John Bell

John Bell (1797-1869), American statesman, born near Nashville, Tennessee, and educated at Cumberland College. He practiced law and served in the Tennessee Senate before entering the U.S. House of Representatives in 1827 as a Democrat. He joined the Whig Party in 1829 and in 1834 defeated James Polk, later president of the U.S., for the office of Speaker of the House. Bell left the House in March 1841 to join the cabinet of President William H. Harrison; however, he resigned the following September because of a split between the Whigs and President John Tyler, who had succeeded Harrison. From 1847 to 1859 Bell served in the U.S. Senate as a Whig.

In 1860 Bell was the presidential candidate of the Constitutional Union Party. He won the electoral votes of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, but he lost the election to Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate. Bell at first opposed the secession of the southern states, but he later endorsed the Confederate States of America.