John Eaton Was 28 Years, 151 Days Old When He Took Office as Senator for Tennessee in 1818

It's hard to imagine a 28 year-old US senator given the fact that the average age of the Senate is currently 64 years old.

In fact, there are currently four 80+ year-old US senators - Charles Grassley, Dianne Feinstein, Bernie Sanders and Mitch McConnell.

There are scores more that are more than 70 years of age, including Mitt Romney, Elizabeth Warren and Angus King, to name a few.

It seems that having grey hair is almost a prerequisite for serving in the Senate, though it wasn't always this way.

In the early 1800s, it was much more normal for politicians to be younger in age - in fact, there were four different US Senators who walked into their offices for the first time that were in their 20s.

The youngest was Senator John Eaton, who served as the Senator for Tennessee between November 16th, 1818 and March 9th, 1829.

When Senator Eaton was sworn into office, he was the tender age of 28 years old.

To this day, Senator Eaton remains the youngest ever US senator.

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Eaton was involved with the Tennessee militia at an early age, eventually earning the title of major.

Eaton fought at the side of Andrew Jackson, who would eventually win the Presidency. Eaton and Jackson became close friends and remained so for years until political disagreements fractured the friendship permanently.

After serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1815-1816, Eaton decided to serve as the Senator for Tennessee, despite being constitutionally ineligible to do so (Eaton was 28 and you had to be 30 to serve as a Senator).

Eaton was still sworn into office, where we served for over a decade before being named as Andrew Jackson's Secretary of War.

Eaton would later serve as the Governor of Florida Territory and US Minister to Spain later in his career, before deciding to retire.

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It's hard to imagine anybody in this day and age being elected to the US Senate in their 20s.

Former President Joe Biden and current Vice President JD Vance were both elected to the Senate in their 30s.

Filed under: General Knowledge