Missouri Lawyer and Politician
In 1830 he moved to Liberty in Clay County in western Missouri, and set up practice there, where he also farmed. Atchison's law practice flourished, and his best-known client was Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr.. Atchison represented Smith in land disputes with non-Mormon settlers in Caldwell County and Daviess County.
Alexander William Doniphan joined Atchison's law practice in Liberty in May, 1833. The two became fast friends and spend many leisure time hours playing cards, going the horse races, hunting, fishing, attending social functions and political events. Atchison, already a member of the Liberty Blues, a volunteer militia in Missouri, got Doniphan to join.
Atchison was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1834. He worked hard for the Platte Purchase, which extended the northwestern boundary of Missouri to the Missouri River in 1837.
When the earlier disputes broke out into the so-called Mormon War of 1838, Atchison was appointed a major general in the state militia and took part in suppression of the violence by both sides.
In 1838 he was re-elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives. Three years later, he appointed a circuit court judge for the six-county area of the Platte Purchase. In 1843 he was named a county commissioner in Platte County, where he then lived.
Read more about this topic: David Rice Atchison
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