William Bigler

Infobox Senator
name=William Bigler

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jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Pennsylvania
party=Democrat
term=January 14, 1856ndash March 3, 1861
preceded=James Cooper
succeeded=Edgar Cowan
date of birth=birth date|1814|1|11|mf=y
place of birth=Shiremanstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
date of death=death date and age|1880|8|9|1814|1|11|mf=y
place of death=Clearfield, Pennsylvania, U.S.
spouse=
profession=Politician, Printer, Lumberman, Railroad President

William Bigler (January 11, 1814ndash August 9, 1880) was governor of Pennsylvania from 1852 to 1855, and later a U.S. Senator for the Democratic Party.

Bigler was born in rural Pennsylvania and received little formal education; he studied informally under his elder brother John Bigler (later governor of California), publisher of the "Centre County Democrat" newspaper. Bigler founded his own political newspaper, the "Clearfield Democrat", in 1833, and later became wealthy in the lumber business. In the 1840s he served in the Pennsylvania senate, and he defeated incumbent governor William F. Johnston for the governor's seat in 1851. Although Bigler opposed slavery in principle, he supported the federal government's Fugitive Slave Act and the pro-slavery Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was defeated for a second term by James Pollock, the candidate of the newly formed Republican Party. Following his term as governor, he served in the United States Senate from 1856 to 1861.

Bigler Hall on the University Park campus of Penn State is named after William Bigler.

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7105828 William Bigler] at Find A Grave