Roscoe Conkling was an American lawyer and Republican politician who represented New York in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
111 Facts About Roscoe Conkling
2.
Roscoe Conkling is remembered today as the leader of the Republican Stalwart faction and a dominant figure in the Senate during the 1870s.
3.
Roscoe Conkling was elevated to the Senate in 1867 as a leading Radical Republican supporter of equal rights for freed Black Americans.
4.
Roscoe Conkling publicly led opposition to civil service reform, which he deemed "snivel service reform," and defended the prerogatives of Senators in doling out appointed posts, a lucrative and often corrupt practice.
5.
Roscoe Conkling ran for re-election to his seat in an attempt to display his support from the New York political machine and his power, but lost the special election, likely due at least in part to Garfield's assassination.
6.
Roscoe Conkling remained active in politics and practiced law in New York City until his death in 1888.
7.
Roscoe 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.
8.
Roscoe Conkling was born on October 30,1829, in Albany, New York to Alfred Conkling, a US Representative and federal judge, and his wife Eliza Cockburn, cousin of the late Lord Chief-Justice Sir Alexander Cockburn of England.
9.
Roscoe Conkling was the youngest of seven children, four sons and three daughters.
10.
Roscoe Conkling's mother was said to have a "talent for repartee and brilliant talk" which her son inherited.
11.
At the suggestion of William H Seward, the Conkling family moved to Auburn, New York via the Erie Canal in 1839.
12.
At his new home, Roscoe Conkling enjoyed horseback riding, which became a lifelong pursuit.
13.
Roscoe Conkling did not take to academic study, but had a retentive memory.
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In 1842, Roscoe Conkling was enrolled in the Mount Washington Collegiate Institute in New York City.
15.
Roscoe Conkling first became interested in politics during his time at Auburn.
16.
In 1846, seventeen year-old Conkling moved to Utica to study law in the offices of Joshua A Spencer and Francis Kernan, two of the leading lawyers in the state.
17.
Roscoe Conkling integrated himself into Utica society and spoke publicly on a variety of issues, especially in support of human rights and the abolition of slavery.
18.
Roscoe Conkling displayed deep abhorrence for slavery, which he described as "man's inhumanity to man," and referred to himself as a "Seward Whig," stumping the county for Taylor and Fillmore in 1848.
19.
Roscoe Conkling practiced his oratory by reciting passages from the Bible, Shakespeare, and British Whigs including Thomas Babington Macaulay, Edmund Burke, and Charles James Fox.
20.
In 1849, Roscoe Conkling gained his first exposure to political campaigning when he was elected as a delegate to his New York State Assembly district's Whig nominating convention, then to the state judicial nominating convention as a supporter Joshua Spencer for the New York Court of Appeals.
21.
Roscoe Conkling was still only twenty-one, and set about prosecuting cases without the aid of more senior co-counsel.
22.
Roscoe Conkling was nominated for re-election that fall but was defeated along with the rest of the Whig ticket.
23.
In 1852, Conkling opened a legal partnership with former Mayor of Utica Thomas R Walker; the partnership continued until 1855.
24.
Roscoe Conkling became famous throughout central New York after his defense of Sylvester Hadcock for forgery; Joshua Spencer was the prosecutor, but Conkling won acquittal by proving Hadcock's illiteracy.
25.
Roscoe Conkling became one of the highest-paid attorneys in the region, often charging over $100 per trial.
26.
In 1853, Roscoe Conkling was a leading candidate for Attorney General of New York; he lost the Whig nomination to Ogden Hoffman on the third ballot.
27.
Roscoe Conkling won easily on the first ballot of the district convention; Doolittle was nominated by future Roscoe Conkling ally Ward Hunt.
28.
Root refused to debate Roscoe Conkling; Roscoe Conkling stumped the county on his own behalf.
29.
Roscoe Conkling won the election by 2,793 votes out of slightly under 20,000 cast.
30.
Roscoe Conkling ran 200 votes ahead of Governor Edwin D Morgan.
31.
Roscoe Conkling quietly opposed slavery and his speeches largely consisted of legal expositions.
32.
Roscoe Conkling voted in favor of the Morrill Tariff and against the proposed Corwin Amendment, which would have shielded slavery from federal interference as a step toward reconciliation.
33.
In 1861, Conkling teamed up with Chester A Arthur and another man, George W Chadwick, to make a profit on wartime cotton.
34.
Roscoe Conkling later secured Arthur's appointment as a tax commissioner and was later appointed Collector of the Port of New York in 1871.
35.
Roscoe Conkling took a leading role in the session and was joined in the House by his elder brother Frederick, who had been elected from Manhattan.
36.
Roscoe Conkling was promoted to Chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia.
37.
