George M. Dallas
George Mifflin Dallas (July 10, 1792 – December 31, 1864) was an American politician and diplomat who served as mayor of Philadelphia from 1828 to 1829, the 11th vice president of the United States from 1845 to 1849, and U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom from 1856 to 1861.
This article is about the vice president of the United States. For the judge, see George M. Dallas (judge).
George M. Dallas
James Buchanan
December 31, 1864 (aged 72)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
8
- Alexander Dallas (father)
- Arabella Smith (mother)
Alexander J. Dallas (brother)
The son of U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander J. Dallas, Dallas attended elite preparatory schools before embarking on a legal career. He served as the private secretary to Albert Gallatin and worked for the Treasury Department and the Second Bank of the United States. He emerged as a leader of the Family Party faction of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. Dallas developed a rivalry with James Buchanan, the leader of the Amalgamator faction. Between 1828 and 1835, he served as the mayor of Philadelphia, U.S. attorney for the U.S. District Court of Pennsylvania and as Pennsylvania's attorney general. He also represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1831 to 1833 but declined to seek re-election. President Martin Van Buren appointed Dallas to the post of Minister to Russia, and Dallas held that position from 1837 to 1839.
In 1840, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[1]
Dallas supported Van Buren's bid for another term in the 1844 presidential election, but James K. Polk won the party's presidential nomination. The 1844 Democratic National Convention nominated Dallas as Polk's running mate, and Polk and Dallas defeated the Whig ticket in the general election. A supporter of expansion and popular sovereignty, Dallas called for the annexation of all of Mexico during the Mexican–American War. He sought to position himself for contention in the 1848 presidential election, but his vote to lower the tariff destroyed his base of support in his home state. Dallas served as the Minister to the United Kingdom from 1856 to 1861 before retiring from public office.
Family and early life[edit]
Dallas was born in Philadelphia on July 10, 1792, to Alexander James Dallas and Arabella Maria Smith Dallas.[2] His father, of Scottish descent,[3] born in Kingston, Jamaica, to Dr. Robert Dallas and educated in Edinburgh, was the Secretary of the Treasury under United States President James Madison, and was also briefly the Secretary of War.[2] Dr Dallas left Jamaica in 1764, having mortgaged his estate, Dallas Castle, and put it in a trust. This property included 900 acres and 91 slaves.[4][5] George Dallas was given his middle name after Thomas Mifflin, another politician who was good friends with his father.[6]
His mother, Arabella Smith, was English, born in England.[7]
Dallas was the second of six children,[2] another of whom, Alexander, would become the commander of Pensacola Navy Yard. During Dallas's childhood, the family lived in a mansion on Fourth Street, with a second home in the countryside, situated on the Schuylkill River. He was educated privately at Quaker-run preparatory schools, before studying at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), from which he graduated with highest honors in 1810.[6] While at College, he participated in several activities, including the American Whig–Cliosophic Society.[8] Afterwards, he studied law in his father's office, and he was admitted to the bar in 1813.[2]
Legacy[edit]
Dallas County, Iowa,[15] and one of its cities, Dallas Center, Iowa,[16] were named after the Vice President. In addition, Dallas County, Arkansas, Dallas County, Missouri,[17] and Dallas County, Texas,[18] were named in his honor.
Other U.S. cities and towns named in Dallas's honor include Dallas, Georgia (the county seat of Paulding County, Georgia),[19] Dallas, North Carolina (the former county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina),[20] Dallas, Oregon (the county seat of Polk County, Oregon)[21] and Dallastown, Pennsylvania,[22] It is debated whether the city of Dallas, Texas, is named after the Vice President—see History of Dallas, Texas (1839–1855) for more information.