George Mifflin Dallas was a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and the 11th Vice President of the United States, serving under James K. Polk. George Mifflin Dallas was born on July 10, 1792, to Alexander James Dallas and Arabella Smith Dallas in Philadelphia. Dallas was the second of six children from his parents, one of whom, Alexander, would become the commander of Pensacola Navy Yard. The senior Alexander was the Secretary of the Treasury under United States President James Madison, and was also briefly the Secretary of War. Dallas graduated from the College of New Jersey with highest honors... in 1810, studying law thereafter, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1813. Dallas was of Scottish ancestry, with his father Alexander Dallas born in Kingston, Jamaica and educated in Edinburgh. His paternal grandfather, Dr. Robert Charles Dallas was born in Scotland, immigrated to Jamaica, with him later returning to Scotland to educate his six children. Dallas did not have much enthusiasm at the time for legal practice, and wanted to fight in the War of 1812, a plan which he dropped due to his father's objection.
more