William A. Peffer

William A. Peffer

William Alfred Peffer (born September 10, 1831 in Cumberland County , Pennsylvania , †  October 6, 1912 in Grenola , Kansas ) was an American politician who represented the state of Kansas in the US Senate . He was the first of six senators from the short-lived Populist Party .

Life

After completing his school education, William Peffer began working as a teacher himself at the age of 15. In 1850 the California gold rush lured him to San Francisco ; in the following years he moved to Indiana , Missouri and Illinois . During the Civil War he joined the Union Army and rose from private to second lieutenant . He also acted as quartermaster and member of the military tribunal. In 1865 he left the army.

During his time in the military, Peffer studied law . He was admitted to the bar in 1865 and began in Clarksville ( Tennessee to practice as a lawyer). In 1870 he settled in Fredonia , Kansas, where he also ran a law firm and was the owner and editor of the Fredonia Journal . After moving again, he was also active in both professional fields in his new place of residence, Coffeyville .

politics

Originally, William Peffer belonged to the Republicans . From 1874 to 1876 he was State Senator in Kansas; in the 1880 presidential election he was one of the electorates of the victorious Republican candidate James A. Garfield . After the founding of the Populist Party in 1889, he joined it and was elected to the US Senate by the Kansas Legislature . There he completed a term of office from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1897; on re-election attempt, he was defeated by William A. Harris , another populist. During his time in the Senate, Peffer, whose most prominent feature was his long beard, chaired the Committee to Examine Branches of the Civil Service , among other things .

In the run-up to the presidential election in 1896 , William Peffer was at times traded as a promising third party candidate; Ultimately, however, the populists supported the Democrat William Jennings Bryan . Two years later he ran for governor of Kansas, but lost the election. This ended his political career.

Web links

• William A. Peffer in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William A. Peffer in the database of Find a Grave (English)