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PUBLIC LIFE
of
ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
1851-1875

BY
WILMER C. HARRIS, Ph. D.
t » <

LANSING
MICHIGAN, HISTORICAL COMMISSION
1917

PREFACE
T^HIS little monograph is intended in no way to su
persede the Post and Tribune "Life of Zachariah
Chandler." That interesting work will remain a mine
of information for the student of Mr. Chandler's
political career. It was written by his friends and
contains information which would be difficult if not
impossible for the student of the present day to find
elsewhere. But, written by his friends at a time when
the stirring events with which Mr. Chandler was
connected were still fresh in their minds, the Post and
Tribune "Life" is necessarily not wholly impartial.
In presenting to the public another study of Zach
ariah Chandler, I ask consideration for three reasons:
first, I can, I believe, write with reasonable impartia
lity; second, I will present Mr. Chandler as a typical
product of his time, a fire-eater of the Northwest, the
representative in the United States Senate of the
radical spirit dominant among his constituents during
the epoch of Civil War and Reconstruction; third, I
will present Mr. Chandler as the exponent of a system
of practical politics, which will, I hope, be of interest
to the student of American history.
To those who, by their sympathy and aid, have
assisted me, I desire to express my most sincere ap
preciation. I am especially indebted to Prof. C. H.
Van Tyne of the University of Michigan, and Prof.
F. L. Paxson of the University of Wisconsin, who

4 PREFACE
encouraged me to continue graduate work beyond the
Master's degree and suggested "Zachariah Chandler"
as a subject for my doctoral dissertation. For valuable
suggestions in regard to the treatment of this subject,
I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Prof. A. C.
McLaughlin of the University of Chicago, without
making him responsible in any way for the defects of
my work.
Librarians and attendants at the libraries where I
liave worked, have been uniformly anxious to aid me
in locating material. Among these I should especially
mention Mr. Gaillard Hunt and Mr. Fitzpatrick of
the1 Manuscripts Division and Mr. Morrison of the
reading room of the Library of Congress; Mr. Utley
bf the Detroit Public Library; Mr. Cleavinger of the
Jackson Public Library and Mrs. Ferrey of the Michi
gan Pioneer and Historical Society. The private
library of Mr. C. M. Burton of Detroit has been open
to me with the same generosity which is always shown
there to students of Michigan history.
Judge John J. Speed and Mr. H. M. Utley of Detroit;
Hon. James O'Donnell, Edward W. Barber and Geo.
W. Kennedy of Jackson, Michigan; Samuel L. Kil
bourne and Elias Martin of Lansing, Michigan, are
among those whom I have interviewed. The late
Prof. Martin L. D'Ooge of the University of Michigan
and Hon. Gerrit J. Diekema of Holland, Michigan,
were consulted in regard to the Hollanders in Western
Michigan. Mr. Joseph A. Labadie of Detroit gave
me some information in regard to the French element
in Detroit; Mr. Le Roy Parker of Batavia, N. Y.,
wrote me in regard to his part in the Senatorial contest

PREFACE 5
in January, 1875, and Rev. Henry P. Collin of Cold-
water, Michigan, very kindly interviewed for me Mr.
George Van Aken and others in Branch County in
regard to the defeat of Mr. Chandler in January, 1875.
Mr. J. B. Edmonson, Principal of the Jackson High
School, assisted me in every way within his power.
Mrs. Amelia Frink Redfield of Marshall, Michigan,,
allowed me to copy some eighteen letters written by
Mr. Chandler to her grandfather, Charles T. Gorham
of Marshall. For this I am especially grateful.

CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. Mayor of Detroit  7
II. Candidate for Governor of Michigan  14
III. The Formation of the Republican Party in Mich
igan  20
IV. The Basis of Michigan Politics  30
V. Elected to Succeed Lewis Cass in Senate .... 39
VI. Early Years in U.S. Senate and the Campaign of
1860  44
VII. The War Begins  53
VIII. The Campaign of 1862 in Michigan and Mr.
Chandler's Second Election to U. S. Senate. . . 63
IX. In the Senate, 1863 and 1864  70
X. The Years 1865-66  82
XI. Foreign Affairs and Reconstruction  95
XII. Mr. Chandler's Third Election to U. S. Senate. . . 102
XIII. Grant's First Administration and the Campaign of
1872  Ill
XIV. Grant's Second Term and Mr. Chandler's Defeat
in 1875  123
XV Summary of Mr. Chandler's Political Career,
1875-1879  133
Bibliography  139
Index  145

ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
From a photograph by Sarony, New York.

PUBLIC LIFE OF ZACHARIAH
CHANDLER

CHAPTER I
Mayor of Detroit
f\N the evening of February 19, 1851, a Whig
Convention, composed of delegates from the
several wards of the city, nominated Zachariah Chand
ler for Mayor of Detroit. This was Mr. Chandler's
first candidacy for public office. A native of Bedford,
New Hampshire, at the age of twenty he had joined
the swelling tide of immigration that poured into
Michigan from New England and New York in 1833.
Engaging in the mercantile business, his prosperity
had kept pace with the growth of the State and the
year 1851 found him, at thirty-seven years of age, a
wealthy and respected merchant with the disposition
and the leisure to enter public life.
Detroit in 1851 was "booming." In the four years
from 1850 to 1854 its population increased from
21,019 to 40,373. At a conservative estimate it had
25,000 inhabitants in 1851; The rapid growth of the
city called for a proportionate extension of the system
of city improvements — sewers had to be dug, water-

8 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
mains laid, pavements and sidewalks built. All this
meant expenditure of large sums of money, and Mr.
Chandler was put forward by the Whigs as a man who
possessed the requisite business ability properly to
care for the city's interests. "It is an old and good
saying," argued the Whigs, "that he who is diligent
and faithful and honest in his own affairs will be
diligent and faithful and honest in the affairs of others
whenever committed to his charge."1
The Democratic candidate was Gen. John R.
Williams. General Williams was a wealthy merchant
almost seventy years of age. He had already served
six terms as Mayor and stood high in the councils of
the Democratic party.
Detroit, as well as Michigan, was a Democratic
stronghold. In the mayoralty campaign of 1851, the
Whigs, realizing the necessity of gaining Democratic
votes in order to elect their ticket, subordinated the
argument of party regularity and relied on the "local
interest" issue. The Democrats, who only needed to
prevent voters from bolting their party ticket in
order to be successful at the polls, strongly urged
"loyalty to the Democratic party of Michigan."
Fortunately for Mr. Chandler, the year 1851 was
not one in which a governor or a president was to be
elected. Democrats therefore did not feel the same
necessity for party loyalty in the mayoralty election
that they did, say, in 1852 when the result of the
local election could be cited as an indication of party
strength in the Presidential contest. Enough Demo
crats split their tickets in 1851 to elect Mr. Chandler.
1. Detroit Daily Advertiser, March 1, 1851.

SAMUEL CHANDLER

Father of Zachariah Chandler. From a photograph by D. O. Furnald,
of Manchester, N. H.

MAYOR OF DETROIT 9
In 1852 they stood by the ticket and elected a Demo
cratic mayor. Mr. Chandler's majority was 349. 2
Two other Whigs were elected; a city marshal by 352
votes and a sexton by 269. Of twenty city officers
elected the Whigs gained three and the Democrats
seventeen. The office of Mayor of Detroit in 1851 was not
one to attract the professional politician. There were
arduous duties to be performed with reference to the
city administration and the rewards were meager.
The office carried with it no salary, and except for a
fee of one dollar3 for each case tried before him in the
Mayor's Court the Mayor received no remuneration
for his services. Custom demanded4 that the Mayor
subscribe liberally to charity and to various associa
tions for moral, religious and literary purposes. He
was supposed to dispense the hospitality becoming to
his station. Necessarily, then, the office was open
only to men of wealth and public spirit who were
content with the rewards that the honorable position
and the opportunity to serve the city gave them. In
1852, when Mr. Chandler's term was about to expire,
two Whigs declined the nomination before a third was
found who was willing to become a candidate.5
As soon as the result of the election was ascertained,
the Whigs gathered in front of the business place of
Mr. Chandler and formed a procession which, headed
2. Official City Canvass as given by the Advertiser, March
8, 1851.
3. Revised Charter and Ordinances of the City of Detroit,
1855.
4. Advertiser, February 17, 1852.
5. Detroit Free Press, February 23, 1851.

10 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
by a brass band, marched to the residence of the
Mayor-elect. Summoned to the door by the cheers
of his constituents, Mr. Chandler made a brief address
and then extended a general invitation to all to enter
and partake of the hospitality of his house.6 On
March 11, he- took the oath of office, made an address
to the Council and was escorted to his home by several
hundred of his fellow citizens preceded by the in
evitable brass band. Having made a short address
at his home, Mr. Chandler closed with .a general
invitation to all to visit him the next day at three
o'clock.7 That Mr. Chandler was . a strong party man is
evidenced early in his administration.8 It seems that
the contract for the city printing was a political
"plum" that, notwithstanding a clause in the city
charter providing for open competition, was by com
mon consent regarded as belonging to the newspaper
which represented the party which had a majority of
the Council. In 1851, political parties, with a full
board, were equally represented in the Council, but
the vote of the Mayor gave the control to the Whigs.
There were two Whig papers, the Advertiser and the
Tribune. The Free Press was Democratic. In the
latter part of March, Mr. Carew, one of the Whig
aldermen, was out of the city and Mr. Chandler found
it necessary to leave for New York at the opening of
6. Free Press, February 23, 1851.
7. Advertiser, March 13, 1851.
8. For this account I have relied on the Advertiser and Free
Press from March 20 to June 23. The Council pro
ceedings are found in the Advertiser as well as in the
Journal ofthe Common Council 1844-1852.

SAMUEL CHANDLER
Of Bedford, N. H. Father of Zachariah Chandler. From a daguerreo
type in the possession of Mrs. Eugene Hale, Ellsworth, Maine.

