William Ralls Morrison

William Ralls Morrison

William Ralls Morrison (born September 14, 1824 in Monroe County , Illinois , †  September 29, 1909 in Waterloo , Illinois) was an American politician . Between 1863 and 1865 and again from 1873 to 1887 he represented the state of Illinois in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William Morrison was born on a farm near what is now the city of Waterloo. He attended public schools in his home country and McKendree College in Lebanon . He then took part in the Mexican-American War as a soldier . In 1849 he joined the prospectors and went to California . In 1851 he returned to Illinois. Between 1852 and 1854 he was a bailiff in Monroe County. After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1855, he began to work in this profession in Waterloo. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . Between 1854 and 1860, and again in 1870 and 1871, he was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives . He acted as President of the House in 1859 and 1860 . During the Civil War he put together the 49th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment , which he himself commanded as a colonel.

In the congressional elections of 1862 Morrison was elected in absentia because he was actively participating in the Civil War, in the then newly established twelfth constituency of Illinois in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he took up his new mandate on March 4, 1863. Since he was not confirmed in 1864, he was initially only able to complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1865 . This was shaped by the events of the civil war.

After his time in the US House of Representatives, Morrison practiced as a lawyer again. In 1866 he ran unsuccessfully to return to Congress. In the elections of 1872 , Morrison was then re-elected to the House of Representatives in the 17th district of his state, where, after six re-elections, he was able to complete seven further legislative terms by March 3, 1887. Since 1883 he represented the 18th district of his state there. He has chaired the Committee on Ways and Means several times . He also temporarily chaired the Public Property Management Committee and the Finance Ministry's Expenditure Control Committee. In 1885 he ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate . In 1886 his re-election to Congress failed. During his time in Congress, he put an emphasis in his work on the implementation of price and tariff cuts.

In the years 1856, 1868, 1884 and 1888 Morrison took part as a delegate to the respective Democratic National Conventions . In August 1866 he was also a delegate to the National Union Convention in Philadelphia .

Shortly after his term in office ended, he was appointed by President Grover Cleveland on March 22, 1887 to one of the seats in the newly created independent regulator Interstate Commerce Commission . He took the oath of office on March 31st. The formal nomination with a term of office until December 31, 1891 and the immediate confirmation by the Senate did not take place until January 19, 1888. On January 5, 1892, he was nominated for a further six-year term and confirmed by the Senate the following day. After Thomas M. Cooley had resigned from the ICC, Morrison was acting head of the agency from September 4, 1891 until he was officially appointed on March 19, 1892. He held this position until the end of his term in office. He was succeeded by William J. Calhoun .

Then he worked again as a lawyer. William Morrison died in Waterloo on September 29, 1909.

Web links

• William Ralls Morrison in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Clarence Altha Miller: The lives of the Interstate Commerce Commissioners and the Commission's secretaries. Washington, 1946 ( hathitrust.org [accessed June 24, 2019]).