Revision as of 12:37, 7 January 2007
- See also Roscoe Conkling Patterson, a U.S. Senator from Missouri
Roscoe Conkling (October 30 1829–April 18 1888) was a politician from New York who served both as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He was the leader of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party.
He was born in Albany, New York; his father, Alfred Conkling, was a U.S. Representative and Federal judge and his brother, Frederick Augustus Conkling, was also a U.S. Representative.
He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He began a practice in Utica, New York. He served as the district attorney for Oneida County in 1850; mayor of Utica in 1858; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1863); chairman, Committee on District of Columbia (Thirty-seventh Congress); unsuccessful candidate in 1862 for reelection; elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1865, until he resigned to become Senator, effective March 4, 1867; elected in 1867 as a Republican to the United States Senate; reelected in 1873 and again in 1879 and served from March 4, 1867, until May 16, 1881, when he resigned as a protest against the federal appointments made in New York State; was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation; chairman, Committee on Revision of the Laws of the United States (Fortieth through Forty-third Congresses), Committee on Commerce (Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-seventh Congresses), Committee on Engrossed Bills (Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses); resumed the practice of law in New York City; declined to accept a nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1882; died in New York City, on April 18, 1888; interment in Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, N.Y. A statue stands of him in Madison Square in New York City.
Actions in Congress and the Senate
- He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Lincoln administration and its conduct of the American Civil War.
- He was active in framing and pushing through Congress the Reconstruction legislation, and was instrumental in the passage of the second Civil Rights Act in 1875.
- In the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati in 1876, Conkling first appeared as a presidential candidate, receiving 93 votes.
- He was one of the framers of the bill creating the Electoral Commission to decide the disputed election of 1876.
- Early in 1880, Senator Conkling became the leader of the movement for the nomination of General Grant for a third term in the presidency.
- He was one of the original drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment, and later claimed before the Supreme Court that the phrase "nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws" meant the drafters wanted corporations to be included, because they used the word "person" and cited his personal diary from the period. Howard Jay Graham, a Stanford historian and considered the pre-eminent scholar on the Fourteenth Amendment, concluded that Conkling probably perjured himself for the benefit of his railroad friends. This line of reasoning helped to solidify the concept of corporate personhood.
Relationship with Chester Arthur
Conkling, a machine Republican, served as a mentor to Chester Arthur, beginning in the late 1860's. Arthur received from Conkling a tax commission post (along with a salary of $10,000), and later put in charge of the New York City Custom House. Conkling and Arthur were so intimately associated that it was feared, after President James Garfield was assassinated, that the killing had been done at Conkling's behest in order to install Arthur as president (although this speculation was unfounded). Arthur later offered Conkling a pre-confirmed spot on the Supreme Court, although it was thought the gesture was merely "complimentary," that Conkling was too partisan to make a good Justice, and that Arthur was paying back his patron with the honor of nomination, even though it was expected Conkling would refuse.
In fact, Arthur and Conkling's relationship was destroyed by the former's accession to the presidency. The Stalwarts faction that Conkling led was opposed to civil service reform, instead advocating the old patronage system of political appointments. Conkling had been unable to influence Garfield (a member of the rival Republican faction, the Half-Breeds), in the appointment for New York's port collector; it was Garfield's selections that prompted Conkling's resignation from Congress. When Arthur became president upon Garfield's death, Conkling attempted to sway his protege into changing the appointment. Arthur, who would become an avid champion of civil service reform, refused. The two men never repaired the breach.
See also
- U. S. Senator Thomas C. Platt of New York.
References
- United States Congress. "Roscoe Conkling (id: C000681)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Morgan, H. Wayne. From Hayes to McKinley: National Party Politics, 1877-1896 (1969)
- The Nation, March 2, 1882
Primary sources
- A. R. Conkling (editor), The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling: Orator, Statesman, Advocate (1889)
External links
- Mr. Lincoln and New York: Roscoe Conkling
- Find-A-Grave profile for Roscoe Conkling
- 1877 caricature by Joseph Keppler of Roscoe Conkling
| Preceded byIra Harris | U.S. Senator (Class 3) from New York 1867-1883 |
Succeeded byElbridge G. Lapham |