David Rice Atchison
David Rice Atchison | |
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| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office December 20, 1852 – December 4, 1854 | |
| Preceded by | William R. King |
| Succeeded by | Lewis Cass |
| In office August 8, 1846 – December 2, 1849 | |
| Preceded by | Ambrose Hundley Sevier (acting) |
| Succeeded by | William R. King |
| United States Senator from Missouri | |
| In office October 14, 1843 – March 3, 1855 | |
| Preceded by | Lewis F. Linn |
| Succeeded by | James S. Green |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 11, 1807 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | January 26, 1886 (aged 78) Gower, Missouri, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | Transylvania University (attended) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
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| Branch/service | Missouri Volunteer Militia Missouri State Guard |
Years of service | 1838 (MVM) 1861–1862 (MSG) |
| Rank | Major General (MVM) Brigadier General (MSG) |
| Battles/wars | Missouri Mormon War • Battle of Crooked River American Civil War • Action at Blue Mills Landing |
David Rice Atchison (August 11, 1807 – January 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. Atchison served as a major general in the Missouri State Militia in 1838 during Missouri's Mormon War and as a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War under Major General Sterling Price in the Missouri Home Guard. Some of Atchison's associates claimed that for 24 hours—Sunday, March 4, 1849, through noon on Monday—he may have been acting president of the United States. This belief, however, is dismissed by most scholars.
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 that preceded admission of the state to the Union.