Edward Bates was an American lawyer, politician and judge.
39 Facts About Edward Bates
2.
Edward Bates represented Missouri in the US House of Representatives and served as the US Attorney General under President Abraham Lincoln.
3.
Edward Bates was appointed as the first attorney general of the state of Missouri in 1820.
4.
Edward Bates represented Lucy Delaney in a successful freedom suit.
5.
Edward Bates was a candidate for president at the 1860 Republican National Convention, but Lincoln won the party's nomination.
6.
Edward Bates was appointed as attorney general in 1861, at the start of the American Civil War.
7.
Edward Bates successfully carried out some of the administration's early war policies, but he disagreed with Lincoln on the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation.
8.
Edward Bates did not support full civil and political equality for Blacks.
9.
Edward Bates resigned from the Cabinet in 1864 after he had been passed over for a US Supreme Court appointment.
10.
Edward Bates was born in Goochland County, Virginia to Thomas Fleming Edward Bates and his wife, the former Caroline Matilda Woodson.
11.
Edward Bates's father was a Goochland County native, having been born on his family's Belmont plantation, and served in the local militia, including at the Siege of Yorktown at the end of the American Revolutionary War.
12.
Edward Bates served in the War of 1812 before moving to St Louis, Missouri Territory, in 1814 with his older brother James, who started working as an attorney.
13.
Edward Bates studied the law with Rufus Easton and boarded with his family.
14.
Edward Bates was appointed as the new state's Attorney General.
15.
In 1822, Edward Bates was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives.
16.
Edward Bates was elected to the United States House of Representatives for a single term.
17.
Edward Bates ran for the US Senate, but lost to Democrat Thomas Hart Benton.
18.
Edward Bates became a prominent member of the Whig Party during the 1840s, where his political philosophy closely resembled that of Henry Clay.
19.
In 1850, President Millard Fillmore asked Edward Bates to serve as US Secretary of War, but he declined.
20.
At the Whig National Convention in 1852, Edward Bates was considered for nomination as vice-president on the party ticket, and he led on the first ballot before losing on the second ballot to William Alexander Graham.
21.
Edward Bates was one of the four main candidates for the party's 1860 presidential nomination.
22.
Edward Bates initially received support from Horace Greeley, who later switched to support Abraham Lincoln.
23.
The next year, after winning the election, Lincoln appointed Edward Bates United States Attorney General, an office Edward Bates held from 1861 until 1864.
24.
Edward Bates was the first Cabinet member to be appointed from a state or territory west of the Mississippi River.
25.
Edward Bates had only a small operation, with a staff of six.
26.
Edward Bates had no authority over the US Attorneys around the country.
27.
Edward Bates did have a voice on general policy as a cabinet member with a strong political base, but he seldom spoke out.
28.
Edward Bates disagreed with Lincoln on emancipation and the recruitment of blacks into the Union Army.
29.
Edward Bates then resigned and was succeeded by James Speed, a Kentucky lawyer with Radical Republican views.
30.
Edward Bates participated in the conservative struggle over ordinances related to the Missouri constitution of 1865.
31.
Edward Bates particularly objected to the "ironclad oath" that was required as a proof of loyalty by residents.
32.
Edward Bates disapproved of the temporary disfranchisement of rebel sympathizers.
33.
Edward Bates wrote seven essays arguing against the constitution, but it was ratified.
34.
Edward Bates retired from politics, although he commented on political events in the local newspapers.
35.
Edward Bates died in St Louis in 1869 and was buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
36.
Edward Bates had come to St Louis to visit her brother David Coalter and her sister Caroline J Coalter.
37.
Edward Bates was, for the most part, happy with his large family.
38.
Son John C Bates served in the US Army and later became Army Chief of Staff.
39.
Son Fleming Edward Bates fought with the Confederates, under the command of General Sterling Price.