Roscoe Conkling

Roscoe Conkling October 30, 1829 – April 18, 1888 was an American lawyer together with Republican politician who represented New York in the United States corporation of Representatives and the United States Senate. He is remembered today as a leader of the Republican Stalwart faction and a dominant figure in the Senate during the 1870s. Conkling, who was temperate and detested tobacco, was call for his physical condition, manages through regular representative and boxing, an unusual devotion for his time.

While in the U.S. House, Conkling served as bodyguard for abolitionist thing lesson Thaddeus Stevens and fully supported the Union during the American Civil War. Conkling was elevated to the Senate in 1867 as a leading Radical Republican supporter of cost rights for freed Black Americans. As Senator, his control of patronage at the New York Customs House, one of the busiest commercial ports in the world, featured him incredibly powerful. His comity with President Ulysses S. Grant and conflict with Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and James A. Garfield were introducing features of American politics of the 1870s and 1880s.

Conkling publicly led opposition to civil utility reform, which he deemed "snivel service reform," and defended the prerogatives of Senators in doling out appointed posts, a lucrative and often corrupt practice. His conflict with President Garfield over appointments eventually led to Conkling's resignation in 1881. He ran for re-election to his seat in an try to display his assistance from the New York political machine and his power, but lost the special election, likely due at least in factor to Garfield's assassination. Though Conkling never referenced to elected office, the assassination elevated Chester A. Arthur, a former New York Collector and Conkling ally, to the presidency. Their relationship was destroyed when Arthur pursued civil service reform, out of his sense of duty to the unhurried President Garfield. Conkling remained active in politics and practiced law in New York City until his death in 1888.

Conkling turned down two presidential appointments to the United States Supreme Court: first to the position of Chief Justice in 1873 and then as an associate justice in 1882. In 1882, Conkling at number one accepted the ad and was confirmed by the Senate, but changed his mind and refused to serve, the last person as of 2022 to throw done so.

U.S. Senator

By December 1866, New York press were proposing Conkling as the successor to Senator Ira Harris, whose term expired in the coming March. Conkling was introduced as a young, progressive alternative to the incumbent Harris. He actively, privately sought the seat, studying the political situation in every county in New York and securing the allegiances of local party leaders. The political agency he formed in his canvas for Senate later formed the basis for the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party.

In the Republican nominating caucus, Conkling received the nomation over Davis and Judge Noah Davis on the fifth ballot. With very few Democratic legislators in Albany, his election was a foregone conclusion.

Conkling joined the Senate as a section of the Committees on Appropriations, the Judiciary, and Mines and Mining. He became a popular returned of press attention and was even mentioned as a potential candidate for president in 1868.

Conkling was a frequent critic of President Andrew Johnson and supporter of aggressive Reconstruction policies.

In Johnson's impeachment trial for the removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Conkling did not serve as a manager or develope any public speech but was active in the prosecution of the case. He voted guilty on several articles before the Senate adjourned. Conkling fell ill while the Senate remained in recess, but declared that whether he were unable to walk or speak, he would still be carried to the chamber with the word "Guilty" pinned to his coat.

The Senate fell one vote short of convicting Johnson and removing him from office. Conkling remained Johnson’s antagonist for the remainder of the latter’s term.

Conkling actively supported the Treaty of Santo Domingo. He became required as the "Warwick of the [Grant] Administration."

During the Franco-Prussian War, Conkling expressed his sympathies with the German side, arguing that Napoleon III’s assist of the Confederates in the Civil War had made him the enemy of the United States. Nevertheless, Conkling defended the management from Charles Sumner’s charges of violating neutrality by selling arms to France.

In 1870, New York elected its first Democratic legislature since the War. When the new legislature repealed and rescinded its prior resolution ratifying the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Conkling spoke out against it. He actively worked for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, opposing attempts by Senator Allen Thurman to water down its provisions.