William King Sebastian (June 12, 1812May 20, 1865) was an American politician, judge, and lawyer from Helena, Arkansas. He represented Arkansas as a United States Senator, from 1848 to 1861. Sebastian withdrew from the Senate at the start of the Civil War and was later formally expelled by the Senate. He took no active part in the Confederate government and was reinstated by a posthumous resolution in 1877.
Early life
Sebastian was born in Centerville, Tennessee, on June 12, 1812; sometime around 1834 he graduated from Colombia College, also in Tennessee, and began studying law. He moved to Arkansas in 1835, where he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Helena, Arkansas; later he became a cotton planter. From 1835 to 1837 he was a prosecuting attorney; he served as a circuit court judge from 1840 to 1843, in which year he was made an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Later life
When the American Civil War began, "he did not resign, as did all the other southern senators save Andrew Johnson, but remained a melancholy and helpless spectator of events".