William Rufus deVane King

Born April 7, 1786, in Sampson County, North Carolina

William Rufus deVane King (April 7, 1786 – April 18, 1853) was a U.S. Representative from North Carolina, a Senator from Alabama and the 13th Vice President of the United States. King died of tuberculosis after 45 days in office. With the exception of John Tyler and Andrew Johnson — both of whom succeeded to the Presidency — he remains the shortest-serving Vice President.

King was born in Sampson County, North Carolina. He was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons from 1807 to 1809 and city solicitor of Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1810. He was elected to the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1811, until November 4, 1816, when he resigned. King was Secretary of the Legation at Naples, Italy, and later at St. Petersburg, Russia. He returned to the United States in 1818 and located in Cahaba, Alabama, where he became a slaveholder on a large Black Belt cotton plantation. King and his relatives were some of the largest slaveholding families in Alabama, reportedly owning collectively as many as 500 slaves.

King was a delegate to the convention that organized the state government. Upon the admission of Alabama as a state in 1819 he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States Senate and was re-elected as a Jacksonian in 1822, 1828, 1834 and 1841, serving from December 14, 1819, until April 15, 1844, when he resigned. He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the 24th through 27th Congresses.

King supported the Senate's gag rule against debate on antislavery petitions, and opposed the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. King supported a conservative proslavery position, arguing that the Constitution protected the institution of slavery in both the Southern states and the federal territories, placing King in opposition to both the abolitionists' efforts to abolish slavery in the territories and the Fire-Eaters' calls for Southern secession.

On July 11, 1850, just two days after the death of President Zachary Taylor, King was again appointed President pro tempore of the Senate, which made him first in the line of succession to the U.S. Presidency, because of the Vice Presidential vacancy. King served until resigning on December 20, 1852, due to poor health. Even though he took the oath 20 days after inauguration day he was still Vice President during those three weeks, but did not hold the power of the office.

Shortly afterward, King returned to his plantation, King's Bend, across the river from Cahaba, Alabama, and died within two days.

King's tomb is located at the Old Live Oak Cemetery in Selma, Alabama, and is accompanied by a historical marker.