Representative Julius Caesar Alford

Julius Caesar Alford (May 10, 1799 – January 1, 1863) was an American slave owner, politician, soldier, and lawyer who served multiple terms in the United States House of Representatives from Georgia during a turbulent era in the nation’s history. He was born in Greensboro, Georgia, on May 10, 1799. Little is recorded about his early family life, but he came of age in the post-Revolutionary South, a region increasingly defined by plantation agriculture and the expansion of slavery, conditions that shaped his later career and political positions.

Alford pursued legal studies as a young man and was admitted to the Georgia bar, reportedly in 1809, after which he commenced the practice of law in LaGrange, Georgia. Establishing himself as an attorney in west-central Georgia, he became part of the professional and landholding class that dominated the state’s political and economic life. His legal practice provided the foundation for his entry into public affairs and his eventual rise in state and national politics.

Before his service in Congress, Alford held office in the Georgia House of Representatives, where he participated in state legislative matters during a period marked by territorial expansion and conflict with Native American nations. In addition to his legislative role, he served as a company commander during the Creek War of 1836, a conflict associated with the broader policy of Indian removal in the Southeast. His military service in that campaign aligned with his political support for the forced removal of Creek Native American tribes from their lands, reflecting the prevailing expansionist and pro-removal sentiment among many Georgia leaders of the time.

Alford first entered the United States House of Representatives as an Anti-Jacksonian, elected from Georgia to the Twenty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative George W. Towns. He served the remainder of that term from January 2, 1837, to March 3, 1837. During this brief initial service in Congress, he participated in the legislative process at a time of intense national debate over slavery and federal authority. While serving in Congress in 1837, he called for a petition for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, submitted by 22 enslaved people, to be burned. This action contributed to the climate that led to the adoption of the so‑called Gag Rule on slavery-related petitions in the House of Representatives, which barred the reception and consideration of such petitions. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress, interrupting his congressional career.

Alford returned to national office as a member of the Whig Party, reflecting the realignment of many Anti-Jacksonians into the Whig coalition. As a Whig representing Georgia, he contributed to the legislative process during three terms in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents in a period marked by economic instability and sectional tension. He was elected to the Twenty-sixth Congress and subsequently re-elected to the Twenty-seventh Congress, serving from March 4, 1839, until his resignation on October 1, 1841. His tenure in these later terms placed him at the center of congressional debates over federal economic policy, states’ rights, and the expansion of slavery, although the specific details of his committee assignments and sponsored legislation are less fully documented.

After resigning from Congress, Alford left Georgia and moved westward, first settling in Tuskegee, Alabama, and later relocating to an area near Montgomery, Alabama. He resumed the practice of law and became active in Alabama’s political life, continuing his involvement in public affairs as sectional tensions deepened in the 1850s. In 1852 he served as a delegate to the Union convention at Montgomery, an assembly convened amid rising national controversy over slavery and the Compromise of 1850. Despite this participation in a Union-focused gathering, he remained aligned with Southern pro-slavery interests and continued to seek public office.

Alford made an unsuccessful bid in 1855 to represent Alabama in the Thirty-fourth Congress, marking his final attempt to return to the U.S. House of Representatives. As the secession crisis unfolded, he took an active role in the movement for disunion. In 1861 he was a member of the Alabama secession convention, which adopted the Ordinance of Secession and led Alabama out of the Union at the outset of the Civil War. In his later years he lived on his plantation near Montgomery, Alabama, where he continued to be identified as a slaveholding planter as well as a lawyer and former congressman. Julius Caesar Alford died on his plantation near Montgomery on January 1, 1863, and was buried there.