Schuyler Colfax

Schuyler Colfax ( born March 23, 1823 in New York City; † January 13, 1885 in Mankato, Minnesota ) was an American politician and from 1869 to 1873 the 17th Vice President of the United States.

Life

Schuyler Colfax, who came from a poor family, began as early as the age of ten to work in a shop house. Three years later he moved with his mother to Indiana, where he took a job as an Auditor for the County of St. Joseph County 1841.

1845 founded the newspaper Colfax St. Joseph Valley Register, through which he soon wielded as a member of the Whig party big impact. 1848 voted him the Whigs for his political skills to the delegates to the National Convention which met in Philadelphia, in which he held the office of Secretary. In 1854 he was elected as a Republican for the ninth constituency of Indiana House of Representatives of the United States. Already at the beginning of his parliamentary career he had made by his fight against slavery a name. In 1861 he became chairman of the Commission for Transportation and dealt with the construction of railway lines to the west, which was realized in the Central Pacific Railroad.

On December 7, 1863 elected Speaker of the House, he made himself in this position by his moderation and strength very popular so he 1868, the Office of the Vice President under President Ulysses S. Grant was that he took on March 4, 1869. In advance of the presidential election in 1872 he was not re-nominated because of numerous scandals and corruption affairs of his party; he surrendered on March 4, 1873 from his office to his successor, Henry Wilson was re- worked as a businessman. He died in 1885 of a heart attack.