Talk:List of United States senators from Tennessee

The Muddled Early History of Senatorial Class in Tennessee

These tables seem to be incorrect on their face; there are instances where they seem to indicate that both Senators are serving in one seat simultaneously and no one serivng in the other. This situation is so muddled that that may almost be said to be the case. In Tennessee's early years when its Senators (like those of the other states) were elected by the state legislature. There were multiple resignations, with sometimes resigned Senators then returning and then resigning again (Andrew Jackson and George W. Campbell being examples), Senators serving part of a term from one seat and then being named to the other one, seats being left vacant for protracted periods due to a recess in the legislature, and other discrepancies. Even with the use of the official Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, it is well-nigh impossible to determine which Senator was in which seat at which point (at least for this observer), that is, which Senator is serving in the seat first occupied by William Cocke (called "Class I" in the tables), and which one is serving in the seat first occupied by William Blount (called "Class II" in the tables). One of the major complications is apparently that Cocke was the first to occupy both seats.

On October 10, 1815, two "new" Tennessee Senators were sworn in, one being the returning George W. Campbell, the other John Williams. Williams served a total of almost eight years, possibly switching from one seat to the other when Campbell resigned again. So the situation is quite muddled, perhaps irrepairably so, perhaps correctable by a long visit to the Tennessee State Archives that I do not anticipate making in the foreseeable future. Rlquall 20:53, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Great work on all of this, Rlquall. Very interesting, and certainly worthy of some footnotes. ~ Ross (ElCharismo) 15:51, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

The "Immortal Thirteen"

According to the official Tennessee Blue Book (1989-1990 edition) there were no U.S. Senators from Tennessee from 1841 to 1843. Apparently the reason for this was that the above-named thirteen refused to meet with the rest of the General Assembly, thusly denying a quorum to elect a Senator. Presumably they did this as loyal Democrats, preferring the state to have no representation in the Senate to the possibilty of it having Whig senators. This could account for some of the confusion in the table as well, although it shows one Senator during this period. Rlquall 04:25, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)

File:Sengore.jpg may be deleted

I have tagged File:Sengore.jpg, which is in use in this article for deletion because it does not have a copyright tag. If a copyright tag is not added within seven days the image will be deleted. --Chris 07:33, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Missing senator

Fred Thompson is not listed. 2600:1700:3C40:5CC0:C148:2693:7DA5:E3CB (talk) 02:10, 27 December 2022 (UTC)

Yes he is, he's right above Lamar Alexander Emk9 (talk)