{{short description|American politician}} <!-- This article was automatically created by User:polbot from http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A000328. The prose may be stilted, and there may be grammatical and Wikification errors. Please improve in any way you see fit. --> {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name =Archibald Atkinson | image = Archibald Atkinson portrait.jpg | state =Virginia | district =1st | term_start =March 4, 1843 | term_end =March 3, 1849 | preceded =Francis Mallory | succeeded =John Millson |office2 = Member of the Virginia Senate from Isle of Wight, Prince George, Southampton, Surry and Sussex Counties |term2 = 1839–1843 |predecessor2 = Joel Holleman |successor2 = William Spark |office3 = Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Isle of Wight County |term3 = 1828–1830 |predecessor3 = John Chapman |successor3 = James Jordon |term4 = 1815–1816<br>Alongside John Lawrence | birth_date ={{Birth date|1792|9|15|mf=y}} | birth_place =Isle of Wight County, Virginia | death_date ={{death date and age|1872|1|7|1792|9|15|mf=y}} | death_place =Smithfield, Virginia | resting_place = Old St. Luke's Church | party =Democrat | spouse = | relations = | children = | alma_mater =College of William and Mary | occupation = | profession =lawyer, legislator |battles = War of 1812 |allegiance = United States of America }}
'''Archibald Atkinson''' (September 15, 1792 – January 7, 1872) was an American lawyer and slave owner<ref>{{Citation|title=Congress slaveowners|date=January 19, 2022|url=https://github.com/washingtonpost/data-congress-slaveowners|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=January 23, 2022}}</ref> who served three terms as a U.S. Representative from Virginia from 1843 to 1849. He was a veteran of the War of 1812.<ref name="StLukes">{{cite web |title=Archibald Atkinson (1792 – 1872) |url=https://stlukesmuseum.org/veterans/archibald-atkinson/ |website=St. Luke's Historic Church & Museum |access-date=May 25, 2025 |date=May 14, 2020}}</ref>
==Biography== Born in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, Atkinson received a liberal education.
=== Education and early career === He attended the law department of the College of William & Mary (now William & Mary Law School), Williamsburg, Virginia.<ref name="StLukes"/>
He served during the War of 1812 and was later admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Smithfield, Virginia.
=== Virginia legislature === He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1815 to 1817 and from 1828 to 1831, and served in the Virginia Senate from 1839 to 1843.
=== Congress === Atkinson was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1848 to the Thirty-first Congress.
In a valedictory speech to Congress in 1849, he described slavery as a "positive moral good" for those enslaved, claimed that the "well-fed, well-clad, contented negro of Virginia asks not your sympathy for him," and falsely claimed that slaves would rise up against abolitionists.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rep. Archibald Atkinson (D-VA)|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Rep-Archibald-Atkinson-D-VA/6000000023103271826|access-date=January 23, 2022|website=geni_family_tree|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Crofts">{{cite web |last1=Crofts |first1=Daniel W. |title=Archibald Atkinson (1792–1872) |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/atkinson-archibald-1792-1872/ |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |access-date=May 25, 2025}}</ref>
=== Later career and death === He served as prosecuting attorney for Isle of Wight County.
He died in Smithfield, Virginia, on January 7, 1872.<ref name="Crofts"/> He was interred in the graveyard of Old St. Luke's Church, four miles southeast of Smithfield.
==Elections== *'''1841'''; Atkinson lost his first election for the U.S. House of Representatives; he was defeated by Whig Francis Mallory, winning only 11.26% of the vote. *'''1843'''; Atkinson was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 50.07% of the vote, defeating Whig James E. Langhorne. *'''1845'''; Atkinson was re-elected with 55.9% of the vote, defeating Whig R.H. Whitfield. *'''1847'''; Atkinson was re-elected with 50.82% of the vote, defeating Whig Samuel Watts.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== {{CongBio|A000328}}
{{Bioguide}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=1 | before=Francis Mallory | after=John S. Millson | years=1843–1849}} {{s-end}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives01}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Archibald}} Category:1792 births Category:1872 deaths Category:Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Category:Democratic Party Virginia state senators Category:William & Mary Law School alumni Category:County and city commonwealth's attorneys in Virginia Category:People from Isle of Wight County, Virginia Category:American military personnel of the War of 1812 Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Virginia Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly