Hugh Lawson White

Hugh White
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office December 3, 1832 – December 15, 1833
Preceded by	Littleton Tazewell
Succeeded by	George Poindexter
United States Senator from Tennessee
In office October 28, 1825 – January 13, 1840
Preceded by	Andrew Jackson
Succeeded by	Alexander O. Anderson
Personal details
Born	Hugh Lawson White (1773-10-30)October 30, 1773 Rowan County, North Carolina, British America (now Iredell County)
Died	April 10, 1840(1840-04-10) (aged 66) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Resting place	First Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Political party	Democratic-Republican (Before 1825) Democratic (1825–1836) Whig (1836–1840)
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Carrick (1798–1831 Anne Peyton (1832–1840)
Relatives	James White (Father) Samuel Carrick (Father-in-law) Charles McClung (Brother-in-law) John Overton (Brother-in-law) John Williams (Brother-in-law)
Signature

Hugh Lawson White (October 30, 1773 – April 10, 1840) was a prominent American politician during the first third of the 19th century. After filling in several posts particularly in Tennessee's judiciary and state legislature since 1801, thereunder as a Tennessee Supreme Court justice, he was chosen to succeed former presidential candidate Andrew Jackson in the United States Senate in 1825. He became a member of the new Democratic Party, supporting Jackson's policies and his future presidential administration. However, he left the Democrats in 1836 and was a Whig candidate in that year's presidential election.^[1]

An ardent strict constructionist and lifelong states' rights advocate, White was one of President Jackson's most trusted allies in Congress in the late 1820s and early 1830s.^[2]: 246 White fought against the national bank, tariffs, and the use of federal funds for internal improvements,^{[2]: 31, 76–77} and led efforts in the Senate to pass the Indian Removal Act of 1830.^[2]: 153 In 1833, at the height of the Nullification Crisis, White, as the Senate's president pro tempore, coordinated negotiations over the Tariff of 1833.^[2]: 239

Suspicious of the growing power of the presidency, White began to distance himself from Jackson in the mid-1830s, and realigned himself with Henry Clay and the burgeoning Whig Party.^{[2]: 251–2} He was eventually forced out of the Senate when Jackson's allies, led by James K. Polk, gained control of the Tennessee state legislature and demanded his resignation.^{[2]: 409–410}