April 7, 1786

Future Vice President William Rufus King was born in North Carolina. King moved to the Alabama Territory in 1818 and established a plantation in Dallas County called Chestnut Hill. While in Alabama, King became a leader in the community that he named Selma, helped draft the state constitution and was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served five straight terms. After serving as minister to France in 1844, he returned to the Senate and served as president pro-tempore, earning the vice-presidential nomination under Franklin Pierce in the 1852 election. Pierce and King won the election and King was sworn in to office on March 24, 1853 before dying of tuberculosis six weeks later.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Print shows a presidential campaign banner featuring bust portraits of candidates “For President Franklin Pierce” and “For Vice President William R. King” in ovals with laurel wreaths, c. 1852. (Currier & Ives, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.