Isaiah Pillars

Isaiah Pillars

Isaiah Pillars (born March 17, 1833 in Jefferson County , Ohio , † September 13, 1895 in Lima , Ohio) was an American lawyer , officer and politician . He sat in the Ohio House of Representatives and was Attorney General of Ohio from 1878 to 1880 .

Career

Isaiah Pillars was born in Jefferson County about four years before the economic crisis began in 1837 . He spent part of his youth in Carroll County before moving to Risden (now Fostoria ), Seneca County , where his mother died when he was eight years old. At the age of 16 he started teaching at a school. Pillars attended Seneca County Academy and Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio. He studied law with his brother James Pillars. He was admitted to the bar at the age of 21 and then began practicing in Lima, Ohio in 1855. During the Civil War , Governor David Tod appointed him commandant of Camp Lima with the rank of Colonel . Pillars formed the 81st, 99th and 118th Infantry Regiments of Ohio during the course of the war  .

In 1866, Pillars was appointed prosecuting attorney in Allen County, Ohio. He was elected a Democrat to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1871 , where he served between 1872 and 1873. He vigorously opposed a tax in support of railway construction. His act was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court of Ohio when it declared the tax unconstitutional. He also wrote a Minority Report for the Abolition of the Death Penalty , arguing:

• The execution of the death penalty for a crime is a relic of vengeance and retribution.
• The crime rate does not decrease as a result and the protection of society in no way requires the death of the perpetrator.
• Imposing the death penalty does not prevent others from committing crimes.
• Their impact on society leads to a deterioration and dulling of sensitivity, so that it increases the willingness to commit crimes.
• One of the legitimate aims of punishment for the betterment of the criminal has been completely ruined.
• The death penalty as a means of justice violates the divine right to life. Respect for human life no longer exists and the innocent are often killed.
• Imposing life imprisonment in lieu of the death penalty would make delivering the convictions and sentences much safer, thereby reducing crime so that the purpose of the punishment would be served.

Pillars was elected Attorney General of Ohio in 1877. He defeated the Republican George K. Nash . However, in 1879 he lost his re-election to Nash. Pillars was a Republican until 1864, but converted to the Democratic Party at that time.

Pillars died in Lima on September 13, 1895. He was a follower of the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg .

family

In February 1856 or February 1866 he married Susan Fickel († 1870) from Lima. The couple had two sons and two daughters, with one son and one daughter each passing away early in childhood.

Works

• Lecture on Swedenborg: (the Swedish theosopher and seer): his works and doctrines, OCLC 62476702
• 1873: Report in favor of the abolition of capital punishment: to the House of Representatives, OCLC 39613806

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} American Bar Association: Report of the ... Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association , Volume 18, EC Markley & Son, 1895, pp. 539-541
2. ↑ ^{a b} Isaiah Pillars on the ancestry.com website
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Brennan, J. Fletcher: The portrait gallery and cyclopedia of the distinguished men of Ohio , Volume 2, John C. Yorston & Company, 1880, pp. 331f
4. ^ Manual of Legislative Practice in the General Assembly of Ohio , Westbote Company, 1917, p. 287
5. ^ Isaiah Pillars in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved May 28, 2015.
6. ^ Condensed Locals, Fort Wayne Times-Post, Saturday, September 14, 1895.
7. ↑ Susan "Sue" Fickel Pillars in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved May 28, 2015.