of the “immortal thirteen” Democrats who, having it in their power to prevent the election of a Whig Senator, did so by refusing to meet the house in joint convention; also proposed that the basis of representation should rest upon white votes, without regard to the ownership of slaves.  Was elected to Congress in 1843 over John A. Asken, a United States Bank Democrat, who was supported by the Whigs.  His first speech was in support of the resolution to restore to General Jackson the fine imposed upon him at New Orleans; also supported the annexation of Texas.  In 1845 was reelected, and supported Polk’s Administration.  Was regularly reelected to Congress until 1853.  During this period opposed all expenditures for internal improvements that were not general; resisted and defeated the proposed contingent tax of 10 per cent on tea and coffee; made his celebrated defense of the veto power; urged the adoption of the homestead law, which was obnoxious to the extreme Southern element of his party; supported the compromise measures of 1850 as a matter of expediency, but opposed compromises in general as a sacrifice of principle.  Was elected governor of Tennessee in 1853 over Gustavus A. Henry, the “Eagle Orator” of the State.  In his message to the legislature he dwelt upon the homestead law and other measures for the benefit of the working classes, and earned the title of the “Mechanic Governor.”  Opposed the Know-nothing movement with characteristic vehemence.  Was reelected governor in 1855, defeating Meredith P. Gentry, the Whig-American candidate, after a most remarkable canvass.  The Kansas-Nebraska bill received his earnest support.  In 1857 was elected to the United States Senate, where he urged the passage of the homestead bill, and on May 20, 1858, made his greatest speech on this subject.  Opposed the grant of aid for the construction of a Pacific railroad.  Was prominent in debate, and frequently clashed with Southern supporters of the Administration.  His pronounced Unionism estranged him from the extremists on the Southern side, while his acceptance of slavery as an institution guaranteed by the Constitution caused him to hold aloof from the Republicans on the other.  At the Democratic convention at Charleston, S.C., in 1860 was a candidate for the Presidential nomination, but received only the vote of Tennessee, and when the convention reassembled in Baltimore withdrew his name.  In the canvass that followed supported John C. Breckinridge.  At the session of Congress beginning in December, 1860, took decided and unequivocal grounds in opposition to secession, and on December 13 introduced a joint resolution proposing to amend the Constitution so as to elect the President and Vice-President by district votes, Senators by a direct popular vote, and to limit the terms of Federal judges to twelve years, the judges to be equally divided between slaveholding and non-slaveholding States.  In his speech on this resolution, December 18 and 19, declared his unyielding opposition to secession