Alexander Barrow
American politician (1801–1846)
Alexander Barrow I (March 27, 1801 – December 29, 1846) was a lawyer, slave owner, and United States senator from Louisiana. He was a member of the Whig Party. He was the half-brother of Washington Barrow, sharing the same father.
Born near Nashville, Tennessee, to Willie Barrow and his first wife Jane Green, Barrow attended the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, from 1816 to 1818. Then he studied law and was admitted to the bar, in 1822, commencing practice in Nashville.
Soon afterward he relocated to Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, where he continued to practice law. Later he abandoned his legal career to become a planter.
Eventually, Alexander Barrow became involved in politics and was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives, where he served for several years. While in state office, he denounced bans on slave imports, and said that the state's "wealth and property" were attributable "fair and fully upon the labor of slaves."
In 1840 Barrow was elected a Whig to the United States Senate, serving from 1841 until his death. There he was Chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds during the 27th Congress and of the Committee on the Militia during the 27th and 28th Congresses.
“Alexander Barrow” enters the record as american politician (1801–1846). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alexander, Barrow and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Alexander Barrow” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alexander, Barrow and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2622146. VIAF identifies the subject as 58945841. The Library of Congress control number is nr92025161. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1801, 1846, 1816 and 1818.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Alexander Barrow”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Alexander Barrow primary sources, Alexander Barrow archive and Alexander research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alexander Barrow”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Alexander Barrow” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.