MAYOR OF DETROIT 11
navigation to purchase goods for his mercantile busi
ness. The printing contract had not yet been attended
to. With both Alderman Carew and the Mayor ab
sent, the Democrats would control the Council and
could award the printing to the Democratic Free
Press. To avert such a contingency, Chandler called
a special meeting of the Council and chose a day when
seven of the eight Democratic aldermen were attending
a convention at Dearborn. The Council having con
vened, the printing contract was awarded to the
Advertiser. This action was the subject of a long con
troversy. The Tribune felt aggrieved that its rival
had secured the "plum." The Free Press took every
opportunity of sowing dissension among the Whigs by
championing the cause of the Tribune. . Finally the
Council passed a resolution requesting the Advertiser
to surrender its contract and allow proposals for the
city printing to be received. The Advertiser im
mediately replied, offering to surrender its contract
on the appointment of its successor and to print all
Council proceedings free for the remainder of the year..
Here the matter dropped. The Advertiser continued
to do the printing and was well paid for doing it.
As Mayor, Mr. Chandler was often called upon to
welcome distinguished strangers to the city. No
visitor was more certain to arouse enthusiasm in
Detroit in 1851 than one who had fought on the side
of the Revolutionists in Europe in 1848. Liberty
was a word to conjure with and Louis Kossuth and
Dr. Kinkel were its prophets. Kossuth, though the
streets of Detroit were not lacking in young men,
wearing the Kossuth hat and feather, did not accept

12 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
Mayor Chandler's invitation to visit the city. Dr.
Gottfried Kinkel, however, a German scientist who
took part in the Revolution of 1848, came to Detroit
in November, 1851, and was given a rousing reception.
He appeared upon the balcony of the Biddle House
accompanied by the Mayor and prominent citizens,
and to quote the Detroit Advertiser, "Amid the joyous
shouts of an admiring multitude, a large number of
our ladies (God bless them) surrounded him with their
smiles and wished him God-speed in his glorious
'undertaking."9 The address of Mr. Chandler upon
this occasion is of interest today because it mirrors
the mind of the man of sixty years ago who saw in the
United States the land of Freedom, whose mission it
-was to guide the world to the goal of Liberty. In
speaking of the failure of the Revolution of 1848 Mr.
Chandler said,
"The flame of Liberty may be smothered for a
moment but it will break out with ten-fold fury at no
distant day. The people have learned their rights
and, knowing, dare maintain them . . . The decree will
have gone forth and will be irrevocable. Kings,
Dukes and Emporers 'By. the Will of God' must give
place to Presidents, Senators and Governors 'By the
Will of the People.' Then will those time-honored
fabrics of Despotism fall, like tottering walls before
the hurricane. When this struggle shall come, and
come it must soon, America will not be an idle spectator
of the conflict. .Gentlemen, our country has a
glorious destiny to fulfill. At present she is a beacon
to the oppressed of every clime. To us they turn as
9. Advertiser, November 26, 1851.

MARGARET (ORR) CHANDLER
Mother of Zachariah Chandler. From a photograph by D. O. Furnald,
of Manchester, N. H.

MAYOR OF DETROIT 13
to the Star of Hope. . .With us they find hope. What
has been done can be done again. Impossible is a
word almost stricken from our vocabulary. Obstacles
do not discourage us. Difficulties but add fresh vigor
to our effort."
Mr. Chandler's term of office expired in March,
1852. The Whigs praised his administration; the
Democrats censured it. He fulfilled the duties of
the office creditably, his administration being particu
larly successful in caring for city improvements and.
finance.

CHAPTER II
Candidate for Governor of Michigan
QN July 1, 1852, the Whig state convention,1
being assembled at Marshall, nominated Mr.
Chandler for Governor of Michigan. On the first
ballot, an informal one, Mr. Chandler received 76 out
of 88 votes. On the next, a formal ballot, he re
ceived 95 out of 99. Mr. Chandler was not present
at the convention, but William A. Howard, Chairman
of the Whig State Central Committee, said that, he
had seen Mr. Chandler before leaving Detroit and that
Mr. Chandler had said "he was not a candidate for
any of the offices under consideration; that he pre
ferred working in the ranks, but should the con
vention see fit to nominate him he was with them."2
The Democrats nominated Robert McClelland of
Monroe. Mr. McClelland at this time occupied the
gubernatorial chair. He was a lawyer by profession
and had served both in the State Legislature and in
the lower house of Congress. He was very popular
and had a ready laugh which caused his opponents to
say that "he laughed himself into office."2
The political campaign in Michigan in 1852, how
ever, was fought on national party lines. If the
Whigs could convince the majority of the voters of
1. Advertiser, July 3, 1852.
2. Article by Isaac P. Christiancy in History of Monroe County,
p. 245.

CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR 15
Michigan that General Scott should be the next
President of the United States, then Mr. Chandler
and not Mr. McClelland would be the next Governor
of Michigan. Most men vote straight tickets. The
Presidential contest being regarded as of paramount
importance, local contests are usually decided by
national parties fighting for national issues or perhaps
for the control of the national administration. . It is
true that the local interests suffer, but that is the fault
of our party system. When national issues are
represented by national parties, state issues by state
parties, and county and town and city issues by
county and town and city parties, our whole party
system will have been revolutionized. Hence it was
that in Michigan in 1852 the campaign was one be
tween national parties headed by Scott and Pierce,
rather than state parties headed by Chandler and
McClelland. The situation becomes even more sig
nificant from the fact that there were no national
issues which distinguished clearly the Democrats from
the Whigs. Both acquiesced in the Compromise of
1850, including the Fugitive Slave Law. The Free
Soilers alone took a firm stand against the extension
of slavery but their numbers were few;3 the majority
of the people still clung to the old parties.
The lack of vital national issues separating the two
great parties resulted in a campaign of trivialities,
personalities, appeals to prejudice, and canards. The
amount of abuse bestowed upon candidates for office
when Mr. Chandler entered politics must have deterred
3. I. P. Christiancy, their candidate for Governor, polled
5850 votes {Michigan Manual).

16 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
many worthy men from public life. No sooner was
Mr. Chandler's nomination known in Detroit than the
Free Press referred to him as a "whiskey bloat." On
September 27 the same paper stated at the head of an
editorial that it proposed to "clip Mr. Chandler's ears
a little" and went on to say, "There is probably not a
more reckless calumniator within the borders of
Michigan than the Whig nominee for Governor,
Zachariah Chandler." General Scott was dubbed
"Fuss and Feathers," "Old Peacock," "White Feather
Chieftain," while Pierce was stigmatized by the Whigs
as a "fainting general" and "Candy -man." "Scott
Soup and Graham Bread" was a familiar way of
speaking of the Whig nominees. On October 14, the
Detroit Advertiser spoke of Pierce as "the puny,
shiftless and dwarfish abortion of a statesman" — and
the Advertiser was perhaps less given to calling hard
names than any of its Detroit contemporaries. The
German vote was appealed to by the Democrats on
the allegation that "Gen. Scott had tied to a tree and
flogged fifteen Germans in Mexico." The "Sons of
the Green Isle" were told that Pierce was opposed to
religious freedom. The Democratic press tried to
arouse prejudice against Mr. Chandler on the ground
that he was wealthy, and the "Nashua Letter"4 pur
porting to have been written by a resident of Nashua,
New Hampshire, declared that Mr. Chandler had
publicly boasted tbat he had money enough to carry
Michigan for the Whigs. Sectional feeling was ap
pealed to. The Whigs declared5 that Pierce was "the
4. Pontiac Gazette, Sept. 11, 1852.
5. Advertiser, June 12, 1852.

JOHN ORR
Of Bedford, N. H. Father of Margaret (Orr)
silhouette in the possession of Mrs. Eugene
Maine.

Chandler. From a
Hale, of Ellsworth,

CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR 17
boasted favorite of the South. . .the South whose
jealousy has long been directed to the growth of the
Western States." Referring to the fact that the
Michigan favorite and real leader of the Democratic
party, General Cass, had not received the nomination
for President by the Democratic convention, the
Whigs derisively asked, "Will they submit? Can they
be led by the nose?" Pierce, according to the Whigs,
was the favorite of the Rothschilds, and they declared
that "The Dungeon-Keepers of Austria shout for
Pierce." Mr. Chandler was a most indefatigable campaigner.
He spoke in some thirty towns in the southern half of
the Lower Peninsula. He always spoke in behalf of
General Scott and the Whig ticket, but he also injected
into his arguments a local issue. He produced figures
purporting to prove extravagance and corruption in
the Democratic State regime. He declared,6 for ex
ample, that by connivance between the Auditor-
General and the State Printer, the State lost thousands
of dollars annually on printing contracts. But his
success after all depended upon the success of General
Scott in the campaign for the Presidency.
The Whigs attempted to make internal improve
ments an issue. They well knew that Michigan, with
her long shore-line, desired federal aid in improving
harbors and lakes. They pointed to the fact that
Pierce had in 1841 voted against a bill appropriating
land in aid of the construction of the Sault Ste. Marie
Canal. The Democrats, desiring above all things to
please everybody, told Michigan voters that Pierce
6. Advertiser, Oct. 7, 1852.
3

18 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
favored internal improvements and they told Southern
voters that he opposed them. The tariff received
some attention and the Democrats continued to wax
eloquent over the evils of the defunct United States
Bank. Party lines in those days were closely drawn. There
was such a thing as a party loyalty which was entirely
independent of the hope of personal reward. There
was an interest in politics which cannot be equalled
today by the interest in any one thing — not even
base ball. Devotion to party resulted in a real hos
tility to the opposing party. A campaign was a battle
with the enemy. "Stand firm, Whigs. . .Keep cool —
don't fire till you see the white of a Loco Foco eye — -
take a steady aim, and if the old Scott Rifles do not
fetch them, then Gen. Scott is no marksman."7
Since the Whigs had no vital argument to attract
Democratic votes or compel men to remain at home
on election day, it is not surprising that the strongly
Democratic State of Michigan remained Democratic
in the election of 1852. The defeat of the Whigs
cannot be ascribed to the Free Soilers, for the Demo
crats had a majority over the combined Whig and
Free Soil vote.8 Mr. Chandler received some 800
votes more than General Scott and 300 more than the
next highest Whig candidate for a State office. The
Democrats in 1852 could say as in 1851, 9
7. Pontiac Gazette, October 30, 1852.
8. Tribune Almanac, 1853, Scott 33859
Hale 7237 41096

Pierce 41842
9. Free Press, September 18, 1851.

