View source for David T. Patterson

{{short description|American politician (1818–1893)}}

{{Infobox officeholder
|image               = Senator David T. Patterson.jpg
|jr/sr               = United States Senator
|state               = [[Tennessee]]
|term_start          = July 28, 1866
|term_end            = March 3, 1869
|predecessor         = [[Andrew Johnson]]
|successor           = [[Parson Brownlow]]
|birth_date          = {{birth date|1818|2|28}}
|birth_name          = David Trotter Patterson
|birth_place         = [[Greene County, Tennessee|Greene County]], [[Tennessee]], U.S.
|spouse              = {{marriage|[[Martha Johnson Patterson]]|December 13, 1855}}
|children            = 2
|death_date          = {{death date and age|1891|11|3|1818|2|28}}
|death_place         = [[Afton, Tennessee]], U.S.
|restingplace        = [[Andrew Johnson National Cemetery]]<br />[[Greeneville, Tennessee]], U.S.
|party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
}}
'''David Trotter Patterson''' (February 28, 1818{{spaced ndash}}November 3, 1891) was a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from [[Tennessee]] at the beginning of the [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction period]].

A staunch Union supporter (as were most of his fellow [[East Tennessee|East Tennesseans]]), he was elected by the [[Tennessee General Assembly]] to the U.S. Senate when Tennessee was readmitted to the Union on July 24, 1866, the first [[U.S. state|state]] of the former [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] to do so. He presented his credentials to the Senate on July 26, but they were challenged; he was not permitted to take the oath of office until July 28.

==Early life and education==
David Trotter Patterson was born at Cedar Creek, near [[Greeneville, Tennessee]], on February 28, 1818. He attended the common schools and later [[Greeneville College]] for two years. He [[reading law|studied law]] with a local attorney to prepare for a legal career.

==Career==
After being admitted to the bar in 1841, Patterson practiced in Greeneville. He also engaged in manufacturing. He owned slaves.<ref>{{Citation|title=Congress slaveowners|date=2022-01-19|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2022-07-08}}</ref> He was appointed as a judge of the first circuit court of Tennessee and served from 1854 to 1863. In addition, he acquired substantial amounts of land in East Tennessee and grew commodity crops.

==Marriage and family==
On December 13, 1855, Patterson married [[Martha Johnson Patterson|Martha Johnson]], daughter of [[Andrew Johnson]] and [[Eliza McCardle Johnson|Eliza McCardle]]. They had two children, a son named Andrew (1857–1932), and a daughter named Mary (1859–1891).{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

==Political career==
A Unionist from East Tennessee, Patterson was elected by the [[Tennessee General Assembly]] to the U.S. Senate when Tennessee became the first [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[U.S. state|state]] to be readmitted to the Union on July 24, 1866. His father-in-law Andrew Johnson had succeeded as [[President of the United States]] following Lincoln's assassination the year before.

Johnson was [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeached]] by the [[United States House of Representatives]] [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson|in February 1868]], which caused Patterson personal conflict. According to the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]], the Senate had the duty [[Impeachment trial|to try]] Johnson on the charges, and [[Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson|did so from March to May 1868]]. Their vote was one short of the constitutional requirement of a [[two-thirds majority]] for conviction. Patterson believed that his father-in-law was not guilty and that the charges against him were contrived. In the decades since the impeachment, historians generally have agreed to a consensus with the same conclusion, but some disagreed.

==Post-political career==
Patterson retired from public life when his Senate term expired on March 3, 1869. He returned to East Tennessee to manage his relatively vast agricultural interests.

On November 3, 1891, Patterson died in the small community of Afton. He was interred with the Johnson family in the [[Andrew Johnson National Cemetery]] in Greeneville.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{CongBio|P000110}}

==Further reading==
* McKellar, Kenneth. "David T. Patterson," in ''Tennessee Senators as Seen by One of Their Successors,'' Kingsport, Tenn.: Southern Publishers, Inc., 1942, 316–324.
* {{cite book|last=Speer | first=W.S. | year=1888 | title=Sketches of prominent Tennesseans: Containing biographies and records of many of the families who have attained prominence in Tennessee | location= Nashville | publisher=A. B. Tavel. | chapter=David T. Patterson | pages=531–533 | ol=6998321M | lccn=08019465 | oclc=4252171}}

==External links==
* [https://www.nps.gov/anjo/cemeteryhist.htm A Short History of the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery], National Park Service

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box|
 before=[[Andrew Johnson]]<sup>(1)</sup>|
 state=Tennessee|
 class=1|
 years=1866&ndash;1869|
 after=[[Parson Brownlow]]|
 alongside=[[Joseph S. Fowler]]|}}
{{s-ref|Because of [[Tennessee]]'s secession, the Senate seat was vacant for four years before Patterson succeeded Johnson.}}

{{USSenTN}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, David T.}}
[[Category:1818 births]]
[[Category:1891 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Greene County, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Family of Andrew Johnson]]
[[Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent]]
[[Category:Unionist Party United States senators from Tennessee]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Tennessee]]
[[Category:Tennessee state court judges]]
[[Category:Tennessee lawyers]]
[[Category:Southern Unionists in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People of Tennessee in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:United States senators who owned slaves]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]