Alfred Iverson, Sr.

Alfred Iverson, Sr.
United States Senator from Georgia
In office March 4, 1855 – January 28, 1861
Preceded by	William C. Dawson
Succeeded by	Joshua Hill
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849
Preceded by	Seaborn Jones
Succeeded by	Marshall J. Wellborn
Member of the Georgia Senate
In office 1843-1844
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
In office 1827-1830
Personal details
Born	(1798-12-03)December 3, 1798 Liberty County, Georgia
Died	Macon, Georgia
Political party	Democratic

Alfred Iverson, Sr. (December 3, 1798 – March 4, 1873) was a United States Representative and Senator from Georgia. Born in Liberty County, he attended private schools and graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1820. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1822 and commenced practice in Clinton, Georgia. He was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1827 to 1830, and moved to Columbus in 1830 and continued the practice of law. He was judge of the State superior court from 1835 to 1837, a member of the Georgia Senate in 1843-1844, and a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1844.

Iverson was elected as a Democrat to the Thirtieth Congress (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849). From 1850 to 1854 he again served as judge of the State superior court, and was elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1855, to January 28, 1861, when he withdrew. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Claims (Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses). Iverson left the Senate shortly after Georgia passed an ordinance of secession from the United States and after making a defiant farewell speech, stating that Southerners would never return to the Union "short of a full and explicit recognition of the guarantee of the safety of their institution of domestic slavery."

After leaving the Senate, he resumed the practice of law in Columbus until 1868, when he purchased a plantation in East Macon and engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death there in 1873; interment was in Linwood Cemetery, Columbus.

His son, Alfred Iverson, Jr., was a Confederate general in the American Civil War.

Other sources

• Alfred Iverson, Sr. at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Seaborn Jones	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849	Succeeded by Marshall J. Wellborn
United States Senate
Preceded by William C. Dawson	U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Georgia 1855–1861 Served alongside: Robert A. Toombs	Succeeded by vacanta
Notes and references
1. Georgia seceded from the Union in 1861. Seat declared vacant until Joshua Hill elected after Georgia's readmission into the Union in 1870.