JOHN ORR

Of Bedford, N. H. Father of Margaret (Orr) Chandler. From a minia
ture in the possession of Mrs. Eugene Hale, of Ellsworth, Maine.

CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR 19
"We are annually honored with plaudits of victory,
when in truth it is but the recurrence of the 'Glorious
Summer' of Democracy with its promises and its
prosperity certain and unmistakable. In Michigan,
Whiggery scatters its seed over a barren soil; just
enough is reclaimed with each returning season to
'commence anew' and we now write their epitaph
for the closing scene, 1851: 'What shadows we are
and what shadows we pursue.' "

CHAPTER III
The Formation of the Republican Party in
Michigan
OO far at least as Michigan was concerned, it
cannot be said that the Whig party "died of an
attempt to swallow the Fugitive Slave Law." In
18521 the Whigs in Michigan polled 33,860 votes; the
Free Soilers, 7,237; and the Democrats, 41,842. In
1848 Taylor had received 23,947 votes; Van Buren,
10,393; and Cass, 30,742. In the four years between
1848 and 1852, then, the Whigs had gained 9,913
votes, the Democrats 11,100. Figures for the in
crease in population during this period are not avail
able, but the fact that the Whigs more than held their
own in spite of their acquiescence in the Fugitive
Slave Law is unimpeachable.
Neither can it be successfully maintained that the
Kansas-Nebraska bill killed the Whig party in Michi
gan. It was the occasion, not the cause of its dis
solution. This bill was a Democratic measure carried
by Democratic votes. It passed the House on the
night of May 22, 1854. The majority2 was composed
of 101 Democrats, Northern and Southern, and 12
Southern Whigs. The minority comprised 42 Northern
Democrats, 2 Southern Democrats, 45 Northern and
7 Southern Whigs, and 4 Free Democrats. The Senate
1. Michigan Manual. (Presidential vote).
2. T. C. Smith, Parties and Slavery, p. 107.

ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
From a photograph by Brady, Washington and New York.

FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 21
concurred 35 to 12. Not a Northern Whig in the
House voted for the bill. The great mass of the
Whigs of the North denounced the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise.
The dissolution of the Whig party in Michigan was
a psychological phenomenon. The issue of the Kansas-
Nebraska bill resulted in a most remarkable outbreak
of antislavery sentiment, which expressed itself in
massmeetings throughout the State. Such a meeting3
was held at Detroit, on February 18, 1854. Mr.
Chandler was one of the signers of the call and one of
the speakers who addressed the meeting. The Whig
party could have taken advantage of the situation and
added to its ranks the various elements of opposition
to slavery, but some of the most influential leaders
refused longer to stand by the old Whig name and
organization and demanded that a new party based on
opposition to the further extension of slavery be
formed. The men who advocated this course were
temperamentally radicals. Their number included
Zachariah Chandler; Joseph Warren, whose newspaper,
the Detroit Tribune, was a powerful factor in making
sentiment among Michigan Whigs favorable to the
radical position ; and Horace Greeley who, through the
columns of the New York Tribune, a journal widely
read in the Northwest, urged the formation of a new
party. Conservative Whigs, not less opposed to
slavery than the radicals, pleaded for the old Whig
party. Their position was ably defended by the
oldest Whig newspaper in Detroit, the Advertiser.
The Conservatives pointed to the ties of sentiment
3. Advertiser, February 16 and 21, 1854.

22 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
and interest that bound men to the old party. The
Whig party had an organization of experienced and
loyal workers; newspapers of influence and wide cir
culation were devoted to its cause. The Whig party
had traditions and could influence the ardor of its
adherents by eulogizing former leaders — Webster, Clay,
and Adams. The Whig party according to the Con
servatives had lost the election in 1852 because it had
evaded the slavery issue; by taking a firm stand on
the issue of the Kansas-Nebraska bill the Whigs could
now restore their party to power.
If the Whig party had adopted this course, stood
firm on the issue of the repeal of the Missouii Com
promise, and refused to give up its name and its or
ganization, it seems certain that the Whig and not
the Republican party would have secured the support
of the antislavery elements and would have occupied
the place that the Republican party does today.
We repeat, the dissolution of the Whig party in
Michigan was a psychological phenomenon. The Whig
party, standing firm on an antislavery extension plat
form, would have secured the support of the minor
parties — Free Soilers and Free Democrats. The radi
cal Whigs could have controlled the Whig party,4 but
because they were temperamentally radical they pre
ferred to do the more radical thing, which was to bolt
the Whig organization and form a new party composed
of all the antislavery elements.
4. This is proved by the fact that their bolt was a deathblow
to the party and by the fact that in the Whig State Con
vention, which was called at the instance of conservative
Whigs, the radicals were in control and prevented nomi
nations from being made.

FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 23
Arguments to support the position of the radicals
are not lacking; they were no doubt tired of being de
feated at the polls.. Political parties exist to get con
trol of the government. As Whigs, the Whig party
had failed. The Democrats were traditionally the
party of the "common people." The Whigs were de
rided as "aristocrats," and as such were regarded with
hostility by the Democrats. Under a new name the
Whigs would have less difficulty in gaining the support
of antislavery Democrats. As Whigs, they had failed
to win the foreign vote. "Whig" meant nothing to
a foreigner; "Democrat" meant much. Most newly
arrived immigrants believed that nothing bearing the
name of Democracy could be wrong, so they joined
the Democratic party. The Whig party too was be
lieved to be inclined towards "know-nothingism;" and
so the Catholics, following the agitation of 1853, looked
upon the Whigs as enemies of the Church. "Old
names being cast aside, bitter and unlovely associa
tions would be cast aside with them," argued the
radical Whigs.
The Free-Soilers were extending the olive branch.
As early as February 22, 1854, the Free Democrats8
had held a convention at Jackson and nominated a
ticket, headed by the name of Kinsley S. Bingham for
Governor. The Nebraska bill was passed on May 22.
On the following day6 there was a conference in De
troit between leaders of the Free Soil and Whig parties.
Mr. Chandler was present. An agreement was made
which was faithfully carried out. The Free Soilers
5. Detroit Daily Democrat, Feb. 23, 1854.
6. Jackson Citizen Press, June 3, 1910.

24 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
met in Convention in Kalamazoo,7 declared them
selves ready to dissolve as a distinctive organization,
and to withdraw the ticket which they had nominated
in February in case a convention, irrespective of any
existing political party and animated by antislavery
sentiments, should meet to give effect to such prin
ciples as were represented by the Free Soil party. A
Committee of 16 was appointed to carry this design
into execution.
The Republican party of Michigan was founded at
Jackson, Michigan, July 6, 1854. Mr. Chandler, one
of the leading radical Whigs, was present. He had
signed the call and actively urged the calling of such
a mass convention of all the opponents of slavery.
The day was fine. Delegations began to arrive on
the fifth, among them a party of twenty from the
Saginaw Valley who had come all the way, over a
hundred miles, on horseback.8 No hall in the town
was capable of containing the persons desirous of being
present, so the Convention adjourned to a grove of
oaks adjacent to the village; a stone marks the spot
today, though the oaks have nearly all disappeared
and the City has grown far beyond the site.
A Committee on Resolutions was appointed and
while it was deliberating the meeting was addressed
by Kinsley S. Bingham and -Zachariah Chandler.9
The Jackson Citizen, giving a synopsis of Mr. Chand
ler's speech said,
"When in the course of his speech he gave a brief
7. Detroit Daily Democrat, June 22 and 23, 1854.
8. DeLand, History of Jackson County, p. 174.
9. Ibid., p. 171.

FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 25
history of the Wilmot Proviso in Michigan, he alluded
to the anti-slavery resolutions passed by the Demo
cratic State Convention, in 1849, and the resolution
of instruction to the Senators and Representatives in
Congress, by the State legislature on the same subject,
and then exclaimed that not one of the Representatives
had ever been honest to carry them out except Kinsley
S. Bingham, a spark of enthusiasm fired the crowd,
shouts of approbation rang through the vast assemblage
and if any doubt had previously existed as to who
should be the man for Governor that doubt was re
moved." The Committee on Nominations represented all the
old parties present at the Convention. The slate
proposed and later adopted by the Convention was
headed by Kinsley S. Bingham, formerly a Democrat,
later a Free Soiler and now a Republican. The
nominee for Lieutenant-Governor had been a Whig;
and the other nominations were carefully apportioned
among the old parties.
Mr. Chandler's name was not on the slate. His
reward for activity in the formation of the new party
was to come later. It was the intention of the con
vention that he should succeed General Cass in the
United States Senate. This fact is not to be sub
stantiated, perhaps, by documentary evidence of a
"deal," but it is an almost inevitable conclusion from
the circumstances of the case. The Jackson Citizen,10
in allusion to the influences which produced the nomi
nation of Kinsley S. Bingham for Governor said, "No
man did more to accomplish the result than Mr.
1Q. Free Press, July 16, 1854, quoting Citizen.

