Solomon W. Downs

Infobox Senator
name=Solomon Weathersbee Downs

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jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Louisiana
party=Democrat
term=March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853
preceded=Pierre Soulé
succeeded=Judah P. Benjamin
date of birth=1801
place of birth=Montgomery County, Tennessee, U.S.
date of death=death date|1854|8|14|mf=y
place of death=Crab Orchard Springs, Kentucky, U.S.
spouse=
profession=Politician, Lawyer, Farmer

Solomon Weathersbee Downs (1801 – August 14, 1854) was a United States Senator from Louisiana. Born in Montgomery County, Tennessee, he pursued classical studies and graduated from the Transylvania University (in Lexington, Kentucky) in 1823. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1826 and commenced practice in Bayou Sara, Louisiana. He moved to Ouachita, Louisiana and then to New Orleans in 1845, where he engaged in the practice of law and was a successful planter.

Downs was United States Attorney for the district of Louisiana from 1845 to 1847 and a member of the State constitutional convention. He was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1847, to March 3, 1853; while in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills (Thirtieth Congress) and a member of the Committee on Private Land Claims (Thirtieth through Thirty-second Congresses). He was appointed by President Franklin Pierce collector of the port of New Orleans in 1853. He died in Crab Orchard Springs, Kentucky and was buried on family plantation (later reinterred in Riverview Cemetery, Monroe, Ouachita.)

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External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7931393 Solomon W. Downs] at Find A Grave