Senator Lazarus Whitehead Powell

Lazarus Whitehead Powell served as a Senator from Kentucky in the United States Congress from 1859 to 1865. A member of the Democratic Party, Lazarus Whitehead Powell contributed to the legislative process during 1 term in office.

Lazarus Whitehead Powell’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the Senate, Lazarus Whitehead Powell participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

Lazarus Whitehead Powell (October 6, 1812 – July 3, 1867) was an American politician who was the 19th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1851 to 1855. He served as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1859 to 1865. The reforms enacted during Powell’s term as governor gave Kentucky one of the top educational systems in the antebellum South. He also improved Kentucky’s transportation system and vetoed legislation that he felt would have created an overabundance of banks in the Commonwealth. Powell’s election as governor marked the end of Whig dominance in Kentucky. Powell’s predecessor, John J. Crittenden, was the last governor elected from the party of the Commonwealth’s favorite son, Henry Clay. Following his term as governor, Powell was elected to the U.S. Senate. Before he could assume office, President James Buchanan dispatched Powell and Major Benjamin McCulloch to Utah to ease tensions with Brigham Young and the Mormons. Powell assumed his Senate seat on his return from Utah, just prior to the election of Abraham Lincoln as president. Powell became an outspoken critic of Lincoln’s administration, so much so that the Kentucky General Assembly asked for his resignation and some of his fellow senators tried to have him expelled from the body, though both groups later renounced their actions. He was also a slave owner. Powell died at his home near Henderson, Kentucky shortly following a failed bid to return to the Senate in 1867.