26 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
Chandler, who had many friends himself in the con
vention for that office." We have already noted that
Mr. Chandler referred in complimentary terms to Mr.
Bingham in his speech at Jackson. If the highest
office in the State was to be given to a Free-Soil Demo
crat, the Senatorship belonged to a Whig. It is true
that the Republicans denied any attempt to apportion
the offices among the members of the old parties.
They claimed to be influenced only by a desire to
choose the best man. But it is equally true that if
there had not been a fair division there would have
been no fusion. For years after the formation of the
Republican party the old suspicion between former
members of opposing parties remained. It was diffi
cult for a former Whig to vote for a former Democrat,
though both called themselves Republicans.
Mr. Chandler's canvass for Governor, his activity
in the formation of the new party, his speech at the
Jackson Convention, his work in the interest of Bing
ham for Governor, all demanded their reward.
Whether there was a formal agreement or a tacit
understanding between Mr. Bingham and Mr. Chand
ler I do not know, but the correspondent of the Detroit
Free Press wrote11 from Jackson on the day of the Con
vention, "It is said here that Bingham's getting the
nomination for Governor has made Chandler's nomi
nation for Congress a certain thing."
The Conservative Whigs who opposed fusion, made
a demand12 through the Detroit Advertiser upon the
Whig State Central Committee that a Whig State
11. Free Press, July 9, 1854.
12. Advertiser, August 21, 1854.

KINSLEY S. BINGHAM
From the oil portrait in the Capitol, Lansing.

FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 27
Convention be called. The Convention met at Mar
shall on October 4, but being in the hands of the
radicals it adjourned without making nominations.
The Conservative Whigs had to content themselves
with making Congressional, legislative and county
nominations in localities where they could find Con
servative Whigs to act.
The Republicans perfected their State and local
organizations as rapidly as possible. Petitions were
circulated by the friends of freedom in many of the
local governmental units calling for town, county and
legislative district mass conventions. In some cases
the town mass conventions elected delegates to a
county convention; in others, the county and legis
lative district conventions were real democratic gather
ings of freemen, meeting in mass convention to draw
up anti-Nebraska resolutions, nominate candidates for
local offices, elect delegates to the convention of the
larger units, and appoint officers and committees for
the unit represented at the meeting. There were no
regular party ofiicers to call such conventions and the
work of circulating petitions was taken up by any man
or group of men who cared to advance in this way the
organization of the new party. No better example of
the ability of the American people to organize them
selves into effective political machines can be found
than in this organization of the Republican party in
Michigan during the months following the Jackson
Convention. Late in August the Republican State
Committee stimulated the movement by issuing a
call urging the electors to circulate petitions and meet
in local mass conventions, but the work was under

28 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
way in some localities before this call was made. To
some extent at least the movement was local, popular
and seemingly spontaneous.
The result of the election in Michigan in 1854 was
the complete triumph of the fusion ticket. Bingham
received 43,652 votes for Governor; Barry, the Demo
cratic nominee, received 38,095.
In spite of the increased population, the total vote
for Governor was almost 1,000 votes smaller in 1854
than in 1852. This is to be accounted for partly by
the disaffection of Conservative Whigs, and partly
by the fact that 1852 was a Presidential year. The
ascendency gained by the Republican party in Michi
gan in 1854 has been retained from that day to this.
The outgoing Governor was the last Democrat to oc
cupy the gubernatorial chair, until 1882 when Begole
was elected by the Fusionists.13
The action of the radical Whigs iii deserting the
Whig for the Republican party alienated for a time
the conservative element of the old party. The lead
ing conservative Whig organ, the Detroit Advertiser,
early in 1855 began to advocate the principles of the
Know Nothing party, but in the summer of that year
it joined the Republicans. No doubt many conser
vatives finally reached the new party by the same
roundabout route. A number of Conservative Whigs,14
however, as late as August 16, 1856, called upon
members of the old party to vote for Buchanan to
"preserve the independent existence of the Whig
13. Since 1882, the Governors have been Republican with the
exception of Winans, Democrat, elected in 1890 and
Ferris, Democrat, elected in 1912 and again in 1914.
14. Free Press, August 23, 1856.

FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 29
party." The real democracy of the movement which
resulted in the formation of the Republican party is
noteworthy. The Democratic party, the defender of
the aristocratic social and political system of the
South, had itself become aristocratic. The Whig
party, traditionally the party of the aristocrats, had
come to stand for the more democratic policy of op
position to the extension of the aristocratic system of
the South. But the Republican party movement was
an appeal to the people to join, irrespective of ancient
party affiliations, in a common effort to preserve the
democratic institutions of this country and to place
a limit upon the encroachments of the aristocracy of
the South. The struggle between the Republicans
and the Democrats was fundamentally a struggle be
tween democracy and aristocracy. The parties were
no longer fighting for merely temporary objects.
They represented the democracy of America in a life
and death struggle with the aristocracy of America.
It was Democracy against Despotism ; Liberty against
Slavery; the manufacturing and trading spirit of the
North against the agricultural aristocracy of the
South — an antagonism which lay in the nature of
things.15
15. Buckle, History of Civilization, II,. 245*.

CHAPTER IV
The Basis of Michigan Politics
"THHAT the antislavery sentiment of Michigan ex-
¦^ pressed itself in the formation of the Republican
party rather than enrolled under the banner of the
Whigs is perhaps a matter of no great moment. A
political party in the face of a great crisis is a means
and not an end. It furnishes the organization without
which sentiment and convictions are futile to ac
complish political ends. Michigan was antislavery
and was bound to express itself through the agency
of a political party devoted to the cause of freedom
in the Territories.
Love of freedom was inherent in the people of
Michigan. They lived in the North, where slavery
was unknown. They lived in the West, where honest
toil was not despised. They resented the distinction
between employer and employed, master and servant
black or white, which was characteristic of the slavery
system. They read the story of Keating, the Irish
waiter, who was shot in a Washington hotel by Her
bert, a member of Congress from California, formerly
of South Carolina, for refusing to serve a meal after
hours and failing to show that deference which the
Southerner demanded of a servant, white or black.
They asked themselves whether a system which pro
duced such insolence should be extended to the Far
West — the Far West where the people of the North

BASIS OF MICHIGAN POLITICS 31
were wont to picture "the future homes of an ad
vancing and splendid civilization." Introduce slavery
into those fertile regions and "the vision of peaceful
groups of free laborers" would be changed into the
"contemplation of black gangs of slaves."1 Slavery
stood for aristocracy, both social and political ; freedom
meant democracy. The South as well as the North
desired to extend its own peculiar type of civilization,
and this propagandist spirit was especially character
istic of the Northwest. Enjoying, themselves, the
blessings of freedom, the peoples of the Northwest
desired to extend a like boon to the future population
of the western Territories. They had sympathized
with the oppressed of Europe, and they now saw the
inconsistency of pointing to the tyranny of Russia
and Austria while the slaveocracy was extending its
power and influence in their own land. Politically,
the question was whether "intelligence or property
should rule;" socially, it was whether the laborer
should be slave or free.
The great bulk of the people of Michigan were
farmers. Throughout the southern half of the Lower
Peninsula the hardy and aggressive emigrants from
New York and New England were engaged in agri
culture. The small but thriving villages scattered
here and there were recruited from the same stock and
dominated by the same sentiments as their rural
neighbors. This population was filled with the spirit
of liberty, and love for free institutions. It was here
that the antislavery sentiment was strongest, and that
1. Article in Putnam's, September, 1854, "Our Parties and
Politics."

32 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
the strength of the Republican party lay; and it was
in the northwestern part of this agricultural area that
the largest Republican majorities were given. In 1856
Manistee,2 a new county, populated by hardy pioneers
and lumbermen, unvisited by stump speakers and
without efficient mail service, gave 13 votes for Buch
anan and 185 for Fremont — none for Fillmore.
In general, however, the strength of the Republican
party lay in the prosperous farming districts of the
central, southern and western parts of the State. It
was in these parts that the weekly newspaper was
most carefully read and discussed. The New York
Tribune was especially popular with former New
Yorkers. It was estimated3 in 1856 that 35,000 Re
publican newspapers reached the firesides of the
farmers of this region and that at least 10,000 religious
papers went into the same homes.
Religion played an important part in the lives of
these agriculturists, and the churches and religious
papers which they supported were all arrayed on the
side of freedom. In the Detroit Tribune of December
8, 1856, a writer after speaking of the increase in the
number of Baptists in the Northwest quotes a com
plaint of the Detroit Free Press in regard to the activity
of the Baptist ministers in the campaign of 1856,
saying, "Most of its pulpits have been converted into
political rostrums and its journals with which we are
acquainted, are the vilest of political partisan sheets."
General Cass speaking before a grand Democratic
2. The vote was not officially reported in the Manual. See
Advertiser, Dec. 6, 1856.
3. By the Advertiser, July 2, 1856.

BASIS OF MICHIGAN POLITICS 33
mass meeting at Kalamazoo in September, 1856, said,4
" It is a bad sign to see clergymen entering into politics.
This I say in sorrow. It is their business to distribute
the gospel and not Sharpe's rifles." The Sunday-
school papers of the Methodists5 contained stories of
Kansas outrages.
The conservative influences which center in large
cities and money centers were weak in these regions.
Capital was scarce, manufacturing was in its infancy.
The poorest felt himself on an equality with the best
and all were equally engaged in exploiting the resources
of a new and fertile soil.
Soil and climate, social and industrial life, historical
traditions, political interests and religious convictions
all combined to array the Northwest on the side of
freedom. The people of Michigan were immigrants
or the descendants of immigrants. The immigrants
from the older States were the hardy off shoots from a
race of immigrants who in years gone by had in many
instances braved the perils of the wilderness and the
privations of new settlements.6 Such men possessed
in a degree never before surpassed the courage and
moral force which fitted them to exert a commanding
influence. The West is always radical, and in a
crisis such as the slavery question which, touched
their deepest sentiments and interests the people of
the Northwest were certain to become a powerful
factor in the councils of the nation.
No man more truly represented this radical spirit of
4. Free Press, September 7, 1856.
5. Free Press, July 6, 1856.
6. Free Press, May 16, 1862, quoting N. Y. World of May 14.

