebellum years, but became the leader of the "Opposition Party" and served as its candidate for Governor in 1860. A notable stump speaker, Pool narrowly lost the election (approx. 6,000 votes) to incumbent Governor John Willis Ellis.

Opposing secession, Pool returned to his plantation at the start of the War, and remained there until the "Peace Movement" flourished in 1864. He gained election to the State Senate at that time, and advocated a series of peace resolutions that ulimately failed passage.

At the conclusion of the War, Pool was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1865; presented credentials dated December 29, 1865, as a Republican Senator-elect to the United States Senate on February 8, 1866, but was not permitted to take his seat because the State had not been readmitted to representation. Upon the readmission of North Carolina, Pool was again elected to the United States Senate and served from July 14, 1868, to March 3, 1873.

Pool was a close ally of Governor William Woods Holden during the Reconstruction period, but ultimately made Washington, DC, his home after he retired from the U.S. Senate. Pool died in 1884, and is buried in D.C.'s Oak Hill Cemetery.

Creator

John W. Watson, Raleigh, North Carolina

Contributor

Fred D. Taylor Collection

Format

Carte-de-Visite

Files

John Pool.jpg

Citation

John W. Watson, Raleigh, North Carolina , “Senator John Pool,” Tar Heel Faces, accessed May 7, 2024, https://tarheelfaces.omeka.net/items/show/69.

Comments

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