John Burton Thompson

John B. Thompson
United States Senator from Kentucky
In office March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1859
Preceded by	Joseph R. Underwood
Succeeded by	Lazarus W. Powell
15th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
In office September 2, 1851 – 1853
Governor	Lazarus W. Powell
Preceded by	John L. Helm
Succeeded by	James Greene Hardy
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 5th district
In office December 7, 1840 – March 3, 1843 March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1851
Preceded by	Simeon H. Anderson Bryan Young
Succeeded by	James W. Stone
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives
In office 1835-1837
Member of the Kentucky Senate
In office 1829–1833
Personal details
Born	(1810-12-14)December 14, 1810 Harrodsburg, Kentucky, US
Died	January 7, 1874(1874-01-07) (aged 63) Harrodsburg, Kentucky, US
Political party	Whig, Know Nothing
Relatives	Maria T. Daviess (sister) Philip B. Thompson Jr. (son)
Profession	Politician, Lawyer
Signature

John Burton Thompson (December 14, 1810 – January 7, 1874) was a US Congressman and Senator from Kentucky.

Early life

Born near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Thompson grew up in a pro-slavery household with parents who owned six slaves. When his father died in 1833, his mother became the enslaver. He continued his family's legacy of slave ownership throughout his political career.

After he completed his preparatory studies, he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1831. He practiced law in Harrodsburg and became the Commonwealth's Attorney.

Political career

Kentucky Legislature

Thompson was elected to the Kentucky Senate in 1829 and served until 1833. In 1835, he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives where he served two 2-year terms.

House of Representatives

In 1840, he was elected as a Whig to the United States House of Representatives to fill the vacancy in Kentucky's 5th District caused by the death of Simeon H. Anderson. He was subsequently reelected in 1842 and served until March 3, 1843. After a time out of Congress, he was again elected to represent the same district, serving this time from March 4, 1847, to March 3, 1851. During this time he was chairman of the US House Committee on the Militia.

Lieutenant governor

He was the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 1852.

United States Senate

In 1852, he was elected to the United States Senate as a member of the Know-Nothing party. He served from March 4, 1853, to March 3, 1859.

Political views

Over time, his political views had changed. He had been a Clay Whig until the disruption of the party just before the US Civil War, when he became a Constitutional Unionist. In 1870, he accepted a nomination as President of the "Radical Congressional Convention".

Personal life

Enslaving of African Americans

In 1840, Thompson was the enslaver of one female between 10 and 23 years of age. By 1850, he owned three enslaved people: a 21-year-old woman, a 12-year-old boy, and a 1-year-old girl.

On September 24, 1857, the Springfield Daily Republican published an article titled "Bogus Fugitives". The article stated that two men were "passing themselves off" for fugitive slaves. One of them was named George Thompson. George said that he was the slave of Senator Thompson of Kentucky and that he had been his body servant in Washington. The article is written to dissuade the public from believing this information and claims that George Thompson "is said to be very shrewd and adept at humbug."

In early February 1859, the Cleveland Herald published an article titled "What a Batch of Pies Cost a United States Senator." The article stated that two "passengers" came through on the "underground railroad train" from Kentucky. One was Senator Thompson's "boy", a mulatto of 18 to 20 years of age. The young man had put a batch of pies in the oven, leaving the door open because the oven was too hot. However, the door shut accidentally and the pies were burned. For this offense, he was threatened with a whipping in the morning. Instead, he and another enslaved man fled together before daylight. They made their way from Kentucky to Ohio on the underground railroad. The article speculated that the young man who fled the Thompson household was the biological son of Senator Thompson.

In 1860, Thompson was living in the same household as his mother. He was employed as a lawyer with real estate valued at $1,500 and a personal estate valued at $8,000. His mother Nancy's real estate was valued at $3,250 and her personal estate at $10,000. She was the enslaver of a 60-year-old male, a 35-year-old female, and an 18-year-old male. Thompson was not listed in the slave schedule for this year.

Marriage and death

Thompson remained a single man throughout his political career. On March 28, 1868, he married Mary Hardin (Chinn) Bowman in Harrodsberg, Mercer County, Kentucky. She was the widow of Dr. Benjamin Bowman. The couple did not have any children together.

Thompson died in Harrodsburg and was interred in Spring Hill Cemetery.

John B. Thompson, photograph by Mathew Brady

References

• United States Congress. "John Burton Thompson (id: T000208)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Notes