The New Student's Reference Work/Yancey, William Lowndes

Yan'cey, William Lowndes, a highly distinguished southern orator, was born at Ogeechee Falls, Ga., Aug. 10, 1815. After receiving a collegiate education he was admitted to the bar in Abbeville, S. C., but in 1836 moved to Alabama, where he successively edited The Catawba Democrat and The Wetumka Argus. He was a member of Congress in 1844-47, and in all the events leading to the secession of the southern states was one of the most prominent and perhaps the most eloquent leader of the proslayery party — the extent of his influence in "firing the southern heart" and inducing the effort to secede being hard to overestimate. When war broke out, he was sent (1861) to Europe as the agent of the Confederate government, but failed to secure recognition by any of the European powers. On his return home he became a member of the Confederate congress, and died near Montgomery, Ala., July 28, 1863.