ALLEN, WILLIAM (1803-1879), American lawyer and politician, was born in Edenton, N.C., in 1803. When 16 years old he removed to Chillicothe, O., attended the Chillicothe academy, studied law, and at the age of 21 was admitted to the bar. He rapidly attained prominence as a lawyer and in 1833 was elected to Congress as a Democrat, the youngest member, when seated, of the national House. In 1836, following his energetic support of Van Buren's presidential campaign, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, in which he served two terms, 1837-49. In the Senate, in which he was a forceful figure, he received the nicknames "Earthquake Allen," "Petticoat Allen" and the "Ohio Gong," and is said to have originated the famous slogan used so effectively in the presidential campaign of 1844, "Fifty-four forty, or fight!" Following the defeat in 1848 of Lewis Cass, the Democratic candidate for president, whom he most ardently supported, and the expiration soon after of his own term in the Senate, Allen with drew from active participation in politics until 1873, when he was elected governor of Ohio. While governor, he became a prominent advocate of an irredeemable currency, and in 1875, on the Green back issue, he was defeated for re-election by Rutherford B. Hayes (q.v.). Allen died in Chillicothe, O., on June i 1, 18 i 9. See Reginald Charles McGrane, William Allen (Columbus, O., 1925).