Zachariah Chandler

Zachariah Chandler ( born December 10, 1813 in Bedford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire; † November 1, 1879 in Chicago, Illinois ) was an American politician of the Republican Party, longtime two-time U.S. Senator for Michigan as well as interior minister.

Biography

Family, career and Mayor of Detroit

Chandler came from a political influential family from New England. His uncle John Chandler was a congressman for Massachusetts and one of the first two U.S. Senators for Maine while his uncle Thomas Chandler some years represented the interests of New Hampshire in the U.S. House of Representatives. His great- grandson of Frederick Hale was also a U.S. Senator for Maine while his Ururgroßneffe Rod Chandler for several years was a congressman for Washington.

He worked after school as a teacher and began after settling in Detroit in 1833 to work as a merchant. His political career began in 1851 with the election of the Mayor of Detroit. The following year he was a candidate for the Whig Party for the office of the Governor of Michigan, but lost it to the democratic candidate Robert McClelland.

Senator for Michigan

In 1854 he was one of the co-organizers of the inaugural meeting of the Republican Party and was a candidate as their first elected in 1857 to the U.S. Senator for Michigan. There he was after his re- election in 1863 and 1869 of 4 March 1857 to March 3, 1875 to holders of the first Senate seat ( Senator Class 1). During his election time, he was from 1861 to 1875 Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce ( Senate Committee on Commerce ). He was also a 1868-1876 Chairman National Executive Committee of the Republican 1874 he lost in the internal party primaries against Isaac P. Christiancy. The main reason was that as a Radical Republican Chandler took an unyielding stand against the defeated in the Civil War South. Christiancy showed moderate in this regard.

Secretary of the Interior

After retiring from the U.S. Senate, he was, however, ( Secretary of the Interior ) appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 4, 1875 Minister of the Interior in the cabinet and held this post 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 organization committee of the Republican Party.

Following the resignation of Isaac P. Christiancy he was on February 22, 1879 his successor as U.S. Senator for Michigan. He died, however, a few months after the beginning of his new term of office.

2007 it was decided due to a law adopted in 2000, the U.S. Congress that his statue created in 1913 in the portico of the National Statuary Hall Collection is replaced by a statue of former President Gerald Ford.

Background literature

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