34 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
the Northwest than did Zachariah Chandler. Him
self an immigrant and the descendant of immigrants,
he was the embodiment of Michigan Republicanism.
He had "that coarseness and strength combined with
acuteness and inquisitiveness ; that practical inventive
turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful
grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but
powerful to effect great ends; that restless nervous
energy, that dominant individualism and withal that
buoyancy and exuberance which comes from freedom"7
— traits of the frontier or "traits called out elsewhere
because of the existence of the frontier." At a later
time when he represented Michigan in the Senate, on
the problems of the war and reconstruction he was
never behind and rarely too far in advance of the
position of his constituents to command their en
thusiastic support. His votes in the Senate were al
most uniformly applauded, and represented as did his
speeches both in the Senate and on the stump, not
only his individual convictions, but the dominant
sentiment of Michigan Republicanism.
The Democratic party in Michigan found its chief
support in the southeastern counties and in the extreme
northern counties of the Lower Peninsula, and in some
parts of the Upper Peninsula. Wayne County,8 in
cluding Detroit, could almost always be depended
upon for a Democratic majority and the neighboring
counties found the Democrats formidable opponents.
The northernmost counties of Emmet and Cheboygan

7. Turner, in Amer. Hist. Assn., Report, 1893.
8. In 1860, according to the 8th U. S. Census, Vol. "Pop."
p. 247, Wayne County contained 44,771 native born and
29,103 foreign born.

BASIS OF MICHIGAN POLITICS 35
were strongly Democratic, as were the neighboring
counties in the Upper Peninsula — Mackinac and
Chippewa. " Democracy is a name that charms," and the foreign
element upon arriving in this country usually allied
itself with the Democratic party. The Irish were
almost uniformly Democrats. They seemed to have
little sympathy with the antislavery extension agita
tion. They usually settled in cities. In Detroit they
found the Democratic party supreme, and as they are
a people who take naturally to politics they secured
from this party a fair share of the rewards due them
for their support. They are a clannish race, and their
tendency to stick together in the support of any Irish
candidate, their ability to deliver a "solid Irish vote"
made, them an important factor in politics. The
Irish too were Catholics, and in Detroit, at least, the
leading Catholic clergy were Democrats, worked
through that party to gain their political ends,9 and
undoubtedly exercised considerable influence over the
votes of their parishioners.
The French element was descended from emigrants
who had left France a century or more before. They
were an humble folk for the most part, many of them
being small farmers along the Detroit River. They
seem to have been almost entirely unaffected by the
democratic movements of the nineteenth century and
to have exerted no appreciable influence on Michigan
politics; they were not interested in the slavery ques-
9. The Catholics claimed for Detroit a Catholic population
of 20,000 souls in a total of 60,000. Tribune, November
13, 1856, quoting The Vindicator.

36 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
tion and when they voted at all, being Catholics, they
generally voted the Democratic ticket.
The Germans, Democrats at first, soon allied them
selves in large numbers with the Republican10 party.
They settled on farms rather than in the towns. They
were full of the spirit of "Liberty and Union." Most
of them came to America after the Revolution of 1848.
Their personal experiences with tyranny in the Father
land, and their historical traditions, caused them to
join the party of freedom and union.
The Hollanders11 too, at first Democrats, were
naturally hostile to slavery. Their love of liberty
was intense. They were a political power in the
western part of the State, particularly in Ottawa,
Allegan and Kent Counties. They had emigrated
from Holland in the forties because of religious perr
secution, and settled in the wilderness in Western
Michigan. Their leader was Rev. A. C. Van Raalte
who sent three sons to the war and preached and spoke
against slavery and for the preservation of the Union.
The history of the Dutch people is the history of a
struggle for "Liberty and Union." It is not strange
that the Dutch of Michigan, finding that "Demo
cracy" was not "democracy," shifted their votes to
the Republican party. ,
There was a conservative element scattered through
out the State that voted with the Democratic party.
It was perhaps with reference to this that Mr. Chandler
~~10 By 1860, this change was well under way.
11 On the Dutch in Michigan, see article by Prof. D Ooge in
Mich Hist. Colls., "Dutch Pioneers of Michigan," also
Detroit Tribune, Sept. 19, 1872, and other papers about
same date. Quarter-Centennial held about that time.

BASIS OF MICHIGAN POLITICS 37
wrote to Charles T. Gorham after the election of 1862r
"The Catholic Church was solid against us and at least
four-fifths of the Episcopal."12 Although the Episcopal
Church as an organized body did not ally itself on the
side of the Democratic party, it probably included
among its members many of the wealthier class of
Detroit society, whose conservative instincts and
quicker sympathy with Southern aristocracy led them
to prefer peace with compromise to civil war.
The counties of Emmet, Cheboygan, Chippewa,
Mackinac, Delta, Keweenaw, Houghton and Ontona
gon in the far north, seem to have had little interest
in politics. The population, largely foreign, was en
gaged in fishing, mining and lumbering. Transporta
tion was slow, the mails were few and far between, the
best stump speakers never reached them. They were
outside the pale of political strife and continued to
vote the Democratic ticket. Menominee and Mar
quette, however, in the Northern Peninsula were Re
publican. In lumbering and mining districts a vote
often loses its significance for us from the fact that the
men voted as they were told. I have been informed
that Delos A. Blodgett who lumbered along the
Muskegon River was so popular with his men through
out that region that they were glad to accommodate
him by voting the Republican ticket.
No statement of the basis of Michigan politics would
be complete without mention of the strong Union
sentiment that pervaded all ranks of society. In the
words of the Detroit Advertiser,™ "It is to us like air
12. The italics are the writer's.
13. Advertiser, May 4, 1854.

38 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
we breathe or the water we drink — an indispensable
element of our existence ; and as human beings, we can
live as well without air or water as can the component
parts of our Republic live without the union of our
States."

CHAPTER V
Elected to Succeed Lewis Cass in Senate
TN the campaign of 1856 the Democratic, party of
Michigan stood firm on the issue of the Kansas-
Nebraska bill. They deplored slavery as an institution
but claimed for the people of the Territories, prepara
tory to their admission to the Union, the right to de
termine for themselves whether or not they would be
slave or free.
By this, the doctrine of the Nicholson Letter (the
work of the leader of Michigan Democracy, General
Cass), the Democrats hoped to maintain themselves
in power. They hoped to win Northern votes by their
adherence to the principle of "local self-government"
and Southern votes by opening up new territory to the
' ' peculiar institution ' ' of the South. They were trying
to serve two masters, Freedom and Slavery.
But the Northwest was aroused. It had done with
compromise. In its effort to keep its power in the
South the Democratic party of the North had gone on
bending the knee, compromising, conceding to the
demands of the slaveocracy, until it had become un
representative of the spirit of the North.
The Democrats believed that the principle of "non
intervention by Congress" would stifle all further
agitation. The young, aggressive, radical Republi
can party did not care whether agitation stopped or
not. Their fighting blood was aroused and they had

40 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
done with compromise. In 18561 the Republicans of
Michigan carried the State by a majority of 19,623
votes for Fremont.
The senatorial term of Lewis Cass expired on the
4th of March, 1857. His public career had been a
long and eminently honorable one, but he was old in
years and represented ideas which had lost their hold
upon the people of Michigan. With the formation
of the Republican party, a party of younger men,
virile, enthusiastic and earnest, a party having nothing
to lose and everything to gain, longing for place and
power but also bent on teaching the South that they
at least were not to be bullied into concessions —
with the formation of such a party and with its victory
in the elections, the doom of Cass was written. High-
minded, scholarly, patriotic statesman that he was,
Lewis Cass had outlived his time.
The Legislature of Michigan met early in January,
1857. The most important question before the mem
bers was the election of a United States Senator. The
Republicans having a majority of both Houses, the
real contest took place in the Republican Caucus.
The most prominent candidates were Zachariah Chand
ler of Detroit, Isaac P. Christiancy of Monroe, Austin
Blair of Jackson, Moses Wisner of Pontiac, Jacob M.
Howard of Detroit and Kinsley S. Bingham of Liv
ingston County. There was a constitutional2 objection
1. Michigan Manual.
2. "No person elected Governor or Lieutenant-Governor shall
be eligible to any office or appointment from the Legis
lature, or either house thereof, during the time for which
he was elected. All votes for either of them, for any
such office, shall be void." Constitution of Michigan,
1850, art. V, sec. 16.

ZACHARIAH CHANDLER

From a miniature in the possession of Mrs. Eugene Hale, Ellsworth,
Maine.

ELECTION TO U S- SENATE 41
to the selection of Governor Bingham which greatly
weakened his claims. Austin Blair, never a good wire
puller, failed to secure substantial support. Mr.
Chandler was from the first the leading candidate.
He had no scruples against bringing a large lobby to
his support and openly sought to "win the game."
His opponents, ostensibly at least, acted upon the
principle that "office should seek the man and not the
man the office." There was some attempt to com
bine all elements of opposition to Mr. Chandler,
eliminate him from the race and choose a candidate
from among his opponents; the plan failed. Mr.
Chandler's support came principally from the central
and western part of the State.3 The members from
these sections were for the most part young men, in
experienced in politics but radical Republicans. Their
votes made Mr. Chandler the caucus nominee and
resulted in. his election to the Senate.
There is some significance in the source of Mr.
Chandler's support. We have already noted that
the central and western parts of the State were the
strongest Republican areas. They were also the
most radical. Mr. Chandler's opponents were all
sound Republicans. But Isaac P. Christiancy was a
lawyer, later a Justice of the Michigan Supreme
Court; Jacob M. Howard was an excellent constitu
tional lawyer and a man of scholarly tastes; Moses
Wisner, Austin Blair — both were lawyers, and Lewis
Cass had been a lawyer. These western radical Re
publicans did not want to send a lawyer nor a man of
scholarly tastes to represent them in the Senate.
3. Free Press, January 9, 1857; Advertiser, January 1, 1859.

