Editing William R. King (section)

==Political career==
[[File:William Rufus King..jpg|thumb|upright|left|Portrait of King, {{circa}} 1840]]
King entered politics and was elected as a member of the [[North Carolina House of Commons]], where he served from 1807 to 1809, and he became city solicitor of [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], in 1810. He was elected to the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth [[United States Congress|Congresses]], serving from March 4, 1811, until November 4, 1816, when he resigned to become Secretary of the [[Legation]] for [[William Pinkney]] during Pinkney's appointment as [[United States Ambassador to Russia|Minister to Russia]] and to a special diplomatic mission in [[Naples]]. King was only 24 years old when he became a congressman for the first time. He did not reach the constitutional age of 25 for service in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] until after the term began, but the Twelfth Congress did not convene until November 4, 1811, and King was not sworn in until then.

When he returned to the United States in 1818, King joined the westward migration of the cotton culture to the Deep South, purchasing property at what would later be known as "King's Bend" between present-day [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]] and [[Cahaba, Alabama|Cahaba]] on the [[Alabama River]] in [[Dallas County, Alabama|Dallas County]] of the new [[Alabama Territory]], which had been recently separated from [[Mississippi]]. He developed a large cotton [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] based on slave labor, calling the property "Chestnut Hill". King and his relatives formed one of the state's largest [[slavery|slaveholding]] families, collectively owning as many as 500 people.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

William Rufus King was a delegate to the convention that organized the [[History of Alabama|Alabama state government]]. Upon the [[Admission to the Union|admission]] of Alabama as the twenty-second state in 1819, he was elected by the [[Alabama Legislature|State Legislature]] as a [[Democratic-Republican Party|Democratic-Republican]] to the [[United States Senate]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Rufus Devane King {{!}} EBSCO Research Starters |url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/william-rufus-devane-king |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=www.ebsco.com |language=en}}</ref>

King was a follower of [[Andrew Jackson]], and was re-elected to the Senate as a [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian]] in 1822, 1828, 1834, and 1841, serving from December 14, 1819, until his resignation on April 15, 1844. During this time, from March to April 1824, William R. King was honored with a single vote at the [[Democratic-Republican Party]] caucus to be the party's candidate for the office of vice president of the United States in the upcoming [[1824 United States presidential election|1824 presidential election]]. Later, he served as [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]] during the [[Twenty-fourth United States Congress|24th]] through [[Twenty-seventh United States Congress|27th]] Congresses. King was Chairman of the Senate's [[U.S. Senate Committee on Public Lands|Committee on Public Lands]] and the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce|Committee on Commerce]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: William R. King |url=https://www.senate.gov/art-artifacts/fine-art/sculpture/22_00013_000.htm#:~:text=He%20was%20elected%20to%20the,pro%20tempore%20for%20seven%20years. |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=www.senate.gov}}</ref>

He was appointed [[United States Ambassador to France|Minister to France]] and served from 1844 to 1846. After his return, King resumed serving in the Senate and was appointed and subsequently elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of [[Arthur P. Bagby]]. He held his seat from July 1, 1848, until his resignation on December 20, 1852, because of ill health and his having been elected vice president of the United States.<ref name=":1" />

During the conflicts leading up to the [[Compromise of 1850]], King supported the Senate's [[gag rule]] against debate on antislavery petitions and opposed proposals to abolish slavery in the [[District of Columbia]], which Congress administered. King supported a pro-slavery position, arguing that the [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] protected the institution of slavery in both the Southern states and the [[Territories of the United States|federal territories]]. He opposed both the [[abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]]' efforts to abolish slavery in the territories as well as the [[Fire-Eaters]]' calls for Southern [[secession]].<ref name="senate.gov">{{cite web |title=U.S. Senate: William Rufus King, 13th Vice President (1853) |url=https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_William_R_King.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618172025/https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_William_R_King.htm |archive-date=2020-06-18 |access-date=2020-06-23 |website=www.senate.gov}}</ref>

On July 11, 1850, two days after the death of President [[Zachary Taylor]], King was appointed Senate [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore]]. Because [[Millard Fillmore]] ascended to the presidency, the vice presidency was vacant, making King first in the [[United States presidential line of succession|line of succession]] under the law then in effect. He also served as Chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations]] and the Committee on Pensions.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />