1. William Bigler was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democrat as the 12th governor of Pennsylvania from 1852 to 1855 and as a member of the United States Senate for Pennsylvania from 1856 to 1861.
15 Facts About William Bigler
1. 2.
William Bigler attended public schools and worked as a printer's apprentice, a journalist and as a member of the staff of the Centre County Democrat newspaper under his elder brother John Bigler who later became the governor of California.
3.
In 1833, at the urging of his friends, including future Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, William Bigler founded his own political newspaper, the Clearfield Democrat which supported Jacksonian democracy.
4.
William Bigler sold the newspaper and joined his father-in-law's lumber business as co-partner.
5.
William Bigler served as a Jackson Democrat member of the Pennsylvania Senate for the 20th district from 1841 to 1846, including as Speaker from 1845 to 1846.
6.
William Bigler played a key role in the abolition of imprisonment for debt in Pennsylvania and the development of two insane asylums in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
7.
William Bigler's efforts resulted in a cross-state line in 1847 which was eventually sold and became the Pennsylvania Railroad.
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William Bigler was elected the 12th Governor of Pennsylvania in 1851, defeating incumbent governor William F Johnston.
9.
William Bigler fought vigorously against wildcat banking and vetoed multiple bank charters and bank bills in his time as governor.
10.
William Bigler lost popularity through his support of the Walker Tariff, the right of southern states to retain slavery, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and his enforcement of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
11.
William Bigler was elected to the United States Senate for Pennsylvania in 1856, and served until 1861.
12.
William Bigler visited Kansas Territory in 1857, and thereafter advocated Kansas statehood under the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution.
13.
William Bigler was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention and opposed the nomination of Stephen A Douglas.
14.
William Bigler remained active in Pennsylvania politics and served as a delegate to the Pennsylvania constitutional convention in 1873 and as a key organizer of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
15.
William Bigler died on August 9,1880, in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, and was interred in Hillcrest Cemetery.