Paris C. Dunning
| Paris C. Dunning | |
|---|---|
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| Indiana House of Representatives | |
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In office December 4, 1833 – December 5, 1836 |
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| Indiana State Senate | |
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In office December 4, 1836 – December 5, 1840 |
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In office January 5, 1861 – January 9, 1867 |
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| 10th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana | |
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In office December 9, 1846 – December 26, 1848 |
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| Governor | James Whitcomb |
| Preceded by | Jesse D. Bright |
| Succeeded by | James H. Lane |
| 9th Governor of Indiana | |
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In office December 26, 1848 – December 5, 1849 |
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| Lieutenant | Vacant |
| Preceded by | James Whitcomb |
| Succeeded by | Joseph A. Wright |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 15, 1806 Greensboro, North Carolina |
| Died | May 9, 1884 (aged 78) Bloomington, Indiana |
| Political party | Democrat Independent |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Alexander Mrs. Allen Ashford |
| Religion | Methodist |
Paris Chipman Dunning (March 15, 1806 – May 9, 1884) was a Democratic state representative, state senator, senate president pro tempore, the tenth Lieutenant Governor, and the ninth Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from December 26, 1848 to December 5, 1849. He is the only person to hold to every elected seat in the state government under the 1816 constitution. His brief term as governor was marked by the calling of a state constitutional convention and overshadowed by the national anti-slavery debate, where Dunning urged state leaders to issue and forward resolutions to Congress expressing opposition to the expansion of slavery. As a delegate to the subsequent convention, he successfully advocated legislative and educational reform. As the American Civil War broke out, he left the Democratic party and declared for the Union, personally raising many companies of soldiers for the war effort. He returned to the state senate during the war, and then resumed his law practice after his term ended. He remained popular in the state, and declined several nominations to run for office after retiring from politics.
Dunning was born in 1806 in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina the youngest of the six sons of James and Rachel North Dunning. He attended the nearby Greensboro Academy and graduated at age seventeen. Upon graduation he enrolled in the state university at Chapel Hill to study medicine. After the death of his father, he, his mother, and one older brother moved to Bloomington, Indiana where Dunning briefly taught school. There he met Sarah Alexander; the couple married on July 6, 1826 and had four children.
He and his wife moved to Louisville, Kentucky for a short time to complete his medical training and then he opened a medical practice in Rockville, Indiana. The practice was short lived as he became more interested in law. He returned to his mother and older brother in Bloomington and began to study law in office of future Governor James Whitcomb and Congressman Tilghman A. Howard before being admitted to the bar in 1833. Working in the law office, he met Indiana's Democratic Party leaders, and impressed many of them who saw him as a potential candidate for office.
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