28 Facts About Alexander Bullock

1.

Alexander Hamilton Bullock was an American lawyer, politician, and businessman from Massachusetts.

2.

Alexander Bullock was actively opposed to the expansion of slavery before the American Civil War, playing a major role in the New England Emigrant Aid Society, founded in 1855 to settle the Kansas Territory with abolitionists.

3.

Alexander Bullock served in the state legislature during the war, and was active in recruiting for the war effort.

4.

Alexander Bullock was an advocate of temperance, and of the expansion of railroads in the state.

5.

Alexander Hamilton Bullock was born on March 2,1816, in Royalston, Massachusetts, the son of Sarah and Rufus Bullock.

6.

Alexander Bullock's father was a merchant and farmer who owned a small mill and was active in local politics.

7.

Alexander Bullock attended the local schools before going to Leicester Academy.

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8.

Alexander Bullock graduated from Amherst College in 1836 and from Harvard Law School in 1840.

9.

Alexander Bullock was then admitted to the Massachusetts Bar and joined the law practice of Emory Washburn in Worcester.

10.

Alexander Bullock eventually joined the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, which had John Davis as its first president.

11.

In 1842 Alexander Bullock became active in political and public service.

12.

Alexander Bullock served as a military assistant to John Davis, who was Governor of Massachusetts that year, after which he was frequently referred to as "Colonel Bullock".

13.

In 1844 Alexander Bullock married Elvira Hazard, daughter of Augustus George Hazard of Enfield, Connecticut; they had three children, including explorer Fanny Alexander Bullock Workman.

14.

Alexander Bullock was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a Whig in 1844, serving until 1848; for two years he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

15.

In 1854, Alexander Bullock became a principal in the New England Emigrant Aid Company, established by Eli Thayer to send anti-slavery settlers to the Kansas Territory after the Kansas-Nebraska Act specified that slavery in the territory was to be determined by popular sovereignty.

16.

When Worcester was chartered as a city in 1848, Alexander Bullock was elected to serve on its inaugural Common Council.

17.

Alexander Bullock first ran for mayor of Worcester in 1853, but lost the election.

18.

Alexander Bullock was elected a member of the Worcester-based American Antiquarian Society in 1855.

19.

Alexander Bullock served as president of the Worcester County Horticultural Society from 1860 to 1863.

20.

In 1861 Alexander Bullock was again elected to the state legislature, serving until 1866.

21.

Alexander Bullock was elected Speaker of the House in January 1862, serving in that role until 1865 with near-unanimous support.

22.

Alexander Bullock was energetic in recruitment of troops for the Union Army, and was diligent in the oversight of the state's finances during the conflict.

23.

Alexander Bullock supported labor reforms, in particular legislation limiting the length of the workday, although such legislation would not be enacted in the state until 1874, when a ten-hour workday was mandated.

24.

Alexander Bullock defeated Civil War General Darius Couch in the general election, and served three consecutive one-year terms.

25.

Alexander Bullock was an outspoken advocate of women's suffrage, although the more conservative legislature never enacted enabling legislation.

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26.

One of the more contentious issues during Alexander Bullock's tenure was the state's alcohol prohibition law, which had been enacted in the 1850s, and which politically divided the otherwise dominant Republicans.

27.

Alexander Bullock vetoed this bill, pointing out that the state police performed other vital functions.

28.

Alexander Bullock refused repeated offers to stand for the United States Congress, and in 1879 turned down an offer by President Rutherford B Hayes of the ambassadorship to the United Kingdom.