Chauncey Depew

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chauncey Depew (around 1908)

Chauncey Mitchell Depew (born April 23, 1834 in Peekskill , Westchester County , New York , † April 5, 1928 in New York City , New York) was an American politician and businessman. Between 1899 and 1911 he represented New York State in the US Senate .

Career

Chauncey Depew, a great-great-nephew of US Senator Roger Sherman (1721–1793), first attended private schools. In 1852 he graduated from the Peekskill Military Academy . He then studied at Yale College until 1856 . After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1858, he began to work in Peekskill in his new profession. During the American Civil War he was a Colonel in the Union Military Justice. In 1865 he was offered the post of American Ambassador to Japan . But he declined this offer. From 1866 he worked as a lawyer primarily for railway companies. He remained in the railway business and eventually became president of the New York Central Hudson River Railroad Co . This post he held between 1885 and 1899. Later, he became CEO of the whole railway system to the Central Hudson River Railroad Co .

Politically, Depew joined the Republican Party . In 1856 and 1860 he supported their presidential candidates John C. Frémont and Abraham Lincoln, respectively . He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1861 to 1862, and in 1863 he was Secretary of State of New York. In 1872 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of lieutenant governor of his state and in 1881 his first candidacy for the US Senate failed. In 1888 he sought, equally unsuccessfully, to nominate his party for the presidential election. In the elections of 1898 Chauncey Depew was elected as his party's candidate by the New York State Assembly to the US Senate, where he succeeded Edward Murphy on March 4, 1899 , whom he had defeated in the election. After being re-elected, he was able to complete two six-year terms of office until March 3, 1911. In the meantime he was chairman of the Committee on Revision of the Laws of the United States and he was part of the committee on the Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico. In 1910, Depew found insufficient support for re-election in the New York state legislature with a Democratic majority there. Therefore, the Democrat James Aloysius O'Gorman was appointed as his successor in Congress. (The right to vote for US Senators was not standardized nationwide until the 17th Amendment to the Constitution . From this point on, all US Senators were elected by the people, at least in the regular elections).

After his tenure in Congress ended , Chauncey Depew continued his previous roles. He continued to be President of the New York Railway System and was a member of many other organizations and associations. He was known as an excellent public speaker throughout his life and gave many important speeches. Among other things, he spoke at the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty. He died on April 5, 1928 at the age of 94.

Web links

Commons : Chauncey Depew  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Chauncey Depew in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)