John H. Mitchell

John H. Mitchell

John Hipple Mitchell (born June 22, 1835 in Washington County , Pennsylvania , † December 8, 1905 in Portland , Multnomah County , Oregon ) was an American politician . Between 1873 and 1905 he represented the state of Oregon in the US Senate several times .

Career

John Mitchell was born under the name John Mitchell Hipple. In 1837 he moved with his parents to Butler County , also in Pennsylvania. There he later attended both public and private schools, including the Witherspoon Institute . He then worked as a teacher for some time. The first scandal arose when he seduced a schoolgirl. In order to settle the matter according to the understanding of the time, he was forced to marry her. Later he left her again. After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1857, he began to work in his new profession. In 1860 he moved first to California and then to Portland, Oregon, where he practiced as a lawyer. At this point he changed his name by swapping the surname and middle name.

In Portland, Mitchell began a political career as a member of the Republican Party . Between 1862 and 1866 he was a member of the State Senate , of which he had been President since 1864. In 1866 he ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate. In the elections of 1872 John Mitchell was elected as his party's candidate to the US Senate, where he succeeded Henry W. Corbett as Class 3 Senator on March 4, 1873 . When he took office, he had considerable difficulties because political opponents wanted to refuse him his seat. Among other things, they accused him of bigamy and of living under a false name. The bigamy charge arose from the fact that he had remarried in the meantime without having been divorced from his first wife. However, the majority of the Senate decided not to initiate an investigation and allowed him to take his seat. Between 1877 and 1879 he headed the Railway Committee.

Since he was not re-elected in 1878, Mitchell had to resign from Congress on March 4, 1879 . In 1882 he ran unsuccessfully for his return to this body. In 1885 he managed to regain his old seat in the Senate. He succeeded James H. Slater , against whom he was defeated in 1878. However, he was only elected with a delay, so that he could not take up his mandate on March 4, but only on December 17, 1885. After being re-elected, he could remain in the Senate until March 3, 1897. During this time he was again a member of various committees. From 1887 to 1889 he chaired the Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard . After that he was chairman of the railway committee until 1893. He was also a member of the Committee on Claims and the Committee on Privileges and Elections .

In 1897 Mitchell failed to find a majority in the Oregon State Legislature, which then elected US Senators. In the following years he practiced as a lawyer again. In 1900 he was re-elected to Congress as a Class 2 Senator, where he began his service on March 4, 1901. He held this mandate until his death on December 8, 1905. He was chairman of the Coastal Defense Committee. He was also a member of the Committee on Interoceanic Canals . At that time Mitchell was also involved in the so-called Oregon Land Fraud Scandal . He was accused of bribery and taking advantage in office. He was charged and tried in the first instance. At the time of his death, he was still on appeal.

Web links

• John H. Mitchell in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)