Samuel C. Pomeroy

Samuel C. Pomeroy

Samuel Clarke Pomeroy (born January 3, 1816 in Southampton , Hampshire County , Massachusetts , † August 27, 1891 in Whitinsville , Worcester County , Massachusetts) was an American politician . Between 1861 and 1873 he represented the state of Kansas in the US Senate .

Career

Samuel Pomeroy graduated from Amherst College between 1836 and 1838 . Then he moved to New York State , where he worked as a teacher for some time. In 1842 he returned to his native Southampton. There he held several local offices. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1852 and 1853 . He was also the founder of the New England Emigrant Aid Company . From 1854 he lived in Lawrence in what was then the Kansas Territory . He later moved to Atchinson, where he was mayor in 1858 and 1859. This was a time of great unrest in the Kansas Territory leading up to the American Civil War . Pomeroy became a member of the Republican Party founded in 1854 . In 1859 he was a member of the so-called Free State Convention in Lawrence, which campaigned for Kansas to join the Union as a slave-free state.

After the accession of the state of Kansas to the Union, he was elected as a candidate of his party as a Class 3 category Senator in Congress, where he took up his new mandate on April 4, 1861. After re-election in 1867, he was able to complete two terms as US Senator until March 3, 1873, which were shaped by the events of the Civil War and its consequences. From 1864 he was also president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Railway Company. Within the Republican Party, Pomeroy was an opponent of President Abraham Lincoln . In the run-up to the presidential election of 1864 , he unsuccessfully campaigned for Salmon P. Chase to be nominated as Republican presidential candidate, who was supposed to push Lincoln out of office. In December 1871, Pomeroy introduced the so-called Act of Dedication in Congress, which, when passed, led to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park. He was also Chairman of the Public Property Management Committee.

In 1872, Samuel Pomeroy sought re-election. Bribery allegations arose against him, which although they were never properly proven, contributed to his election defeat. After that he lived in Washington, DC for a few years . Politically, however, he no longer appeared. He died on August 27, 1891 in Whitinsville, Massachusetts.

Web links

• Samuel C. Pomeroy in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)