Augustus Maxwell

Augustus Emmett Maxwell (September 21, 1820 – May 5, 1903) was a United States Representative from Florida as well as a senator in the Confederate Congress representing Florida.

Early life

Maxwell was born in Elberton, Georgia. He graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1841 and was admitted to the Alabama bar association in 1843. After practicing law in Eutaw, Alabama, he moved to Tallahassee, Florida, in 1845, the year Florida became a U.S. state.

Political career

Maxwell was the Florida Attorney General in 1846 and 1847, a member of the Florida House of Representatives in 1847, Secretary of State of Florida in 1848, and a member of the Florida Senate in 1849 and 1850. As a Democrat, Maxwell represented Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1853 to 1857.

After Florida seceded from the United States and during the American Civil War, he served in the senate of both the First and Second Confederate Congress (but not in the predecessor Provisional Confederate Congress). Maxwell and Jackson Morton were the only two people to represent Florida in both the United States Congress and the Confederate Congress in their lifetimes.

Augustus

Augustus (Latin: Imperātor Caesar Dīvī Fīlius Augustus; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August 14 AD) was the founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor, ruling from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.

He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian Octavii family. His maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavian was named in Caesar's will as his adopted son and heir. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. Following their victory at Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvirate was eventually torn apart under the competing ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Octavian in 31 BC.

After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Augustus restored the outward facade of the free Republic, with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, the executive magistrates, and the legislative assemblies. In reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and those of tribune and censor. It took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis ("First Citizen of the State"). The resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire.

Augustus (disambiguation)

Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD) was the first emperor of ancient Rome.

Augustus may also refer to:

People

By first name or title

Augustus (Massie novel)

Augustus is a 1986 historical novel by Scottish writer Allan Massie, the first of a highly regarded series of novels about the movers and makers of Imperial Rome. Massie begins with Augustus, the successor to Julius Caesar, who ruled the Roman Empire for forty one years and oversaw the beginnings of an extended peace,' the Pax Romana '.

Synopsis

The novel is in the form of a memoir written by Augustus in old age, in which he looks back over his long reign. Massie uses modern language and phraseology to describe Augustus' ruthlessness and the political intrigue he mastered and used so capably to keep himself in power for so many years when for most of his rule he was surrounded by powerful enemies and duplicitous allies.

References