42 ZACHARIAH- CHANDLER
They wanted to send a man to Washington who would
fight slaveholders — a fire-eater of the Northwest to con
tend with the fire-eaters of the South. They cared
little about "experience as a statesman" or "training
in the law." The frontier never does. A letter
written at the time asks:4
"But is not this question of experience, or of educa
tion as statesmen in our country a mere hallucination?
Does not the history of Roger Sherman, the Rhode
Island shoe-maker, of N. P. Banks who (although ad
mitted to be the ablest Speaker that has ever occupied
the chair since Mr. Clay) at 26 years of age was a
hard-working machinist, of Wilson who reared as a
shoe-maker and acquired his experience and skill as a
debater while hammering away at his last, prove that
the very best Representatives and Senators that our
Country has produced have come fresh from the
people, upright, active and energetic mechanics or
business men?"
The fact that Mr. Chandler was a merchant and a
man of little education helped him to win a place in
the Senate. His wealth was another element in his
favor.5 He had made it himself and was admired for

4. Letter signed "Michigan" in Detroit Tribune, Dec. 29,
1856 — a Chandler paper representing radical element iii
Republican party.
5. "A curiously significant change has come about in our
attitude toward millionaires. In the early days, when
our society was less differentiated and wealth-gaining
represented exceptional ability of approximately the same
kind as that of the average man, mere possession was
prima facie evidence of shrewdness and savoir faire. The
rich man was the respected 'leading citizen' (with a
strong local flavor). He was the ordinary obscure
citizen raised to the Nth degree." Waiter E. Weyle,
The New Democracy, p. 80.

ELECTION TO U S. SENATE 43
his shrewdness. No doubt his "lobby" and his very
"practical" methods of gaining votes (of which we
shall speak later) helped him to win, but above all else,
his personality was of a type to appeal to the western
members. The Marshall Statesman of January 14,
1857, tells the secret of his power with the West,
"Chandler will never bow the knee to the behests
of the slave power, will never cringe to the threats" of
Southern fire-eaters, will never brook the sneers and
insults of slavedom's bullies, but true to the memory
of his Revolutionary Sires, he will battle for the right
and prove an able champion of the guaranties of con
stitutional liberty." And again on January 21, re
plying to the ridicule of Mr. Chandler's oratory called
out by his election, "He will prove no dough-face, no
apologist for slavery extensionists, no cringing sycoph
ant to Southern braggadocios and no doer of Southern
will. If his speeches prove not to be replete with elo
quence, elegant diction, rounded periods, logical argu
ments and cogent reasonings, his acts and votes will he
eloquent and on the right side."

CHAPTER VI
Early Years in the United States Senate, and
the Campaign of 1860
TN one respect at least, the West and South are
akin: both are characterized by an independent
and sensitive spirit that is quick to resent an insult
and to maintain its "honor." Mr. Chandler's election
to the Senate was due in no small degree to the belief
of his constituents that in him they had found a man
who would stand his ground, refuse concessions and
demand recognition for the claims of the Northwest.
When Mr. Chandler took his seat in the Senate he
found the slaveocracy in full control. All that he
could hope to accomplish was to champion the cause
of the Northwest, to maintain its "honor" in the
Senate, to meet defeats with threats, and by his ab
solute faith in the ultimate triumph of his party, to
encourage the Republicans at home to keep up the
fight against the Democracy. This is the key to his
career in the Senate from his entrance in 1857 until
the election of 1860 and the withdrawal of Southern
members left the Republicans in full control.
In the appointment of the Senate Committees in
December, 1857, the Northwest was practically ig
nored; out of fifteen committees that did all the busi
ness, thirteen had Southern chairmen. The Com
mittee on Commerce, of vital importance to Mr.
Chandler's constituents, was composed entirely of

early years in u. s. SENATE 45
Eastern and Southern men: Clay of Arkansas, Ben
jamin of Louisiana, Bigler of Pennsylvania, Toombs
of Georgia, Reid of North Carolina, Allan of Rhode
Island and Hamlin of Maine.1 Hamlin of Maine,
Doolittle of Wisconsin and Chandler of Michigan,
arraigned the Democrats in bitter terms for monopo
lizing the memberships of the standing committees.
Mr. Chandler closed his speech with a threat: "But
we would say to the gentlemen on the other side of
the Chamber, you have the power to-day; you can
elect your committees as you see fit  but, gentle
men, beware! for the day is not far distant when the
measure you mete out to us to-day shall be meted to
you again."2
On March 12, 1858, Mr. Chandler delivered a care
fully prepared address on Kansas affairs.3 The Wash
ington correspondent of the Detroit Tribune* wrote,
"Passing to President Buchanan, he said that when he
attempted to force a constitution5 on an unwilling
people, he was no longer James Buchanan, President,
but James Buchanan, criminal  Should he
attempt it and blood be shed, he would be liable to
impeachment and liable to be hanged as a murderer."
Quoting an extract from Senator Hammond's "Mud
sill" speech, he replied to it with force, quoting South
ern writers to prove the degraded condition of the
whites at the South and closing with a spirited defence
of the Northern working, man.
1. Cong. Globe, 1st Session, 35th Cong., p. 38.
2. Ibid., p. 40.
3. Ibid., P. II, p. 1086-1093.
4. Detroit Tribune, March 13, 1858.
5. Referring to the Lecompton Constitution.

46 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
During the session, Mr. Chandler took every op
portunity to secure an appropriation for deepening
the channel at the St. Clair Flats. Southern hostility
to the principle of internal improvements and Southern
jealousy of the growth of the Northwest defeated his
efforts. During the debate Mr. Chandler exclaimed.6
"I want to haye the yeas and nays upon it. I want to
see who is friendly to the great North- West and who
is. not; for *we are about to make our last prayer here.
The time is not far distant when, instead of coming
here and begging for our rights we shall extend our
great hands and take the blessing. After 1860, we
shall not be here as beggars."
In the short session of Congress, 1858-59, Mr.
Chandler succeeded in pushing through the Senate an
appropriation of $55,000 for the St. Clair Flats, only
to have it vetoed by President Buchanan — a severe
blow to the Democracy of Michigan who found it
difficult to find arguments to conciliate their followers,
but a most telling campaign argument for. the Re
publicans. Realizing that it is always "good politics" for the
minority to attack the majority for extravagance,
Mr. Chandler made many speeches on this subject
during the sessions 1857-58 and 1858-59. His speeches
-arraigning the: Democrats for extravagance and cor
rupt practices were excellent for home consumption.
On February 17, 1859, he spoke against a bill ap
propriating thirty million dollars to facilitate the
acquisition of Cuba by negotiation:
"This money is a great corruption fund for bribery
6. Cong. Globe, lst-Sess. 35th Cong., p. 2674.

EARLY YEARS IN U S- SENATE 47
and bribery only. It is a proposition worthy  of
the brigand; worthy of James Buchanan  The
friends of the measure have no more idea of purchasing
Cuba under it than I have of buying it on private ac
count. They are to go before the country upon this
cry of Cuba and upon it they hope to float into power
again in 1860. Vain, fallacious hope. Forty Cubas
and three hundred million dollars as a bribery and
corruption fund would not save the Democratic party
from that annihilation which the Almighty has de
creed."7 The 36th Congress opened in December 1859 under
the excitement of the John Brown affair and of Helper's
Impending Crisis* In a speech on a resolution to
appoint a committee to investigate the John Brown
raid, Mr. Chandler ridiculed the panic in Virginia
consequent upon a raid of 17 men upon a town of 2,000
¦inhabitants, repudiated the charge that the Republican
party was responsible for the foray, and addressing
the Southern members, in passionate words exclaimed,9
"John Brown has been executed as a traitor in Vir
ginia, and I want it to go upon the records of the
Senate in the most solemn manner and to be held up
as a warning to traitors, c.ome they from the North,
South, East or West — dare to raise your impious
hands against this Government, against our Con
stitution and our laws and you hang. Sir, I care not
whether that traitor be a Garrisonean Abolitionist
 or whether he be a Southern Governor who

7. Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 35th Cong., 1079-1083.
8. Published two years before, but only now prominently
before the public.
9. Dec. 7, 1859, Globe, 1st Sess. 36th Cong., p. 34.

48 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
proclaims that in certain events he will raise his
traitorous hand against the Constitution and the
Union, I want this record to stand and to stand sol
emnly before the Senate — let the traitor hang. Threats
have been made year after year for the last thirty
years, that in certain events this Union will be dis
solved. Sir, it is no small thing to dissolve this Union.
It means a bloody revolution or it means a halter. It
means a successful over-turning of this Government,
or it means the fate of John Brown, and I want that to
go solemnly on the records of this Senate."
As a prominent member of a group of Northern
fire-eaters, Mr. Chandler was cordially hated and
often insulted by the Democrats. On May 2, 1860,
Mr. Fitch of Indiana referred to him in a speech in
the Senate as "that Xantippe in pants."10 The gross
personal abuse heaped upon Northern radicals by their
political opponents at length became unbearable and-
resulted in an agreement between Mr. Chandler,
Benjamin F. Wade and Simon Cameron, to resent any
repetition of such conduct by challenge to fight, and,
in the precise words of the compact, "to carry the
quarrel into a coffin."11
In the election of 1860 Mr. Chandler was a most
indefatigable campaigner. On October 5, in reply to
an invitation to speak in Illinois, Mr. Chandler wrote
to Lyman Trumbull:
"I can talk twice a day indoors or once to a large
10. Cong. Globe, 1st Sess. 36th Cong., p. 2403.
11. A memorandum in regard to this agreement was drawn up
and signed by the three concerned, on May 26, 1874.
Three copies only were made. Mr. Wade's copy is given
in A. G. Riddle's Life of Benjamin F. Wade, pp. 215-216.

