US Congressman. Elected to two non-consecutive terms in the US House of Representatives, representing Indiana's 3rd and 6th Districts, he served from 1847 to 1849 and from 1855 to 1857. Dunn was born in Washington County, Kentucky, and moved with his parents to Indiana in 1823. He attended what is now the Indiana University at Bloomington and in 1833 moved to Bedford, Lawrence County, where he taught school, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1835. In 1842 he was prosecuting attorney for Lawrence County. An opponent of slavery noted for his skills as an orator, Dunn won his first term in Congress as a member of the Whig Party; he was defeated for reelection in 1848. He went on to serve in the Indiana Senate from 1850 until 1852, when he resigned to oversee his flourishing law practice. But the controversial passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), with its provisions for the expansion of slavery, drew him back into politics and he won a second term in the US House as an Opposition Party candidate. He was in poor health for much of this term and did not seek renomination in 1856. Dunn died in Bedford six months after leaving office.
US Congressman. Elected to two non-consecutive terms in the US House of Representatives, representing Indiana's 3rd and 6th Districts, he served from 1847 to 1849 and from 1855 to 1857. Dunn was born in Washington County, Kentucky, and moved with his parents to Indiana in 1823. He attended what is now the Indiana University at Bloomington and in 1833 moved to Bedford, Lawrence County, where he taught school, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1835. In 1842 he was prosecuting attorney for Lawrence County. An opponent of slavery noted for his skills as an orator, Dunn won his first term in Congress as a member of the Whig Party; he was defeated for reelection in 1848. He went on to serve in the Indiana Senate from 1850 until 1852, when he resigned to oversee his flourishing law practice. But the controversial passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), with its provisions for the expansion of slavery, drew him back into politics and he won a second term in the US House as an Opposition Party candidate. He was in poor health for much of this term and did not seek renomination in 1856. Dunn died in Bedford six months after leaving office.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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