Clement Vallandigham

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Clement Vallandigham

Clement Laird Vallandigham (born July 29, 1820 in New Lisbon , Ohio , †  June 17, 1871 in Lebanon , Ohio) was an American politician . Between 1858 and 1863 he represented the state of Ohio in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Clement Vallandigham was the uncle of Congressman John A. McMahon (1833-1923). He attended a school run by his father and then Jefferson College in Canonsburg ( Pennsylvania ). He then moved to Maryland for two years , where he taught at Union Academy in Snow Hill . From 1840 he lived again in his birthplace New Lisbon. After studying law and his admission as a lawyer in 1842, he began to work in Dayton in this profession. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . He was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives in 1845 and 1846 . Between 1847 and 1849 he published the Western Empire newspaper. In 1852 and 1854 he ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives. In 1856, 1864 and 1868 he was a delegate to the respective Democratic National Conventions .

In the 1856 congressional election, Vallandigham was defeated by incumbent Lewis D. Campbell . However, he appealed against the outcome of the election. After this had been complied with, he was able to take up his new mandate in Congress on May 25, 1858 . After two re-elections, he could remain there until March 3, 1863. In 1862 he was not re-elected. His time as a congressman was marked by the events of the civil war .

Vallandigham was an opponent of the Republican Party and of President Abraham Lincoln . He made several speeches in which he showed understanding for the position of the Confederate States . Like them, he was for the strengthening of state rights and against the abolition of slavery . With this in mind, he wrote a new draft constitution, which naturally met with little response in the states of the Union. Eventually, after he ended his tenure as a congressman, he was arrested as a traitor by the military authorities and expelled into the Confederation. From there he went via Bermuda to Canada , where he lived in exile until June 1864. During this time he was nominated in absentia by his party as a then unsuccessful candidate for governor . At times he was also in contact with representatives of the Confederate government. In June 1864 he returned to Ohio, where he continued to be hostile to his opponents. He also opposed extending the franchise to African Americans . He later modified his views on this a little. In 1869 he ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate . Otherwise he practiced as a lawyer again.

Clement Vallandigham died on June 17, 1871 in Lebanon, Ohio when he accidentally shot himself. In preparation for a murder trial in which he was supposed to defend the accused, he demonstrated to lawyer Andrew McBurney in a hotel room how the murder victim could have shot himself. To do this, he took a weapon that he thought was unloaded. The defendant was acquitted in the following process. Vallandigham was buried in Dayton.

Web links

Commons : Clement Vallandigham  - Collection of images, videos and audio files