figure in the Thirty-ninth Congress. His age, his long fidelity to the principles of the Republican party, his uncompromising spirit, and his force of character made him a conspicuous and influential member of the House, but did not cause him to be generally recognized or implicitly followed as a leader.
In so large a legislative body, composed of so many men of independent thought and action, acknowledging no parliamentary leader, it is remarkable that the wheels of legislation should run so smoothly, and that after all the disagreement in discussion, great results should be at last so harmoniously wrought out. This is partly due to the patriotic spirit which pervaded the minds of its members, inducing them to lay aside minor differences of opinion for the good of that common country for which their constituents had lately made such tremendous sacrifice. The result is also owing to the parliamentary ability and tact of him who sat patiently and faithfully as Speaker of the House. Deprived by his position of opportunity of taking part in the discussions, which his genius and experience fitted him to illustrate, he nevertheless did much to direct the current of legislation which flowed smoothly or turbidly before him. The resolution of thanks to the Speaker, moved by a member of the minority, and passed unanimously by the House, was no unmeaning compliment, but was an honor fairly earned and justly paid.
The labor of presiding over the Senate-a much lighter task, owing to the smaller number which composed the body-was faithfully performed by Mr. Foster. His remarks to the Senate on retiring from the chair as President pro tempore, and closing a career of twelve years as a member of the body, were most beautiful and impressive.
Benjamin F. Wade, "a Senator from Ohio," having been duly elected President pro tempore of the Senate, took the "iron-clad oath" and assumed his seat as acting Vice-President of the United States without ostentation or remark.
At twelve o'clock noon of March 4, 1867, the Thirty-ninth Congress closed its existence, handing over its great enactments to the country, and its unfinished business to its successor, which immediately came into life.
(The numbers appended to the following sketches refer to preceding pages of the book.)
[The names of Republicans are printed in ROMAN; of Democrats in ITALICS.]
JOHN B. ALLEY was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, January 7, 1817. Having
learned the art of shoemaking, he devoted himself to the shoe and leather trade.
After having served several years in the City Council of Lynn, he was chosen a
member of the Governor's Council in 1851. He was a member of the Massachu-
setts Senate in 1852, and of the State Constitutional Convention held in the fol-
lowing year. In 1858 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Massa-
chusetts. He entered upon his fourth Congressional term in 1865 as a member
of the Thirty-Ninth Congress; and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by
General Butler.
WILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Wayne County, Ohio, March 2, 1829.
He was educated at Alleghany College, Pennsylvania, and at Western Reserve
College, Ohio. From 1851 to 1857 he practiced law in Ohio, and subsequently
settled in Dubuque, Iowa. He was a member of the Chicago Convention of 1860..
As a member of the Governor's staff, in 1861, he rendered efficient service in
raising troops for the war. In 1862 he was elected a Representative in the Thir-
ty-Eighth Congress, from Ohio. He was re-elected in 1864, and again in 1866.
-527.
OAKES AMES was born in Easton, Massachusetts, January 10, 1804. He
has devoted most of his life to the business of manufacturing, taking but little
public part in politics. Having served for two years as a member of the Execu-
tive Council of his State, he was, in 1862, 1864, and 1866, elected a Representa-
tive in Congress, from Massachusetts.-31.
SYDENHAM E. ANCONA was born in Warwick, Pennsylvania, Novem-
ber 20, 1824. Removing to Berks County, he was, for a number of years, con-
nected with the Reading Railroad Company. In 1860 he was elected a Repre-
sentative to the Thirty-Seventh Congress from Pennsylvania, and was subse-
quently returned to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He was
succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by J. Lawrence Getz.
GEORGE W. ANDERSON was born in Tennessee, May 22, 1832. Having
received a liberal education, he adopted the profession of law. In 1853 he settled
in Missouri, where he soon after became editor of the "North-East Missourian.”
