James M. Cavanaugh

James Michael Cavenaugh ( born July 4, 1823 in Springfield, Massachusetts, † October 30, 1879 in Leadville, Colorado ) was an American politician. Between 1858 and 1859 he represented the state of Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives. Between 1867 and 1871 he was a delegate to the Montana Territory in Congress.

Early years

James Cavanaugh enjoyed a university education and then worked in the newspaper industry. After studying law and his 1854 was admitted to the bar he began in Davenport Iowa to work in his new profession. In the same year he moved to Chatfield in Fillmore County, Minnesota Territory, where he also worked as a lawyer.

Political career

Cavanaugh was a member of the Democratic Party. After Minnesota had joined the United States as a federal state, James Cavanaugh was elected as the first deputy from the first constituency of the new state in the U.S. House of Representatives. This mandate he held between 11 May 1858 and 3 March 1859. In the congressional elections of 1858 he was defeated by William Windom, the candidate of the Republican Party.

In 1861, Cavanaugh moved to the Colorado Territory, where he also worked as a lawyer. In his new home, James Cavanaugh committed but also in mining. In 1865 he was a delegate to a conference that was working on a constitution for the future state of Colorado. In 1866 he moved to the Montana Territory. There he was sent as successor to Samuel McLean again in the U.S. House of Representatives. In this chamber of Congress, he represented between 4 March 1867 to 3 March 1871, the interests of his new home. There he noticed in 1868 with a racist speech against the Indians, in which he said, mutatis mutandis, there is no good Indians, unless they are dead, since Montana was not yet state of the USA, Cavanaugh had in Congress no vote. In 1870 he applied unsuccessfully to re- nomination for this office.

Further CV

After the end of his political career James Cavanaugh moved to New York City to work as a lawyer. In 1879 he moved to Leadville, Colorado. There he is on 30 October of the same year also died.