Who is roscoe conkling

Though married to Julia Seymour in she the sister of Horatio Seymour, a future governor of New York and the Democratic presidential nominee , many women found him attractive. Altogether, the pride he took in his physical and oratorical prowess was part and parcel of his political mystique. Elected to Congress in , his acid tongue shortly found a target in President James Buchanan during the secession crisis of late Though he had supported Seward for the Republican presidential nomination, he believed as Lincoln did, that slavery in the United States would be eventually abolished.

Even so, Conkling was a fiscal conservative, and opposed financing the war with paper money. Here was another view he shared in common with James Garfield.

He does not appear to have benefitted financially from his political wire pulling. In , when Conkling was running for reelection, some local Republicans wanted another candidate. I do not mean to say there are not others as good as he is… but I think I know him to be at least good enough.

Given the divisions in the Republican Party at the time, Lincoln was choosing his words carefully. He insisted that the southern states repudiate the Confederate debt and the right to secede. He helped to write the 14th Amendment, which gave blacks citizenship. Like Garfield, he insisted that the southern states ratify the 15th amendment, which granted black men the right to vote, before they could be readmitted to the Union. To demonstrate his support for the first black member of the Senate, he made it a point to escort Mississippi Senator Blanche K.

Bruce about the chamber when other white senators shied away. Like other Republicans, Conkling became increasingly bothered by the leadership style of Andrew Johnson, and supported his impeachment. The two men worked well together. Murphy proved to be a less than scrupulous public official. In he was forced out of his position. Conkling recommended the honest, efficient, and courteous Chester Alan Arthur as his successor, and Grant made the appointment. And unlike Murphy, Chester Arthur was no party hack.

He ran the port well, and through it he helped Roscoe Conkling build and maintain a political machine in New York. Revelations of waste and scandal during the first Grant administration led to a revolt within the party in Conkling and Grant became strong political allies, and in , Grant offered Conkling the position of chief justice of the Supreme Court, after Salmon P.

Chase's death. Conkling refused the offer, believing his talents to be suited more to the role of politician than to that of judge. In Conkling made important contributions to the electoral commission bill that resolved the contested election between presidential candidates SAMUEL J. He also became a strong opponent of Hayes, who sought to end patronage by separating civil service officials from party control.

Conkling asserted that a senator had the right to control the federal administration in his own state, and he opposed the idea that the president should make such appointments. In , Hayes ousted many of Conkling's friends in the New York patronage system. However, in , Conkling won reelection to the Senate, and his friend Thomas C. Platt was elected as a fellow U. In the events surrounding the presidential election of , Conkling became the leader of a group of Republicans known as the Stalwarts, who were fervent supporters of Grant.

At the Republican National Convention in the summer of , Conkling made a desperate bid for the nomination of Grant as the presidential candidate. He failed, and his political machine quickly crumbled, though he did succeed in blocking the nomination of Blaine. Garfield and. Roscoe Conkling. Conkling opposed the Garfield administration after it assumed office, again over the issue of the right to control jobs in the New York Custom House. When he failed to prevent the confirmation of Garfield's appointees, Conkling resigned his Senate seat in disgust, on May 16, , and persuaded Platt to join him.

Conkling's defeat was an important gain for the presidency at a time when congressional powers were stronger than ever before or since.

Strangely enough, when the psychotic Charles Julius Guiteau assassinated President Garfield on July 2, , he claimed to be a Stalwart who sought to remove Garfield and make way for Vice President Arthur.

Much of the public outrage over Garfield's assassination was vented on Conkling, and, though Guiteau was only remotely associated with Conkling, many considered the assassin to be one of Conkling's followers. After failing in an attempt to induce the New York Legislature to reelect him as senator after his resignation, Conkling retired from politics and began a successful and lucrative corporate law practice in New York City.

His abrasive nature offended many, politician and voter alike. He dressed in brightly colored clothing, contrasting sharply with the standard black attire of his contemporaries. His reputation was badly tarnished by an affair with the wife of a Senate colleague and daughter of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase , which became public knowledge. In , Roscoe Conkling aspired to the Republican nomination, the better to continue the cozy relationships of the Grant administration.

Reform forces prevailed, however, in Rutherford B. Arthur , a Conkling loyalist, lost his job as chief collector of the port. In Roscoe Conkling, as head of the Stalwart faction, attempted to engineer a third term for Grant. He was opposed by James G.