Alexander Ramsey (8 September 1815-22 April 1903) was a member of the US House of Representatives (W-PA 14) from 4 March 1843 to 3 March 1847 (succeeding James Irvin and preceding George Nicholas Eckert), Governor of Minnesota from 2 January 1860 to 10 July 1863 (succeeding Henry Hastings Sibley and preceding Henry Adoniram Swift), a US Senator from 4 March 1863 to 3 March 1875 (succeeding Henry Mower Rice and preceding Samuel J.R. McMillan), and the US Secretary of War from 10 December 1879 to 5 March 1881 (succeeding George W. McCrary and preceding Robert Todd Lincoln).
Biography[]
Alexander Ramsey was born in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania in 1815, and he became a lawyer in 1839. He served in the US House of Representatives as a Whig from 1843 to 1847, and he served as the territorial governor of Minnesota from 1849 to 1853. From 1855 to 1856, he served as Mayor of Saint Paul, and he was elected Minnesota's second governor in 1859, serving until 1863. He went on to serve in the US Senate from 1863 to 1875 and as Secretary of War from 1879 to 1881. He died in 1903.