Owners and Tenants, 1819-1956

• Decatur
• Hyde de Neuville
• de Tuyll
• Clay
• Van Buren
• Livingston
• Vaughn
• Gadsby
• Dallas
• Gales
• John & James King
• Appleton
• Orr
• Benjamin
• McBlair
• United States Army
• Edward Beale &
  Mary Beale
• Truxtun Beale
• Marie Beale

TIMELINE OF OWNERS AND TENANTS
home > the people> timeline > john and james king

John Alsop King and James Gore King (tenants, 1850-1851)

As the sons of famous statesman Rufus King, brothers James and John King spent most of their childhoods abroad and were educated in England and France. After returning to New York and a brief career practicing law, John became interested in politics and served on the New York State Assembly and Senate. In 1848, he was elected to Congress as a Whig representative, serving only a single term from 1849-1851. Like his brother, James King was serving his freshman term as a Whig representative from New Jersey.

Whig representatives and brothers John and James King vehemently opposed any pro-slavery measures proposed by Henry Clay to placate the South. President Zachary Taylor, their fellow Whig and personal friend of James, took a wait-and-see approach to legislative fight on slavery, but threatened to veto Clay’s bill. When Taylor died unexpectedly, his successor, Milliard Fillmore, immediately signed the Compromise of 1850 into law. James and John King wrote they were, “not prepared for, and did not approved the sudden change of policy adopted,” and left Congress and Decatur House at the end of their first and only terms.

next > Appleton