Abel P. Upshur
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Abel Parker Upshur (June 17, 1790–February 28, 1844) was a American statesman. He was born in Northampton County, Virginia and attended Yale and Princeton Universities, then he studied law in Virginia and was admitted to the bar in 1810.
After a brief time at Baltimore, Maryland, Upshur developed a thriving law practice in Richmond, Virginia and was an active participant in state politics. He was elected to a term in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1812, was Commonwealth Attorney for Richmond, ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Congress, returned to the legislature in 1825, was an influential delegate to the Virginia State Constitutional Convention in 1829 to 1830 and was elected to the Virginia General Court.
Upshur's political reach became national when John Tyler became President of the United States in 1841 and selected him to become the 13th United States Secretary of the Navy in October of that year. His time with the Navy was marked by a strong emphasis on reform and reorganization and efforts to expand and modernize the service. He served from October 11, 1841 to July 23, 1843, and among his achievements were the replacement of the old Board of Navy Commissioners with the bureau system, regularization of the officer corps, increased Navy appropriations, construction of new sailing and steam warships, and the establishment of the United States Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office.
In July 1843, President Tyler appointed Upshur United States Secretary of State. On February 28, 1844, while joining the President and many other dignitaries for a Potomac River cruise on the new steamship USS Princeton, Secretary Upshur and several others were killed when one of the ship's guns exploded. He is buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
USS Abel P. Upshur (DD-193), Upshur County, West Virginia, and Upshur County, Texas were named in his honor, as was Upshur Street in northwest Washington, D.C.
External links
- Naval Historical Center: Secretary Upshur (http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-u/a-upshur.htm)
- Historical Congressional Cemetery: "Most Awful and Most Lamentable Catastrophe!" (http://www.congressionalcemetery.org/HTML/Pomp/Princeton1844.html)
| Preceded by: George E. Badger | United States Secretary of the Navy 1841–1843 | Succeeded by: David Henshaw |
| Preceded by: Daniel Webster | United States Secretary of State July 24, 1843–February 28, 1844 | Succeeded by: John C. Calhoun |