Roscoe Conkling introduced a bill to "establish an auxiliary watch for the protection of public and private property in the city of Washington" and another instituting a committee to report on the subject of a general bankruptcy law.
38.
When Congress reconvened on December 3,1861, Roscoe Conkling introduced a resolution calling for the War Department to investigate the humiliating Union defeat at the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
39.
When George McClellan responded that an investigation would be incompatible with the public service, Roscoe Conkling delivered a speech calling the battle "the most atrocious military murder ever committed in our history as a people," gaining national attention.
40.
Roscoe Conkling was a consistent opponent of issuing paper currency to pay for the war effort, unsuccessfully voting against the Legal Tender Act of 1862 and proposing bond issuances redeemable in gold as substitutes.
41.
Roscoe Conkling remained a consistent opponent of monetary expansion throughout his career.
42.
Roscoe Conkling was renominated by party faithful at Rome on September 26,1862.
43.
Roscoe Conkling was opposed by his former law teacher, Democrat Francis Kernan, running on a ticket with his brother-in-law Horatio Seymour for Governor.
44.
Roscoe Conkling was ultimately narrowly defeated by Kernan by 98 votes, and Seymour was elected Governor.
45.
In 1864, Roscoe Conkling remained an active supporter of President Lincoln and endorsed his re-nomination and re-election.
46.
Roscoe Conkling rebuffed efforts, including a direct appeal from Horace Greeley, to replace Lincoln on the ticket with a more radical candidate.
47.
Roscoe Conkling was nominated by a large vote, but declined.
48.
Roscoe Conkling served on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, which drafted the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
49.
Roscoe Conkling was among the committee's most active supporters of enfranchising freed slaves.
50.
The charges were investigated and unanimously dismissed by an investigatory committee as having "no foundation in truth," but Roscoe Conkling never forgave Blaine.
51.
Roscoe Conkling was presented as a young, progressive alternative to the incumbent Harris.
52.
Roscoe Conkling joined the Senate as a member of the Committees on Appropriations, the Judiciary, and Mines and Mining.
53.
Roscoe Conkling became a popular subject of press attention and was even mentioned as a potential candidate for president in 1868.
54.
Roscoe Conkling was a frequent critic of President Andrew Johnson and supporter of aggressive Reconstruction policies.
55.
In Johnson's impeachment trial for the removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Roscoe Conkling did not serve as a manager or make any public speech but was active in the prosecution of the case.
56.
Roscoe Conkling voted guilty on several articles before the Senate adjourned.
57.
Roscoe Conkling fell ill while the Senate remained in recess, but declared that if he were unable to walk or speak, he would still be carried to the chamber with the word "Guilty" pinned to his coat.
58.
Roscoe Conkling remained Johnson's antagonist for the remainder of the latter's term.
59.
Nevertheless, Roscoe Conkling defended the administration from Charles Sumner's charges of violating neutrality by selling arms to France.
60.
Roscoe Conkling actively worked for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, opposing attempts by Senator Allen Thurman to water down its provisions.
61.
Roscoe Conkling spoke against seating Republican Senator Alexander Caldwell of Kansas, who stood accused of bribery and ultimately resigned.
62.
Roscoe Conkling served on the committees on Foreign Relations, Commerce, and the Judiciary, and chaired the committee on the Revision of Laws.
63.
Roscoe Conkling declined once more, and Grant appointed Morrison Waite, who was confirmed.
64.
Roscoe Conkling was offered a $50,000 yearly salary as a law partner in New York City but turned it down.
65.
However, after victories in 1871 and 1872, Roscoe Conkling was re-elected without much competition or fanfare.
66.
In 1869, upon the retirement of William H Seward as Secretary of State and the defeat of senior Senator Edwin D Morgan, Senator Conkling suddenly became the most senior figure in the New York Republican Party.
67.
The Republicans lost the 1870 election by a wide margin; Roscoe Conkling blamed the loss on betrayal by the Fenton faction.
68.
In 1871, Roscoe Conkling gained Grant's support to reform the New York City organization.
69.
Roscoe Conkling gave a lengthy speech denouncing Curtis, Hayes, and reformers and praising Grant.
70.
In January 1879, Roscoe Conkling was re-nominated by acclamation and re-elected to a third term easily.
71.
Shortly after James Garfield's victory in the 1880 election, Roscoe Conkling consulted with friends on his future.
72.
Roscoe Conkling refused to appoint Conkling's proposed candidate, Levi P Morton, for Secretary of the Treasury.
73.
Roscoe Conkling resigned from the Senate, seeking vindication of his own political strength and of the principle of senatorial courtesy by winning the special election to his seat.
74.
Chester A Arthur's nomination as vice president in 1880 was designed to appease Conkling and led to Arthur's succession as president after the assassination of James Garfield.