In 1858 he was elected to the State Legislature. In 1862 he was chosen a State
Senator, and served as such until he was elected a Representative from Missouri
to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
HENRY B. ANTHONY was born of Quaker ancestry,.at Coventry, Rhode
Island, April 1, 1815. He graduated at Brown University in 1833. He became
editor of the " Providence Journal" in 1838. He was chosen Governor of Rhode
Island in 1849, and served two terms. In 1859 he was elected a Senator in Con-
gress from Rhode Island, and was subsequently re-elected for a second term,
which ends in 1871.-36, 37, 487, 488, 497.
SAMUEL M. ARNELL was born in Maury County, Tennessee, May 3, 1834.
He studied at Amherst College, Massachusetts, and adopted the profession of
law, which he practiced in Columbia, Tennessee. In April, 1865, he was elected
a member of the Legislature of Tennessee, and in the following August was
elected a Representative in Congress. The Tennessee delegation not being ad-
mitted at the opening of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, he continued to hold his
seat in the Legislature. He was the author of the Franchise Law, which be-
came a part of the Constitution of Tennessee, and of the Civil Rights Bill of
Tennessee. He took his seat as a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress at the
opening of its second session, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
DELOS R. ASHLEY studied and practiced the profession of law in Monroe,
Michigan. In 1849 he removed to California, where he was elected District
Attorney in 1851. He was elected to the Assembly in 1854, and to the State
Senate in 1856. He subsquently held the office of Treasurer of State. Having
removed to Nevada in 1864, he was elected the Representative from that State to
the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.
JAMES M. ASHLEY was born in Pennsylvania, November 14, 1824. He
spent several years of his early life in a printing-office, and was some time a
clerk on Ohio and Mississippi steamboats. He studied law, and was admitted
to the bar in 1849, but immediately engaged in the business of boat-building.
He subsequently went into the wholesale drug business in Toledo. In 1858 he
was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Sixth Congress, and has
been a member of every succeeding Congress, including the Fortieth.-306, 503,
513, 515, 525, 566.
JEHU BAKER was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, November 4, 1822.
He received a good education, and entered the profession of law. Having settled
in Illinois, he was, in 1864, elected a Representative from that State to the Thir-
ty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.—340, 560.
JOHN D. BALDWIN was born in North Stonington, Connecticut, September
28, 1810. He graduated at Yale College. Having studied law, and gone through
a course of theological studies, he published a volume of poems, and became
connected with the press, first in Hartford, and then in Boston, where he was
editor of the "Daily Commonwealth." He subsequently became proprietor of
the "Worcester Spy." In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago Convention.
In 1862 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Massachusetts, and
was re-elected in 1864 and 1866.
NATHANIEL P. BANKS was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, January
30, 1816. His parents, being poor, could afford him no advantages of education
save those of the common school. He was editor of a newspaper first in Waltham
and then in Lowell. He studied law, but did not practice. In 1848 he was
elected to the Legislature. He served in both Houses, and officiateḍ part of the
time as Speaker. He was President of the Convention, held in 1853, for revis-
ing the Constitution of Massachusetts. From 1853 to 1857 he was a Represen-
tative in Congress. During his second term in Congress he held the office of
Speaker of the House, with unsurpassed acceptability and success. In 1857 he
was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and held the office for three successive
terms. During the late rebellion he served as a Major-General of Volunteers.
In 1865 he was elected a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected
in 1866.-25, 31, 445, 524, 525, 539, 553.
ABRAHAM A. BARKER was born in Lovell, Maine, March 30, 1816. He
received a common-school education, and engaged in agricultural pursuits.
He was an early and earnest advocate of temperance and anti-slavery. In 1854
he removed to Pennsylvania, and entered upon the lumber business and mer-
cantile pursuits. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago Convention. In
1864 he was elected to represent the Seventeenth District of Pennsylvania in the
Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Daniel
J. Morrell.
PORTUS BAXTER was born in Brownington, Vermont. He received a
liberal education, and engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits. In 1852
and 1856 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1860 he was elected a Representa-
tive from Vermont to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was re-elected to the
Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He was succeeded in the Fortieth
Congress by Worthington C. Smith.
