Henry Taylor Blow

Henry Taylor Blow ( born July 15, 1817 Southampton County, Virginia; † September 11, 1875 in Saratoga, New York) was an American diplomat and politician. Between 1863 and 1867 he represented the State of Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

In 1830 came Henry Blow from Huntsville, Alabama, where his family had moved in the meantime, to St. Louis, Missouri, where he studied at the Saint Louis University until 1831. His parents were the owners of the slave Dred Scott, who was known by the historic court decision Dred Scott v. Sandford. For financial reasons, Blow had to drop out of college. Later, he earned his money by selling colors. He then went into the lead mining business through which he brought it to a certain wealth. At the same time he began a political career. Between 1854 and 1858 he sat in the Senate from Missouri. In the case of Dred Scott, he was an opponent of the judgment of the Supreme Federal Judge Roger B. Taney. He supported the call Scott after his release. Henry Blow was a supporter of the Union and was appointed in June 1861 by President Abraham Lincoln to the United States Ambassador in Venezuela. A post he held until 22 February 1862.

In the congressional elections of 1862 Blow was a Unionist in the second electoral district of Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he succeeded James S. Rollins took on March 4, 1863, who moved to the ninth district. After a re-election blow could pass in Congress until March 3, 1867 two legislative sessions. These were shaped by the events of the civil war and its consequences. Since 1865, he represented the Republican Party in Congress. There he experienced the conflict between his new party and President Andrew Johnson. In 1865 the 13th Amendment was ratified. Blow was a member of a committee that prepared the 14th Amendment, which became final in 1868.

In 1866 Blow opted not to run again. After his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives, he took his previous activities on again. From 1869 to 1871 he was the successor of James Watson Webb American Ambassador to Brazil; in the years 1874 and 1875 he was a member of the administration of the Federal District District of Columbia. He died on 11 September 1875 in Saratoga and was buried in St. Louis. Blow Henry was married to Minerva Grimsley (1821-1870), with whom he had six children, including the daughter of Susan Elizabeth Blow (1843-1916), who opened the first successful public kindergarten in the United States.

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