EARLY YEARS IN U. S. SENATE 49
crowd out doors with an occasional evening meeting
under cover. As to night traveling fatigue of it, it is
not of the slightest consequence. Make your ap
pointments where they can be met and they shall be.
I will rest after Election. I usually speak here twice
a day, once in and once out of doors."12
In August Mr. Chandler was speaking in New York
and New England. September found him back in
time to meet William H. Seward who was entertained
during his stay in Detroit at Mr. Chandler's home.
September was a busy month in Michigan, with
Seward, Chandler, B. F. Wade, C. F. Adams, F. W.
Kellogg, Austin Blair and many lesser lights stumping
the State for the Republicans. The last two weeks in
October found Mr. Chandler helping Trumbull in
Illinois. Mr. Chandler tried hard but unsuccessfully to get
Mr. Lincoln to visit Detroit during the campaign.
On August 28, Mr. Chandler wrote Lyman Trumbull:13
"Detroit, Mich. Aug. 28, 1860.
"Hon. L. Trumbull,
"My Dear Sir: I want you and Mrs. Trumbull in
company with Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln to visit Detroit
and become my guests on the 2nd of Oct. at the time
of our State Fair. CM. Clay and family will be with
me — Reasons: 1st, Michigan is one of the certain
States by an overwhelming majority and therefore no
political reason can be assigned. 2nd, If there is a
12. MS letter dated Detroit, Oct. 5, 1860, Trumbull papers,
Library of Cong.
13. MS letter, Trumbull papers, Library of Cong.
7

50 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
doubtful State (which I do not admit), it is the State
of New York. All the money, all the effort> all the
rascality is to be expended upon that State and we may
as well prepare now for a solid opposition there for in
my opinion it is sure to come. Our Friends are true
as Steel and confident. I have been there and yet
Bigelow of the Post [?] only promised 10,000 majority
in case of a solid opposition. This is about 1-4 of.
1 per cent upon the vote of the State. I am now
talking confidentially to you and sincerely and looking
at the dark side. A visit here from Mr. Lincoln would
react tremendously upon New York. This was a
Seward State. Thousands would come from New
York to see Mr. Lincoln and they would find an
amount of enthusiasm here which would react power
fully through Western New York. Office Seekers
shall be excluded and no speech from him shall be
solicited. I conferred [?] with several of Our most
judicious friends in New York upon this subject &
they were all of the opinion that it would be a good
movement. The Michigan Central R. R. will place a
car at the exclusive disposal of Mr. Lincoln and com
pany both ways Free of expense. I will come to
Illinois at any time you wish after the 15th of Oct. &
if desirable will bring W. A. Howard & One or two
more A 1 speakers. I have this day written Mr.
Lincoln simply extending the invitation and stating
that I would write more fully to you. Will you not
confer with or write to Mr. Lincoln and let me hear.
from you at your Early convenience and oblige,
"Very truly yours, "Z. CHANDLER."

EARLY YEARS IN U. S- SENATE 51
The election of 1860 was a triumph for the Repub
licans of the Northwest. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa — all gave Republican ma
jorities. The new apportionment of Representatives
resulted in large gains in the House, and from this
time on the Republicans of the Northwest were a
powerful factor in the councils of the nation.
In regard to the financial situation following the
election of Mr. Lincoln, Chandler wrote :14
"Detroit, Nov. 17, 1860. ¦
^'Hon. Lyman Trumbull
"My dear Sir
"The mercantile world is in a ferment, even some
good reliable Republicans are alarmed and wish some
thing done. Now I have no fear that the senseless
Southern howl will affect Mr. Lincoln in the least,
but I do fear that this Republican alarm may extend
even to Springfield. Having been a life long mer
chant, associating with this very class described, my
opinions ought to be entitled to some little weight and
I have no doubt that they will receive all that they
are entitled to.
"From the days of Carthage to those of James Bucha
nan the great mercantile centres have been peaceable —
ever ready to hire defenders, not furnish them, ever
ready to buy immunity but not to fight for it. Yet
this spirit has not and does not extend beyond the
suburbs of the great commercial marts. New Jersey
is a mere suburb of New York City and has been — of
her vote. A panic can be gotten up to order at any
14. Z. C. to Lyman Trumbull, Trumbull papers.

52 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
time by these gentry — witness the U. S. Bank Panic
upon Gen. Jackson and the disunion Monetary panic
to defeat Mr. Lincoln.
"These panic makers are now being swept out of
existence by the rebound of their own missile and /
thank God for it. The South pays nothing and the
Union — are the only sufferers directly but indirectly
others suffer and I am sorry for it but there is no
remedy except the natural one. Let the storm ex
haust its fury and there will come a calm. I am to
day one of the large sufferers having over 100,000
dollars in the vortex of business besides a large amount
in stocks which have greatly depreciated. There
fore I have a right to speak as a sufferer and sym
pathizer and I now say as such dont pay the slightest
attention to this mercantile howl. We shall be better
off six months or a year hence by settling this question
of secession and panic now and forever. This is
either a Government to be sustained or a thing to be
destroyed. If it is a Government let us stand by and
sustain it — if a thing without the power of self pro
tection let it perish and the sooner the better. These
fellows now want concessions to induce them not to do
what they dare not attempt to do. Let us have a
regular Gen. Jackson Administration and no com
promises or  is the earnest wish of
"Your friend "Z. Chandler.
"P. S. My ankle is very much better although I am
still confined to the house."

CHAPTER VII
The War Begins
VACHARIAH CHANDLER and bluff "Ben." Wade
were among the first to realize that war was in
evitable, but they were not the men to shrink from the
prospect. A keen observer of affairs in Washington1
wrote in December, 1860, "There is only one body of
politicians of the multitude assembled here which
shows a cheerful steadiness amidst the fluctuations
of rumor and of men's moods; and that is the stout
band of Republican members from the North- West."
The Michigan delegation in Congress was opposed
to all compromise propositions. Hon. Henry Waldron,
Representative of the Second District, wrote2 from
Washington on January 4, 1861: "I do not think
that you need be apprehensive about compromises ....
The sentiment of our delegation is that we have
nothing to concede, compromise or apologize for."
Michigan sent no delegates to the Peace Congress.
On February 11, Mr. Chandler, fearing that the Peace
Congress might agree upon a compromise proposition,
wrote a letter to Governor Blair3 urging him to send
delegates, "stiff -backed men or none," who would
1. The correspondent of the London Daily News as quoted
by the Detroit Advertiser, Jan. 22, 1861.
2. Free Press, Jan. 25, 1861, quoting letter published by a
Republican paper at Jonesville, Mich.
3. Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 36th Cong., p. 1247. This letter as
well as Mr. Bingham's is" given in Post-Tribune "Life,"
p. 190.

54 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
vote against compromise. In a postscript he added,. .
"Without a little blood-letting this Union will not,
in my estimation, be worth a rush." On the 15th
Senator Bingham of Michigan also wrote Governor
Blair urging him to send delegates to the Peace Con
gress and saying, in substance, that the Michigan
delegates would hold the balance of power and could
prevent compromise.4
Mr. Chandler's letter of the 11th gained him the
title of "Blood-letter." It was often used against
him by his enemies but he always defended himself*
by quoting Thos. Jefferson: "What signify a few
lives lost in a century or two? The tree, of liberty
must be replenished from time to time with the blood
of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."-
Mr. Chandler's speech of March 2 was a powerful
one.6 He began it with a vigorous defense of the
4. On March 2 Mr. Chandler voted against the Corwin
proposition that "no amendment shall be made to the
Constitution which will authorize or give Congress power
to abolish or interfere within any State with the domestic
institutions thereof, including that of persons held to
labor or servitude by the laws of said State."* On the
same day, he voted against the Crittenden Compromise
which proposed to make the line of 36° 30' the boundary
between slave and free territory .b On July 25, however,
he voted for the Crittenden Resolution, introduced into
the Senate by Andrew Johnson, which declared that the
war was waged simply "to defend and maintain the
supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the
Union" and not "for purpose of overthrowing established
institutions."0 a. Globe, 2nd Sess. 36th Cong.j p. 1403.
b. Ibid., 2nd Sess. 36th Cong., p. 1405.
c. Ibid:, 1st Sess. 37th Cong., p. 265.
5. See his speech of Mar. 2, 1861, Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 36th
Cong., pp. 1370-72.
6. Globe, 2nd Sess. 36th Cong., pp. 1370-1372.

ZACHARIAH CHANDLER

From a daguerreotype in the possession of Mrs. Eugene Hale, Ells
worth, Maine.

CIVIL WAR BEGINS 55
"blood-letter" and then taking up the demand for
compromise, exclaimed: "Mr. President, this is not
a question of compromise; this is a question whether
we have, or have not, a Government. If we have a
Government, it is capable of making itself respected
abroad and at home. If we have not a Government
let this miserable rope of sand which purports to be a
Government perish, and I will shed no tears over its
destruction  we are told that six states have
seceded, and the Union is broken up; and all we can
do is to send commissioners to treat with traitors
with arms in their hands; treat with men who have
fired upon your flag; treat with men who have seized
your custom-houses, who have erected batteries upon
your navigable waters and who now stand defying
your authority . . . .Sir, I will never submit to this
degradation. If the right is conceded to any State to
secede from the Union without the consent of the
other States, I am for immediate dissolution; and if
the State which I have the honor in part to represent
will not follow that advice, I for one, upon my own
responsibility and alone, will resign my seat in this
body, and leave this Government. So soon as I can
prepare the small matters, I shall have to arrange for
emigration to some country where they have a Gov
ernment. Sir, I would rather join the Comanches;
I will never live under a Government that has not the
power to enforce its laws."
The remarks of Senator Wigfall of Texas7 in reply to
Mr. Chandler's speech illustrate the acerbity of the
debates at this period. "Mr. President," began Sena-
7. Ibid., 2nd Sess. 36th Cong., p. 1372.

