Norman Jay Colman

Norman Jay Colman

Norman Jay Colman , even Coleman (* 16th May 1827 in Richfield Springs , Otsego County , New York ; †  3. November 1911 ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ), of the Cabinet of President Grover Cleveland as the first Minister of Agriculture belonged .

Originally from New York State, Colman moved to Kentucky at a young age to work as an educator. He later studied at the Law School of the University of Louisville and acquired there in 1849 with a degree in law . As a result, he settled as a farmer in Missouri . In 1855 he founded his own newspaper there with the Valley Farmer . This led him to become a well-known figure in the state's farming community, paving the way for a political career. In 1866 he was a member of the Missouri House of Representatives . Colman was a member of the Democrats, but supported the Union during the secession of the southern states .

The Civil War resulted in his newspaper no longer appearing; three years after the end of the war, he launched a new publication, Colman's Rural World . He was also politically active. After a first candidacy for lieutenant governor of Missouri in the late 1860s had failed, he was elected for two years in 1874.

In 1885 he became the head of the US government's Commissioner of Agriculture . During his tenure he advocated the establishment of his own ministry for agricultural matters. In February 1889 the Ministry of Agriculture was finally created; it was one of the last acts of President Cleveland, who had lost the election to Benjamin Harrison the previous year . On February 15, 1889 Colman took up the ministerial post, which he had to give up on March 6 of the same year with the end of Cleveland's first term as president. So it wasn't even enough for confirmation by the Senate .

Web links

• Norman Jay Colman in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
• Norman Jay Colman in the database of Find a Grave (English)