{{Short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Donelson Caffery |image = Donelson Caffery.jpg |jr/sr = United States Senator |state = [[Louisiana]] |term_start = December 31, 1892 |term_end = March 3, 1901 |predecessor = [[Randall L. Gibson]] |successor = [[Murphy J. Foster]] |birth_date = {{birth date|1835|9|10}} |birth_place = [[Franklin, Louisiana]], U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1906|12|30|1835|9|10}} |death_place = [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], U.S. |party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] |relations = [[Patrick T. Caffery]] (grandson) }}
'''Donelson Caffery''' (September 10, 1835{{spaced ndash}}December 30, 1906) was an American [[politician]] from the state of [[Louisiana]], a soldier in the [[American Civil War]], and a sugar plantation owner.<ref>{{ cite web |title=Donelson Caffery Historical Marker |author=Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism |url=http://www.stoppingpoints.com/louisiana/St.-Mary/Donelson+Caffery.html }}</ref>
== Biography == Caffery was born in [[Franklin, Louisiana|Franklin]], [[Louisiana]], the seat of [[St. Mary Parish, Louisiana|St. Mary Parish]]. His great-grandfather, Colonel [[John Donelson]], co-founder of the city of [[Nashville]], was the father-in-law of [[President of the United States]] [[Andrew Jackson]]. During the [[American Civil War]], Caffery served in the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] army as a [[lieutenant]] in the [[13th Louisiana Infantry Regiment]]. After the war, he became a [[lawyer]] and owned a [[sugar]] plantation. He was elected to the [[Louisiana State Senate]], he was a Democrat,<ref>{{cite book|title=United States Congressional serial set|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvM3AQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA42|year=1906|pages=1–}}</ref> and in 1892, he was appointed to the [[United States Senate]] from Louisiana to fill the unexpired term of [[Randall L. Gibson]] who died in office. Caffery began a full six-year term in 1894, on election by the [[Louisiana State Legislature]], and he served in the Senate until 1901.
He was a strong anti-imperialist and anti-expansionist, a position driven by his concern that new American possessions in tropical climates(like [[Puerto Rico]], [[Hawaii]], and the [[Philippines]]) would harm his fellow Louisiana sugar planters by flooding the market with cheaper (and now tariff-free) sugar.<ref name="Margolies2011">{{cite book|author=Daniel S. Margolies|title=Henry Watterson and the New South: The Politics of Empire, Free Trade, and Globalization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTk7xGOP66wC&pg=PT279|date=1 September 2011|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-3852-7|pages=279–}}</ref><ref name="arch_Anti">{{Cite book |title=Anti-imperialism in the United States: the great debate, 1890-1920 |author=E. Berkeley Tompkins |year=1970 |publisher=Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9780812275957 |access-date=31 July 2021 |url= https://archive.org/details/antiimperialismi0000tomp/page/110/mode/2up?q=caffery}}</ref>
He was the first nominee for President of the United States of the "Democratic National Party" at its [[Indianapolis]] Convention in 1900 but declined the nomination of this group.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} He declined to seek a second full term in 1900. The [[American Anti-Imperialist League|a group of anti-imperialists]], meeting in [[New York City|New York]] on 5 September 1900, also nominated Caffery for President and [[Boston]] attorney and historian [[Archibald M. Howe]] for Vice President. Caffery, a staunch [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], likewise refused this nomination, and Howe quickly withdrew as well.
Caffery served as chairman of the Senate Committee on enrolled bills from 1893 to 1894 and as chairman of the Senate Committee on corporations organized in the [[District of Columbia]] from 1899 to 1901.
After he left the Senate, Caffery resumed practicing law. He died in 1906 on December 30 in [[New Orleans]] Louisiana,<ref>{{cite book|title=Planter and Sugar Manufacturer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGVhuADzmMoC&pg=PA2|year=1907|pages=2–}}</ref> and is interred at Franklin Cemetery in his native Franklin.
Caffery's son, [[Donelson Caffery, Jr.]], was the gubernatorial nominee of the "Lily-White" faction of the Republican Party in the [[1900 Louisiana gubernatorial election]]. He lost badly to [[W. W. Heard]].
Caffery's grandson, [[Patrick T. Caffery]], served one term in the Louisiana House of Representatives and two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1969–73.<ref>See also [[Jefferson Caffery]], his cousin.</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{CongBio|C000016}} Retrieved on 2008-10-08
{{start box}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box |state=Louisiana |class=2 |before=[[Randall L. Gibson]] |after=[[Murphy J. Foster]] |alongside=[[Edward Douglass White|Edward D. White]], [[Newton C. Blanchard]], [[Samuel D. McEnery]] |years=1892–1901}} {{end box}}
{{USSenLA}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caffery, Donelson}} [[Category:1835 births]] [[Category:1906 deaths]] [[Category:People from Franklin, Louisiana]] [[Category:American people of Irish descent]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Louisiana]] [[Category:Louisiana Democrats]] [[Category:Louisiana lawyers]] [[Category:People of Louisiana in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Confederate States Army officers]] [[Category:Donelson family]] [[Category:19th-century United States senators]] [[Category:United States senators who owned slaves]] [[Category:Sugar plantation owners]] [[Category:Owners of plantations in Louisiana]]