John Bell (Tennessee Politician) - Senate

Senate

In 1847, Bell returned to politics, being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives. He was offered the house speakership, but declined. Shortly afterward, the legislature, now controlled by Whigs, took up the task of filling one of the state's two U.S. Senate seats. The seat was held by a Whig, Spencer Jarnagin, who had angered the party by voting for the Walker tariff, and had no chance of reelection. Bell, with the support of William "Parson" Brownlow's Jonesborough Whig and the Memphis Daily Eagle, was among those nominated to fill the seat. After several weeks and 48 rounds of voting, Bell finally received the necessary majority on November 22, 1847, beating, among others, John Netherland, Robertson Topp, William B. Reese, and Christoper H. Williams.

Shortly after his arrival in the Senate, Bell immediately began speaking out against the Mexican-American War, arguing it was a tyrannical endeavor of his old rival, James K. Polk, who was now president. He suggested that even if the war was defensive, the U.S. had no right to take over a portion of Mexico's territory. He was concerned, among other things, that the addition of new territory would bring the divisive issue of slavery back to the forefront of American politics, especially in light of the Wilmot Proviso, which would have banned slavery in the new territories. He nevertheless voted to ratify the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in March 1848.

As Bell had feared, sectional strife erupted in 1849 when California applied for statehood as a free state. Bell supported the state's admission, and clashed over the issue on the Senate floor with fellow Southern senators John C. Calhoun and John M. Berrien. Bell offered a compromise that would have allowed California to be admitted, and would have split New Mexico and a portion of western Texas into three new states, one free, and two slave states. In May, this compromise was shelved in favor of the package of bills proposed by Henry Clay, subsequently known as the Compromise of 1850. Bell mostly supported Clay's compromise, voting for the admission of California and the agreement on the territorial boundaries for New Mexico, but voted against the bill abolishing the slave trade in Washington, D.C.

During the latter half of his first term, Bell debated various bills regarding internal improvements, namely a bill subsidizing the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad (which he supported, though he thought proceeds from land sales should be evenly split among the states), and a bill subsidizing construction of the St. Mary's Falls Canal, which he opposed. Bell was a steadfast supporter of Millard Fillmore, who had become president following the death of Zachary Taylor in 1850, and was offered the position of Secretary of the Navy in July 1852, but turned it down.

During Bell's second term, which began following his reelection in 1853, the Senate was plagued by sectional strife. The fighting began in early 1854 over the bill that would eventually become the Kansas-Nebraska Act. To gain the support of Southern senators, the bill contained an amendment that repealed part of the Missouri Compromise to allow slavery north of the 36°30' parallel. Bell opposed this amendment, warning that a repeal of the Missouri Compromise would lead to endless sectional strife. He was assailed by Southern senators for this stance, and was blasted on the Senate floor by Robert Toombs of Georgia. Bell was one of just two Southern senators (the other being Sam Houston) to vote against the final bill.

The division between Northern and Southern Whigs over the Kansas-Nebraska Act doomed the party, with Northern Whigs shifting to the new Republican Party. Like many Southern Whigs, Bell threw his support behind the American Party, or "Know Nothings." While he campaigned for Know Nothing candidates, Bell did not endorse many of the party's more controversial positions, such as its anti-Catholic stance. Various newspapers, including Brownlow's Knoxville Whig, the New Orleans Delta, and the St. Louis Intelligencer, endorsed Bell as the American Party's presidential candidate, but the party's nomination went to Millard Fillmore.

In 1857, Democrats regained control of the state legislature. They elected Andrew Johnson to fill the expiring term of Senator James C. Jones. Although Bell's term didn't expire for another two years, the legislature was so disgusted with him that they went ahead chose his replacement (Alfred O. P. Nicholson) and demanded he resign. He was continuously attacked by other Southern senators. In late 1857, he threatened to challenge Robert Toombs to a duel after Toombs called him an abolitionist, but Toombs retracted the statement. In February 1858, Bell and Johnson were involved in a heated altercation on the Senate floor after Johnson questioned Bell's loyalty to the South.

In March 1858, Bell was one of just two Southern senators (the other being John J. Crittenden) to vote against the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution, ignoring orders from the Tennessee state legislature to vote for it. In his last session in the Senate in 1859, Bell voted against an attempt to purchase Cuba from Spain, opposed the Homestead bill, and voted in favor of subsidies for the Pacific Railroad.