biography
| name: |
Breckinridge, John C(abell)
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| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1821–75)
|
| biography:
| Vice-president of the USA (1857–61), born near Lexington, Kentucky, USA. He practised law there until 1847, when he was chosen major of a volunteer regiment for the Mexican War. He sat in Congress (1851–5), and in 1856 was elected vice-president under Buchanan. In 1860 he was the pro-slavery candidate for the presidency, but was defeated by Lincoln. He was appointed a Confederate major-general in 1862, and secretary of war in Jefferson Davis's cabinet. At the end of the Civil War he fled to Europe, returning in 1868. |
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