Archibald Dixon (2 April 1802 – 23 April 1876) was a US Senator from Kentucky (W) from 1 September 1852 to 3 March 1855, succeeding David Meriwether and preceding John J. Crittenden.
Biography[]
Archibald Dixon was born in Caswell County, North Carolina in 1802, and the family moved to Henderson, Kentucky three years. Dixon became a lawyer in 1824, and he served in the state legislature before serving as Lieutenant Governor from 1844 to 1848 and in the US Senate from 1852 to 1855. He was a strong supporter of slavery, and he convinced Stephen A. Douglas to include language in the Kansas-Nebraska Act that explicitly repealed the Missouri Compromise's prohibition of slavery north of the 36th parallel. Despite his support for slavery, he remained loyal to the Union during the American Civil War, although, in 1864, he did protest against President Abraham Lincoln's support for arming former slaves. He died in 1876.