Zachariah Chandler

Zachariah Chandler

Zachariah Chandler (* 10. December 1813 in Bedford , Hillsborough County , New Hampshire ; †  1. November 1879 in Chicago , Illinois ) was an American politician of the Republican Party , a longtime two-time US senator for Michigan , as well as Interior Minister .

biography

Family, Professional History, and Detroit Mayor

Chandler came from a politically influential New England family . His uncle Thomas Chandler represented New Hampshire's interests in the US House of Representatives for several years. His great-grandson Frederick Hale was also a US Senator for Maine, while his great-great-great-nephew Rod Chandler was Congressman for Washington for several years .

He himself worked as a teacher after attending school and began working as a businessman in 1833 after settling in Detroit . He began his political career in 1851 when he was elected mayor of Detroit . The following year he ran for the Whig Party for governor of Michigan , but was defeated by the Democratic candidate Robert McClelland .

Senator for Michigan

In 1854 he was one of the co-organizers of the founding assembly of the Republican Party and was first elected as its candidate for the US Senator for Michigan in 1857 . After his re-elections in 1863 and 1869, he held the first Senate seat from March 4, 1857 to March 3, 1875 ( Senator Class 1 ). During his election period he was from 1861 to 1875 chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce ( Senate Committee on Commerce ). He was also between 1868 and 1876 chairman of the National Executive Committee of the Republicans. In 1874 he lost in the party primaries against Isaac P. Christiancy . The main reason was that Chandler, as a Radical Republican, took an adamant position against the southern states that were defeated in the Civil War . Christiancy was more moderate in this regard.

Interior minister

Statue of Zachariah Chandler in the Hypostyle Hall of the National Statuary Hall Collection

After retiring from the US Senate but was of President Ulysses S. Grant on March 4 1875 Minister of the Interior ( Secretary of the Interior ) in the Cabinet appointed and held this position until the end of Grant's presidency on March 3. 1877 In addition, he was from 1876 to 1879 Chairman of the Republican National Committee , the national organizing body of the Republican Party.

After Isaac P. Christiancy's resignation, he succeeded him as US Senator for Michigan on February 22, 1879. However, he died just a few months after starting his new term in office.

In 2007, on the basis of a law passed by the US Congress in 2000, it was decided that his statue, created in 1913 in the portico of the National Statuary Hall Collection, would be replaced by a statue of former President Gerald Ford .

Background literature

• Mary K. George: Zachariah Chandler: A Political Biography. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing 1969.
• WC Harris: Public Life of Zachariah Chandler, 1851-1875. Michigan Historical Commission, East Lansing 1917.

Web links

Commons : Zachariah Chandler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Zachariah Chandler in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Zachariah Chandler in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)

• Zachariah Chandler in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ George Chandler: The Chandler family. The descendants of William and Annis Chandler who settled in Roxbury, Mass., 1637. 1883, OCLC 29252080