{{Short description|American judge (1785–1844)}} {{for|the Australian cyclist|Alexander Porter (cyclist)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Alexander Porter | image = Alex-Porter.jpg | office = [[List of United States senators from Louisiana|U.S. Senator from Louisiana]] |term= December 19, 1833 – January 5, 1837<br />''March 4, 1843 – January 13, 1844''{{efn|name=health|Was elected by the [[Louisiana State Legislature|Louisiana Legislature]] to serve in the Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1843. Was unable to take his seat due to ill health, and never presented credentials to qualify for the seat. The Senate does not consider him to have served as Senator during this time, and lists a seat vacancy from March 4, 1843 to February 12, 1844.<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/states/LA/senators.htm#note9 Senators from Louisiana]</ref>}} | preceded = [[Josiah S. Johnston]], [[Charles Magill Conrad]] | succeeded = [[Alexandre Mouton]], [[Henry Johnson (Louisiana politician)|Henry Johnson]]
| office1 = [[List of justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court|Associate Justice]] of the [[Louisiana Supreme Court]] | preceded1 = [[Pierre Derbigny]] | succeeded1 = [[Henry A. Bullard]] | term_start1 = 1821 | term_end1 = 1833
| office2 = Member of the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] | term2 = 1816-1818
| birth_date = {{birth date|1785|6|24|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[County Donegal]], Ireland | party = [[National Republican Party|National Republican]]<br> [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1844|1|13|1785|6|24|mf=y}} | death_place = [[St. Mary Parish, Louisiana]], U.S. | spouse = | alma_mater = Clemenceau College | profession = [[Politician]], [[lawyer]], [[judge]], [[Planter (plantation owner)|planter]] | relatives = [[James Porter (Presbyterian minister)|James Porter]] (father)<br>[[Alexander Porter Goudy]] (nephew) }}
'''Alexander Porter''' (June 24, 1785{{spaced ndash}}January 13, 1844) was an attorney, politician, and planter, who served as [[United States Senator]] from [[Louisiana]] from 1833 to 1837. Born in Ireland, he emigrated in 1801 at the age of 16 to the United States. He served a term in the statehouse from 1816 to 1818, and as a state Supreme Court justice from 1821 to 1833.
==Biography==
===Early life=== Porter was born in [[County Donegal]], [[Ireland]]. His father, [[James Porter (Presbyterian minister)|James Porter]], a [[Presbyterian]] minister and [[satirist]], was executed in July 1798 during the [[United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Oak Manor to hold open house April 1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-eunice-news-oak-manor-to-hold-open-h/180285788/ |access-date=3 September 2025 |work=The Eunice News |date=30 March 1961 |pages=6}}</ref> According to what is described in the ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'' as "a questionable local tradition," the younger Porter was said to have participated in the [[Battle of Ballynahinch]].<ref>{{cite wikisource|chapter=Porter, James (1753-1798)|wslink=Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900|plaintitle=Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900|last=Gordon|first=Alexander|year=1896|publisher=|page=|wspage=|scan=|volume=46}}</ref>
Alexander Porter immigrated to the U.S. in 1801 with an uncle, who settled in [[Nashville, Tennessee]]. He received a limited schooling, but attended the now-defunct Clemenceau College. He "[[reading law|read the law]]" as an apprentice and was admitted to [[bar (law)|the bar]] in 1807.
===Career=== In 1807, he commenced practice in [[Attakapas County, Orleans Territory|Attakapas Parish]], [[Territory of Orleans]]. (In 1811, the area around [[Franklin, Louisiana]], became [[St. Mary Parish, Louisiana|St. Mary Parish]].) Porter was a delegate to the convention which framed the first [[Constitution of Louisiana]] in 1812. He was elected as a member of the [[Louisiana House of Representatives|lower branch]] of the [[Louisiana Legislature]] from 1816 to 1818.<ref>{{ cite web |title=Alexander Porter Historical Marker |author=StoppingPoints.com |url=http://www.stoppingpoints.com/louisiana/St.-Mary/Alexander+Porter.html }}</ref>
Alexander Porter served as a [[Louisiana Supreme Court]] justice from 1821 to 1833. In 1833, he was selected as a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] to the [[United States Senate]] by the state legislature, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of [[Josiah S. Johnston]]. Porter served from December 19, 1833, until January 5, 1837, when he resigned due to ill health.
Porter returned to St. Mary Parish to practice law and manage his plantation, [[Oaklawn Manor|Oaklawn]]. His plantation was largely staffed by his slaves which, by the 1840s, numbered 320.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hudson |first1=Marilyn |title=Venerable Mansion on Bayou's Banks |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-town-talk-venerable-mansion-on-bayou/180285617/ |access-date=3 September 2025 |work=[[The Town Talk]] |date=16 June 1968 |pages=21 |quote=In the 1840s, his slaves totaling 320 were valued at $90,000.}}</ref>
He was again chosen by the legislature for the U.S. Senate, for the term beginning March 4, 1843; but he did not take his seat due to poor health. The legislature elected [[Henry Johnson (Louisiana)|Henry Johnson]], former governor of the state, to replace him.
Alexander Porter died in 1844. His remains were interred in [[Nashville City Cemetery]], the location of the grave of his young wife, Evilina (Baker) Porter (1797–1819).<ref>[http://www.oaklawnmanor.com/foundingyears.htm OaklawnManor.com], accessed April 22, 2016.</ref>
==See also== * [[List of United States senators born outside the United States]]
==Sources== {{notelist}} {{reflist}}
==External links== {{CongBio|P000436}} * {{Find a Grave}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{succession box| title=[[List of justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court|Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court]] | before=[[Pierre Derbigny]]| after=[[Henry A. Bullard]]| years=1821–1833}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box | state=Louisiana | class=3 | before=[[Josiah S. Johnston]] | after=[[Alexandre Mouton]] | alongside=[[George A. Waggaman]] and [[Robert C. Nicholas]] | years=December 19, 1833 – January 5, 1837}} {{U.S. Senator box | state=Louisiana | class=3 | before=[[Charles Magill Conrad]] | after=[[Henry Johnson (Louisiana politician)|Henry Johnson]] | alongside=[[Alexander Barrow]] | years=March 4, 1843 – January 13, 1844}} {{s-end}} {{USSenLA}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Alexander}} [[Category:1785 births]] [[Category:1844 deaths]] [[Category:Politicians from County Donegal]] [[Category:Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives]] [[Category:United States senators from Louisiana]] [[Category:Justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court]] [[Category:Louisiana lawyers]] [[Category:Owners of plantations in Louisiana]] [[Category:Irish emigrants to the United States]] [[Category:19th-century owners of plantations in the United States]] [[Category:Louisiana Whigs]] [[Category:Louisiana National Republicans]] [[Category:Whig Party United States senators]] [[Category:National Republican Party United States senators]] [[Category:U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law]] [[Category:19th-century Louisiana state court judges]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:19th-century United States senators]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature]] [[Category:United States senators who owned slaves]] [[Category:People of the Irish Rebellion of 1798]]