Isaac N. Arnold

Isaac N. Arnold

Isaac Newton Arnold (born November 30, 1815 in Hartwick , Otsego County , New York , †  April 24, 1884 in Chicago , Illinois ) was an American politician . Between 1861 and 1865 he represented the state of Illinois in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Isaac Arnold attended public schools in his homeland. Between 1832 and 1835 he was a teacher in Otsego County. After studying law at the same time and being admitted to the bar in 1835, he began to work in this profession in Cooperstown . Just a year later, in 1836, he moved his residence and his law firm to Chicago. Politically, he initially joined the Democratic Party . In 1842 he was a delegate to their regional convention in Illinois. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1842 and 1843 ; In 1844 he was one of the electors who officially elected James K. Polk as US President . In the following years he left the Democratic Party and became one of the founders of the Free Soil Party . In 1848 he was a delegate at their federal party conference in Buffalo . In 1855 he was again a member of the State Parliament of Illinois. Arnold was a staunch opponent of slavery and became a member of the Republican Party, founded in 1854 . In 1858 he ran unsuccessfully for the nomination of his new party for the congressional elections.

In the congressional elections of 1860 Arnold was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the second constituency of Illinois , where he succeeded John F. Farnsworth on March 4, 1861 . After re-election, he was able to complete two legislative terms in Congress until March 3, 1865 . These were shaped by the events of the civil war . From 1863 Arnold represented the first district of his state as the successor to Elihu Benjamin Washburne . Also from 1863 he was chairman of the committee for canals and roads. Arnold was a staunch supporter of President Abraham Lincoln . In 1862, he successfully introduced a bill that abolished slavery in the American territories. In 1864 he proposed a constitutional amendment that should abolish slavery nationwide. At that time, the template still failed. A new bill in 1865 was then adopted and ratified as the 13th amendment to the constitution .

At the beginning of the Civil War, Arnold was a staff officer during the first battle at Bull Run . In 1864 he renounced another congressional candidacy. Between 1865 and 1866 he was an auditor at the US Treasury Department . He then practiced again as a lawyer in Chicago. He also dealt with literary matters. Among other things, he wrote two essays on President Lincoln and one on Benedict Arnold . He died on April 24, 1884 in Chicago, where he was also buried.

Web links

• Isaac N. Arnold in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Isaac N. Arnold in the database of Find a Grave (English)