75.
When Charles Sumner introduced a constitutional amendment to limit the presidency to one term in 1871, Roscoe Conkling spoke against its passage.
76.
Roscoe Conkling spoke against Horace Greeley in personal terms, drawing criticism from the Democratic and Liberal Republican press.
77.
Roscoe Conkling had the support of Grant and the unanimous backing of the New York Republicans.
78.
Roscoe Conkling pledged to make four speeches on behalf of Hayes, but made only one, claiming ill health.
79.
Roscoe Conkling played an active part in resolving the disputed election.
80.
Roscoe Conkling gave a powerful speech urging its constitutionality, passage as a means of avoiding violence, but declined to serve on the Committee himself.
81.
At the 1880 state convention, Roscoe Conkling secured a binding resolution pledging New York's delegates to Grant.
82.
At the national convention, Roscoe Conkling moved to have all delegates pledge their support to the eventual nominee.
83.
Roscoe Conkling marshaled the Grant delegates through dozens of successive ballots, never wavering in his support.
84.
Roscoe Conkling received the necessary majority on the thirty-sixth ballot of the convention, and Conkling moved to make his nomination unanimous.
85.
Roscoe Conkling only began to campaign actively after Grant and Arthur personally prevailed upon him to do so.
86.
Roscoe Conkling gave a well-received speech at New York's Academy of Music, then travelled west to deliver a series of speeches in Ohio alongside President Grant.
87.
Roscoe Conkling made four more speeches in Indiana, then returned to New York for the remainder of the campaign.
88.
Roscoe Conkling was a Radical Republican, favoring equal rights for ex-slaves and reduced rights for ex-Confederates.
89.
Roscoe Conkling was active in framing and pushing the legislation framing Reconstruction, including the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
90.
Roscoe Conkling defended a proposal ordering the construction of a transcontinental telegraph to the Pacific Ocean.
91.
Roscoe Conkling championed the broad interpretation of the ex post facto clause in the Constitution.
92.
In 1873, Roscoe Conkling submitted a resolution on behalf of the temperance movement within his district and spoke in support of the movement's aims at the 1873 state convention, but denounced any "irrational effort" to ban alcohol as indefensible.
93.
Roscoe Conkling vigorously opposed the so-called "inflation bill", which would have authorized an additional $46 million in bank notes.
94.
Roscoe Conkling was an active opponent of the Bland-Allison Act and any legislation attempting to increase the supply of silver.
95.
Roscoe Conkling was a lifelong advocate for civil rights for freed black Americans.
96.
Roscoe Conkling remained an advocate for Southern Reconstruction long past its political popularity in the North and even beyond President Hayes's decision to withdraw federal troops from Southern states.
97.
In 1877, Roscoe Conkling presented a petition on behalf of citizens of New York, mostly women, calling for an amendment granting all women the right to vote.
98.
Howard Jay Graham, a Stanford University historian considered the pre-eminent scholar on the Fourteenth Amendment, named this case the "conspiracy theory" and concluded that Roscoe Conkling probably perjured himself for the benefit of his railroad friends.
99.
Arthur submitted the nomination to the Senate not knowing whether Roscoe Conkling would accept it or not.
100.
Roscoe Conkling adorned his walls with photos of Lord Byron, Daniel Webster, William W Eaton, and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
101.
Roscoe Conkling was an avid reader of poetry, particularly the works of Lord Byron.
102.
Roscoe Conkling sometimes quoted or recited poetry in his speeches.
103.
Roscoe Conkling made careful study of British oratory throughout his life, and was a particular admirer of Thomas Babington Macaulay.
104.
Roscoe Conkling married Julia Catherine Seymour, sister of Governor of New York Horatio Seymour, on June 28,1855; Horatio was strongly opposed to the marriage and remained a forceful political opponent of Roscoe Conkling's.
105.
The late Senator Roscoe Conkling was a frequent visitor at Canonchet [Sprague's estate], and was unpleasantly conspicuous in the proceedings which ended in the divorce of the Spragues.
106.
Mr Roscoe Conkling was once forbidden by Mr Sprague to come to Canonchet.
107.
On March 12,1888, Roscoe Conkling attempted to walk home three miles from his law office on Wall Street through the Great Blizzard of 1888.
108.
Roscoe Conkling made it as far as Union Square before collapsing.
109.
Roscoe Conkling contracted pneumonia and developed mastoiditis several weeks later which, following a surgical procedure to drain the infection, progressed to meningitis.
110.
Roscoe Conkling died in the early morning hours of April 18,1888.
111.
Roscoe Conkling was an important character in Rosemary Simpson's 2017 detective novel What the Dead Leave Behind.