Austin Blair, known as the Civil War Governor, was a politician who served as the 13th governor of Michigan and in Michigan's House of Representatives and Senate as well as the US Senate.
24 Facts About Austin Blair
2.
Austin Blair was known as a strong opponent of slavery and secession.
3.
Austin Blair led efforts to provide women and black citizens the right to vote.
4.
Austin Blair attended the common schools, Cazenovia Seminary and Hamilton College, before transferring to Union College in the middle of his junior year, graduating in 1839.
5.
Austin Blair studied law in Owego, New York and was admitted to the bar in Tioga County, New York in 1841.
6.
Austin Blair moved to Michigan in that year, residing first in Jackson before moving to Eaton Rapids.
7.
Austin Blair began his political career in Eaton Rapids, where he was elected the clerk of Eaton County in 1842.
8.
Austin Blair moved back to Jackson in 1844 and was a Whig member of the Michigan State House of Representatives from Jackson County in 1846.
9.
Austin Blair served on the House Judiciary Committee and was the leading proponent of the successful 1846 effort to abolish capital punishment in Michigan.
10.
Austin Blair introduced legislation to allow black citizens the right to vote.
11.
Austin Blair left the Whig Party because they did not take a strong anti-slavery stance, and was a delegate to the Free Soil Party National Convention in Buffalo, New York in 1848 which nominated Martin Van Buren.
12.
In February 1849, Blair married Sarah L Ford, of Seneca County New York.
13.
Austin Blair was elected Jackson County prosecutor in 1852 and participated in organizing the Republican Party in 1854.
14.
Austin Blair served in the Michigan Senate, where he represented the 12th district, from 1855 to 1856.
15.
Austin Blair was a delegate from Michigan to the 1860 Republican National Convention, which nominated Abraham Lincoln.
16.
Austin Blair was elected Governor of Michigan in that year and reelected in 1862, serving from 1861 to 1865.
17.
Austin Blair personally helped to raise about $100,000 to organize and equip the initial muster of troops.
18.
Austin Blair ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate, challenging the politically well-entrenched Zachariah Chandler who, although a fellow Republican, was seen by Austin Blair as representing wealthy, Detroit interests rather than "outstate" interests.
19.
Two years after leaving the Governor's seat, Austin Blair was elected to the US House representing Michigan's 3rd congressional district from 1867 to 1873, serving in the 40th, 41st and 42nd Congresses.
20.
Austin Blair was not a candidate for re-election in 1872, but unsuccessfully ran as the Liberal Republican candidate for Governor.
21.
Austin Blair returned to Jackson to resume a private law practice.
22.
Austin Blair was a member of the University of Michigan board of regents from 1881 to 1889.
23.
In 1883, Austin Blair was nominated for Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court Republican party, but was defeated.
24.
Austin Blair died in Jackson and is interred at Mt.