Jesse D. Bright

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title: "Jesse D. Bright" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1812-births", "1875-deaths", "1868-united-states-presidential-electors", "19th-century-american-businesspeople", "19th-century-indiana-state-court-judges", "19th-century-american-lawyers", "burials-at-green-mount-cemetery", "copperheads-(politics)", "democratic-party-united-states-senators-from-indiana", "expelled-united-states-senators", "indiana-lawyers", "indiana-state-court-judges", "democratic-party-indiana-state-senators", "law-enforcement-officials-from-indiana", "lieutenant-governors-of-indiana", "democratic-party-members-of-the-kentucky-house-of-representatives", "people-from-norwich,-new-york", "people-of-indiana-in-the-american-civil-war", "presidents-pro-tempore-of-the-united-states-senate", "19th-century-united-states-marshals", "19th-century-united-states-senators", "19th-century-members-of-the-kentucky-general-assembly", "19th-century-members-of-the-indiana-general-assembly", "united-states-senators-who-owned-slaves"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_D._Bright" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Jesse Bright
image	Jesse D Bright.jpg
office1	President pro tempore of the United States Senate
term_start1	June 12, 1860
term_end1	June 26, 1860
predecessor1	Benjamin Fitzpatrick
successor1	Benjamin Fitzpatrick
term_start2	June 11, 1856
term_end2	January 6, 1857
predecessor2	Charles E. Stuart
successor2	James M. Mason
term_start3	December 5, 1854
term_end3	June 9, 1856
predecessor3	Lewis Cass
successor3	Charles E. Stuart
jr/sr4	United States Senator
state4	Indiana
term_start4	March 4, 1845
term_end4	February 5, 1862
predecessor4	Albert Smith White
successor4	Joseph A. Wright
office5	Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
governor5	James Whitcomb
term_start5	December 6, 1843
term_end5	March 4, 1845
predecessor5	Samuel Hall
successor5	Paris C. Dunning
office6	Member of the Indiana Senate
term_start6	1841
term_end6	1843
office7	Member of the
Kentucky House of Representatives
from Carroll and Trimble Counties
term_start7	August 5, 1867
term_end7	August 7, 1871
predecessor7	Haydon S. Wright (Carroll)
Richard Bell (Trimble)
successor7	J. R. Sanders
birth_name	Jesse David Bright
birth_date
birth_place	Norwich, New York, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
party	Democratic
::

|name = Jesse Bright |image = Jesse D Bright.jpg |office1 = President pro tempore of the United States Senate |term_start1 = June 12, 1860 |term_end1 = June 26, 1860 |predecessor1 = Benjamin Fitzpatrick |successor1 = Benjamin Fitzpatrick |term_start2 = June 11, 1856 |term_end2 = January 6, 1857 |predecessor2 = Charles E. Stuart |successor2 = James M. Mason |term_start3 = December 5, 1854 |term_end3 = June 9, 1856 |predecessor3 = Lewis Cass |successor3 = Charles E. Stuart |jr/sr4 = United States Senator |state4 = Indiana |term_start4 = March 4, 1845 |term_end4 = February 5, 1862 |predecessor4 = Albert Smith White |successor4 = Joseph A. Wright |office5 = Lieutenant Governor of Indiana |governor5 = James Whitcomb |term_start5 = December 6, 1843 |term_end5 = March 4, 1845 |predecessor5 = Samuel Hall |successor5 = Paris C. Dunning |office6 = Member of the Indiana Senate |term_start6 = 1841 |term_end6 = 1843 |office7 = Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from Carroll and Trimble Counties |term_start7 = August 5, 1867 |term_end7 = August 7, 1871 |predecessor7 = Haydon S. Wright (Carroll) Richard Bell (Trimble) |successor7 = J. R. Sanders |birth_name = Jesse David Bright |birth_date = |birth_place = Norwich, New York, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |party = Democratic Jesse David Bright (December 18, 1812 – May 20, 1875) was the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Indiana and U.S. Senator from Indiana who served as President pro tempore of the Senate on three occasions. He was the only senator from a Northern state to be expelled for being a Confederate sympathizer, and also the last Senator to be expelled on Confederate rebellion. As a leading Copperhead he opposed the Civil War. He was frequently in competition with Governor Joseph A. Wright, the leader of the state's Republican Party.

Bright owned 21 slaves in Kentucky.

Early life and career

Jesse Bright was born into a German family in Norwich, New York, which moved to Madison, Indiana, in 1820. Bright attended public schools as a child. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1831, commencing practice in Madison.

U.S. Senate

Bright was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1844, and was reelected in 1850 and 1856, serving from 1845 to 1862. He was chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills from 1845 to 1847, of the Committee on Public Buildings from 1845 to 1847, of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims from 1847 to 1849, of the Committee on Roads and Canals from 1849 to 1855 and of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds from 1857 to 1861. He was also President pro tempore of the Senate from 1854 to 1856, 1856 to 1857, and in 1860. As such, he was first in the presidential line of succession in the first two terms due to the death of Vice President William R. King in April 1853.

In the Senate, Bright was not known as a great orator but was very able in committee work. One enemy of his was Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas after he voted against keeping Bright in the Senate. He was, however, a very close friend and confidant of William Hayden English, a U.S. Representative from Indiana. In 1857, President James Buchanan offered him the post of Secretary of State, but he declined.

In the beginning of 1862, the Senate of the 37th Congress, which was composed of twenty-nine Republicans and ten Democrats, voted to expel him for acknowledging Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederate States and for facilitating the sale of arms to the Confederacy.

He was the fourteenth senator expelled from Congress during the Civil War and was (as of 2023) the last senator ever to be expelled. Soon after his expulsion from the Senate, Union authorities confiscated his property in Port Fulton, Indiana, which became Jefferson General Hospital, the third-largest hospital during the Civil War. He was an unsuccessful candidate in filling the vacancy caused by his own expulsion in 1863. Bright's longtime intra-party rival, Envoy to Prussia and War Democrat Joseph A. Wright, succeeded him in the Senate.

Later life and career

After losing his home in Indiana, Bright moved to Covington, Kentucky. He was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871, was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket from Kentucky in the 1868 presidential election, and was president of the Raymond City Coal Company from 1871 to 1875. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1874 and died there on May 20, 1875. He was interred in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.

References

References

1. (1885). "Compilation of Senate Election Cases from 1789 to 1885". U.S. Government Printing Office.
2. (December 7, 2020). "Jesse D Bright". IHB.
3. IHB. (2020-12-07). "Jesse D Bright".
4. James Grant Wilson and John Fiske (eds.), ''Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Volume 1: Aaron–Crandall.'' New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1888; p.376.
5. (February 13, 1868). "Ex-Senator Jesse D. Bright.". The New York Times.
6. [http://myindianahome.net/gen/jeff/records/history/woollen/brightjd.html Jesse D. Bright: Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana] {{webarchive. link. (September 13, 2007)
7. "Jesse Bright Expulsion Case". senate.gov.

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