Benjamin Wade

Benjamin Wade

Benjamin Franklin "Bluff" Wade (born October 27, 1800 in Springfield , Massachusetts , † March 2, 1878 in Jefferson , Ohio ) was an American politician of the United States Whig Party and the Republican Party . From 1851 to 1869 he sat for the state of Ohio in the US Senate , whose pro tempore president he was from 1867 to 1869.

biography

Benjamin Wade was born in Springfield in 1800, the son of Mary and James Wade. His first job was as a laborer building the Erie Canal . Before studying law , he taught at a school. In 1828 he was finally admitted to the bar and practiced from then on in Jefferson.

In 1831 Wade entered into a partnership with Joshua Reed Giddings . In 1836 he became a prosecutor for Ashtabula County , and a little later also a member of the United States Whig Party . From 1837 to 1842 he was a member of the State Senate . He then worked as a lawyer again with Rufus B. Panney . Between 1847 and 1851 he was a judge in various positions. In the Senate elections in 1850 , Wade was elected to the Federal Senate as Senator for Ohio. He sat there from 1851. From 1857 he was a member of the Republican Party.

Civil war

In 1861 Wade became chairman of the Territorial Affairs Committee. In July of the same year, he and other politicians witnessed the Union Army's defeat at the First Battle of the Bull Run . He almost got captured there by the Confederate Army . Returning to Washington, DC from the battlefield , he was one of the fiercest critics of the Union Army's leadership in battle. From 1861 to 1862 he was chairman of the influential United States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War . In 1862, as chairman of the Territorial Affairs Committee, he was again instrumental in the abolition of slavery in the territories of the time. In September 1861, he sharply criticized the then US President Abraham Lincoln in a letter. Wade accused him of acting like "white rubbish grown up in a slave state" on the slave issue. He was particularly annoyed that Lincoln accepted few Afro-Americans into the Union Army. He was then also instrumental in the passage of the Homestead Act 1862. In the following years he remained a sharp critic of Lincoln.

Andrew Johnson's impeachment proceedings

After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated , Andrew Johnson took office as the new US President. Wade was not exactly well-disposed towards him either. He criticized Johnson's plans for the reconstruction . Wade was a strong supporter of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution . He was also instrumental in the admission of the states of Nebraska and Kansas . In 1867 Wade became President pro tempore of the Senate.

Because many of the laws dominated by Republicans Congress were not signed by President Johnson, agreed the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary for impeachment proceedings against President Johnson. After the indictment, Wade was sworn in as one of the senators to co- direct the case with the Chief Justice . However, Wade was criticized for the fact that he was not interested in the progress of the proceedings. Though many senators believed Johnson was guilty, they voted against a conviction because they wanted to prevent Wade from becoming the new president, in the order in which he was then. There was no vice president who would have succeeded because of Johnson's advancement at the time. In the run-up to the presidential elections in 1868 , Wade was under discussion as a vice-presidential candidate for Ulysses S. Grant , who decided on Schuyler Colfax . In 1869 Wade resigned from the Senate.

Then he was still active in the private sector and in 1876 a member of the Electoral College .

Private

Wade was married to Caroline Marie Rosecrans. They had two children.

In 1878 Wade died in Jefferson, where he had lived until his death.

Web links

• Benjamin Wade in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Benjamin Wade in the database of Find a Grave (English)