John Pettit

This article is about the U.S. Representative from Indiana from (1843–1849). For the U.S. Representative from Indiana from (1855–1861), see John U. Pettit.

John Pettit
United States Senator from Indiana
In office January 18, 1853 – March 3, 1855
Preceded by	Charles W. Cathcart
Succeeded by	Graham N. Fitch
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 8th district
In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849
Preceded by	District created
Succeeded by	Joseph E. McDonald
Personal details
Born	(1807-06-24)June 24, 1807 Sackets Harbor, New York
Died	Lafayette, Indiana
Political party	Democratic

John Pettit (June 24, 1807 – January 17, 1877) was a United States Representative and Senator from Indiana.

Born in Sackets Harbor, New York, he completed preparatory studies and admitted to the bar in 1831. He moved to Lafayette, Indiana where he commenced practice in 1838; he was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1838-1839 and was United States district attorney from 1839 to 1843.

Pettit was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1843 - March 4, 1849); he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1848. In 1850 he was a delegate to the Indiana state constitutional convention and a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1852. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Whitcomb and served from January 18, 1853, to March 4, 1855; he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854.

While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims (Thirty-third Congress). During the Senate debate on the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, Pettit argued in favor of expanding slavery to Kansas, and famously said that Jefferson's idea (in the United States Declaration of Independence) that "all men are created equal" was not a "self-evident truth" but instead "is nothing more to me than a self-evident lie." The debate over Pettit's inflammatory words is credited with reviving Abraham Lincoln's interest in national politics.

After his time in Congress, Pettit was chief justice of the United States courts in the Territory of Kansas from 1859 to 1861, and was a judge of the Indiana Supreme Court from 1870 to 1877.

He died in Lafayette, Indiana, aged 69, and was interred in Greenbush Cemetery.

External links

• John Pettit at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• John Pettit at Find a Grave
• Text of 1854 speech by Abraham Lincoln against the extension of slavery, quoting Pettit

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by New district	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 8th congressional district March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849	Succeeded by Joseph E. McDonald
United States Senate
Preceded by Charles W. Cathcart	U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Indiana 1853–1855 Served alongside: Jesse D. Bright	Succeeded by Graham N. Fitch

1. REDIRECT Template:United States senators from Indiana

• This is a redirect from a page that has been moved (renamed). This page was kept as a redirect to avoid breaking links, both internal and external, that may have been made to the old page name. For more information follow the bold category link.