FERNANDO C. BEAMAN was born in Chester, Vermont, June 28, 1814,
and was removed in boyhood to New York. He received an English education
at the Franklin County Academy, and studied law in Rochester. In 1838 he
removed to Michigan, and engaged in the practice of his profession. He served
six years as Prosecuting Attorney for the county of Lenawee, and four years as
Judge of Probate. In 1856 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1860 he was
elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-Seventh Congress, and was
successively re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Con-
gresses.-447.
JOHN F. BENJAMIN was born in Cicero, New York, January 23, 1817.
After having spent three years in Texas, he settled in Missouri, in 1848, and
engaged in the practice of law. He was a member of the Missouri Legislature
in 1851 and 1852, and was a Presidential Elector in 1856. He entered the
Missouri Cavalry as a private, in 1861, and by a series of promotions reached the
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He resigned to accept the appointment of Pro-
vost-Marshal for the Eighth District of Missouri. He was a delegate to the
Baltimore Convention of 1864, and was the same year elected a Representative
from Missouri to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and in 1866 was re-elected.-366.
TEUNIS G. BERGEN was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 6, 1806,
He received an academical education at Flatbush, and engaged in surveying and
horticulture. He served the town of New Utrecht as supervisor for twenty-three
years. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1846. In
1860 he was a member of the Democratic Conventions of Charleston and Bal-
timore. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from New York to the
Thirty-Ninth Congress. At the close of his Congressional term he was elected
a member of the New York Constitutional Convention of 1867. He was
succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Demas Barnes.
JOHN BIDWELL was born in Chautauqua county, N. Y., August 5, 1819.
In 1829 he removed with his father to Erie, Pennsylvania, and two years after
to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where, through his own exertions he obtained an
academical education. In 1838 he taught school in Darke County, Ohio, and sub-
sequently taught two years in Missouri. In 1841 he emigrated to California, one
of the first adventurers on the wild overland route. At the breaking out of the
war with Mexico, he entered the service of the United States as a private, and
reached the rank of Major. He was among the first who discovered gold on
Feather River in 1848. In 1849 he was elected to the State Constitutional Con-
vention, and to the Senate of the first Legislature of California. In 1860 he was
a delegate to the Charleston Convention, and refused to sanction the secession
movement there made. In 1863 he was appointed Brigadier General of Califor-
nia militia, when it was necessary to organize in order to preserve the peace of
the State. In 1864 he was a member of the Baltimore Convention, which re-
nominated Lincoln. The same year he was elected a Representative from Cal-
ifornia to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was not a candidate for re-election
to Congress, since nearly all the papers in the State had hoisted his name as
candidate for Governor. He failed, however, to receive the nomination for that
office by the Republican Convention. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Con-
gress by James A. Johnson.-31.
JOHN A. BINGHAM was born in Pennsylvania in 1815. Having received
an academical education, and spending two years in a printing-office, he entered
Franklin College, in Ohio, but owing to ill-health, did not prosecute his studies
to graduation. He was admitted to the bar in 1840, and from 1845 to 1849 he
was Prosecuting Attorney for the county of Tuscarawas. In 1854 he was elected
a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and was re-elected to
the Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Sixth, and Thirty-Seventh Congresses. In 1864 he was
appointed a Judge-Advocate in the Army, and Solicitor of the Court of Claims.
He was Assistant Judge-Advocate in the trial of the Assassination Conspirators,
in May, 1865. In 1865 he took his seat for his fifth term of service in Congress
and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.-25, 67, 237, 285, 319, 357, 434, 448,
474, 475, 505, 520, 526, 537.
JAMES G. BLAINE was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in
1830. After graduating at Washington College, 1847, he removed to Maine
and became editor of the "Kennebec Journal," and "Portland Advertiser. He
was four years a member of the Maine Legislature, and served two years as
Speaker of the House. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Maine to
the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was successively re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth
and Fortieth Congresses.-333, 437, 527, 528, 536.
HENRY T. BLOW was born in Southampton county, Virginia, July 15,
1817. In 1830 he removed to Missouri, and soon after graduated at the St.
Louis University. He engaged extensively in the drug and lead business. He
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