William Henry Bissell

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William Henry Bissell (born April 25, 1811 in Hartwick , Otsego County , New York , †  March 18, 1860 in Springfield , Illinois ) was an American politician and from 1857 to 1860 the eleventh governor of Illinois. He also represented this state between 1849 and 1855 as a member of the US House of Representatives .

Early years and political advancement

William Bissell attended schools in his home country and then, until 1835, the Philadelphia Medical College . Then he practiced as a doctor in his homeland and later in Illinois. Then he decided to do an additional law degree at Transylvania University . There he made his law exam in 1844.

Between 1840 and 1842 Bissell was a member of the House of Representatives from Illinois . In 1844 he became a prosecutor in the state's Second Judicial District. He took an active part in the Mexican-American War and made it to the Colonel . After the end of the war he was elected to the US House of Representatives for the Democratic Party . Between 1849 and 1855 he stayed in Washington, DC. After the founding of the Republican Party in 1854, Bissell joined this party, especially because he had always been an opponent of slavery and thus felt better off with the Republicans. They nominated him for the upcoming gubernatorial elections in 1856. He managed to win the November 4, 1856 elections with 47:45 percent of the vote against the Democrat William Alexander Richardson .

Illinois Governor

Bissell took up his new office on January 12, 1857. During his tenure, the budget for the penal institutions was increased. The governor also campaigned for hospitals for the disabled. The railroad construction continued. There was now a continuous rail link between the Mississippi and the east coast that ran through Illinois. A fraud scandal in the administration of the Illinois-Michigan Canal was also uncovered and a commission of inquiry was set up. The population of Illinois had grown to over 1.7 million by 1860. Ten years earlier it was around 851,000.

During his tenure, Bissell contracted pneumonia, from which he died in March 1860. He became the first Illinois governor to die in office. He was married to Emily James, with whom he had two children. His daughter Maria (1827-1901) made the acquaintance of the artillery engineer Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss in Sharon (Connecticut) and married him some time later.

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personal data
SURNAME Bissell, William Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1811
PLACE OF BIRTH Hartwick , New York
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1860
Place of death Springfield , Illinois