James Guthrie (Kentucky), Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

James Guthrie (Kentucky)

American politician and businessman

Date of Birth: 05-Dec-1792

Place of Birth: Nelson County, Kentucky, United States

Date of Death: 13-Mar-1869

Profession: lawyer, politician

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

James Guthrie (December 5, 1792 – March 13, 1869) was a Kentucky lawyer, plantation owner, railroad president and Democratic Party politician.
He served as the 21st United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin Pierce, and then became president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.
After serving, part-time, in both houses of the Kentucky legislature as well as Louisville's City Council before the American Civil War (and failing to win his party's nomination in the Presidential election of 1860), Guthrie became one of Kentucky's United States Senators in 1865 (until resigning for health reasons in 1868 shortly before his death).
Although Guthrie strongly opposed Kentucky's secession from the United States and attended the Peace Conference of 1861, and sided with the Union during the Civil War, he declined President Abraham Lincoln's offer to become the Secretary of War.
As one of Kentucky's Senators after the war, Guthrie supported President Andrew Johnson and opposed Congressional Reconstruction. Guthrie also was a director of the Louisville and Portland Canal Company, the first president of the University of Louisville, and presided over the Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1849 (which explicitly ratified slavery in the state until its abolition after the American Civil War).
During the Civil War, Guthrie resisted federal pressure to nationalize the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, but allowed the Union to use it to move troops and supplies.