56 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
tor Wigfall, "it was said by a Scotchman, boasting
of his parson, that 'he was a most po'orful preacher,
for he had pounded three pulpits to pieces and banged
the life out of five bibles.' Of course I do not mean
it for anybody .... I have observed Sir, during a not
very long life, that those who are most in the habit of
taking their tongues off the civil list, have another
habit; and that is, of keeping their weapons upon the
peace establishment  The Senator says that, in
certain contingencies, he will turn Comanche. God
forbid! I hope not. They have already suffered
much from their contact with the whites."
Late in January Mr. Chandler took part in the de
bate on the Pacific Railway bill. On the 29th he
said,8 "I am very anxious to vote for any measure
which will secure the building of a Pacific railroad."
On a proposed amendment, namely, "And no mort
gage, or construction bonds, shall ever be issued by
said company on said road, or mortgage or lien made
in any way except to the United States," Mr. Chandler
remarked,9 "I want this road built, and whether it be
built on stocks or not is immaterial to me, so that the
road itself be built .... Sir, this proposition is an
absurdity upon its face. No railroad ever was built
or in my judgment ever will be completed without
the power of borrowing money.10
8. Ibid., 2nd Sess. 36th Cong., p. 609.
9. Ibid., 2nd Sess. 36th Cong., p. 617.
10. The matter was compromised by an amendment proposed
by Mr. Chandler and agreed to by the Senate, "No
mortgage or construction bonds shall ever be issued by
said company on said road until thirty million dollars
shall have been subscribed and expended." Globe, 2nd
Sess. 36th Cong., p. 638.

CIVIL WAR BEGINS 57
As rebellion advanced during the spring of 1861
Mr. Chandler "was furious over the state of inactivity
which prevailed. He urged President Lincoln to
arrest Breckenridge, Wigfall and other traitors who
were making disloyal speeches in Congress.""11 Radical
pressure on General Scott and the Administration re
sulted in the Battle of Bull Run. Senators Chandler
and Wade and Sergeant-at-Arms Brown of the Senate,
were so anxious to see the rebels whipped that they
proceeded to the scene of conflict in a carriage, and
when the battle began to turn against the Union arms
they leaped from their carriages and with pistols
drawn attempted to halt the panic stricken soldiers. 1£
Undaunted by the defeat at Bull Run, Senators Wade,
Chandler and Trumbull called upon the President
October 26 and "earnestly represented to him the
importance of immediate action.13 Two days later
they had another conference with the President and
Mr. Seward, at the house of the latter. . ..They
called upon Gen. McClellan also and in the course of
an animated conversation, Mr. Wade said an un
successful battle was preferable to delay; a defeat
would be easily repaired by the swarming recruits ....
McClellan represented Gen. Scott as the obstacle to
immediate action, and skilfully diverted the zeal of
the Senators against the General-in-Chief." At 1.15
a. m. the next morning McClellan wrote: "For the
11. C. E. Hamlin, Hannibal Hamlin, p. 397.
12. A letter written a dav later by A. G. Riddle is given in
Riddle, B. F. Wade, p. 244, note. See also, Cox,
Three Decades, p. 158 and Riddle, Recollections jtf War
Times, p. 45.
13. Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, IV, 467.

5S ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
last three .hours I have been at Montgomery Blair's,
talking with Senators Wade, Chandler and Trumbull
about war matters. They will make a desperate effort
to-morrow to have Gen. Scott retired at once. . . . "14
On December 5, 1861 Mr. Chandler offered a reso
lution in the Senate to appoint a committee of three
to inquire into the disasters of Bull Run and Edward's
Feny, with power to send for persons and papers.15
The resolution of Mr. Chandler was debated and he
accepted the substitute of Mr. Grimes,16
"Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representa
tives concurring), That a joint committee of three
members of the Senate, and four members of the
House of Representatives, be appointed to inquire
into the conduct of the present war, and that they
have the power to send for persons and papers, and to
sit during the sessions of either House of Congress."
The Senate agreed to this resolution by a vote of 33
to 3 and thus was inaugurated the famous "Smelling
Committee," or "Committee on the Conduct of the
War." The first meeting of this Committee was held
December 20, 1861, the day after the House had ap
pointed its members. On motion of Mr. Chandler it
was agreed to at once to proceed with an investigation
into the disaster of the first battle of Bull Run. The
function of the Committee was to inquire into the con
duct of the war and to bring out facts which would
enable the President and the Cabinet to administer
more effectively and enable Congress to legislate more
14. McClellan's Own Story, p. 171.
15. Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 16.
16. Cong. Glebe, 2nd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 32.

CIVIL WAR BEGINS 59
intelligently. This Committee also investigated the
disaster to the Union arms at Ball's Bluff, the failure of
the Red River expedition under Banks, the Fort
Pillow massacre, the conduct of Fremont in adminis
tering affairs in the Western Department, the failure
of the attack on Petersburg, in July, 1864, the trade
in military districts, the treatment of prisoners in
Southern prisons, "Rebel Barbarities" — in fact, the
field of their activity was wide and their labors were
untiring. They examined hundreds of witnesses and
published huge volumes of testimony. Whether, upon
the whole, the influence of the Committee made for
good or evil is perhaps a debatable question. Certain
it is that at the time public opinion was divided upon
the point. The Senate was represented on this Com
mittee by Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio, Zachariah
Chandler of Michigan and Andrew Johnson of Tennes
see — all radicals. Wade, Chandler and Andrew John
son were particularly lacking in the judicial tempera
ment. They were narrow-minded and bitter partisans.
Mr. Chandler regarded Benjamin Butler as a spotless
hero and General McClellan as a traitor secretly
pledged to Southern rebels. The findings of such
men in a time of intense national excitement were
necessarily biased and prejudiced.
17. Some of the testimony on this subject was gruesome.
One witness testified the Southerners opened the graves
of Northern soldiers, boiled the flesh from the bones and
used "Yankee shin-bones" for drum-sticks. Report,
part III, p. 476.
18. Testimony taken before the Committee upon such a point,
for example, as the causes for the failure of the Red River
expedition, in 1864, was conflicting. The present writer
does not care to say that the finding of the Committee

60 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
The inactivity of McClellan during the fall and
winter of 1861 and 1862 and his scarcely concealed
contempt for "these wretched politicians" as he called
them, made them his bitter enemies. The failure of
the Peninsular campaign gave the radicals the op
portunity they desired. On July 16, 1862, Mr.
Chandler delivered before the Senate19 a scathing
criticism upon McClellan's generalship — a criticism
written, according to rumor, by Secretary Stanton.25
The removal of McClellan and the promotion of Pope
brought the disastrous second battle of Bull Run.
Mr. Chandler expressed his sentiments to Mr. Trum
bull in the following letter marked "confidential."
"Detroit, Sept. 10th, 1862.
"My Dear Sir?1
"It is treason rank [?] treason call it by what name
you will, that has caused our late disasters, jealousy
and discontent at the removal of McClellan & pro
motion of Pope will be the cause assigned but when
ruin, death & the probable destruction of the Govt.
is the effect of disobedience of orders treason is the
cause. I fear nothing will ever serve us but a demand
of the loyal Governors backed by a threat, — that a
was right here and wrong there. From an examination
of the personnel of the Committee, however, we may
perhaps arrive at an approximate estimate of the accuracy
of their conclusions. For an elaborate and bitter ar
raignment of the Committee one may consult the Joy
Pamphlet as given in the Detroit Free Press, Jan. 10, 1863.
19. Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 37th Cong., pp. 3386-3392.
20. Free Press, August 5, 1862. Not that the writer believes
the rumor, though Stanton may have supplied some of
the ideas expressed on the military strategy of McClellan -
21. MS letter, Trumbull papers.

CIVIL WAR BEGINS 61
change of policy & men shall instantly be made. Are
they up to the work? The Northwest is but what are
we to expect from New England. Has she ever stood
up to the work in Congress. This seems to. me the
last hope. Your President is unstable as water, if
he has as I suspect, been bullied by those traitor
Generals how long will it be before he will by them be
set aside & a military dictator22 set up. McClellan's
Army is totally demoralized & ready for anything but
fighting, it will not fight under its present Com
manders, the Material is good & the Men will fight if
reorganized and properly handled. The Army of the
Northwest is not so bad, but if Buell is kept in com
mand thirty days longer I fear it will be even worse.
For God and the country's sake, send someone to stay
with the President who will control and hold him. I
do not despair but my only hope is in the Lord and I
don't believe he will let us be destroyed.
"Very truly yours,
"Z. CHANDLER."
The fire-eaters of the Northwest, knowing nothing
of the art of war, having a supreme contempt for West
Point training23 and constantly underrating the
strength of the Southern armies were to some extent
at least responsible for the premature battles, constant
change of commanders, and disastrous defeats of the
Union arms. Acting through the Committee on the
Conduct of the War, they did injury and injustice to
22. Illegible.
23. See Mr. Chandler's speech in the Senate on West Point,
delivered Dec. 23, 1861 {Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 37th
Cong., pp. 164-65).

62 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
able and conscientious generals. And yet it was the
courage, patriotism and absolute faith of the radicals
of the Northwest in the ultimate victory of the Union
arms that nerved the Administration in the face of
the most appalling defeats to still greater efforts to
subjugate the South. Mr. Chandler never doubted
but that the war could be ended at any time within
thirty or sixty days.24 No defeat daunted him. No
disaster caused his courage or zeal to flag. On every
proposition to sustain the Administration with money
and men he voted "yea." That he was narrow,
prejudiced and often unjust in his judgments must
be admitted. That his interference in military matters
and his intermeddling with the affairs of men more
capable within their spheres than he, is no doubt true.
But it was the indomitable will, splendid courage and
patriotic fervor of the little band of the Northwestern
radicals that caused the war to be prosecuted with
such unflagging zeal, that prevented concessions or
compromises with slavery and helped to make this
land what it is today.
The policy of confiscating rebel property was heartily
supported by Mr. Chandler. He refused to vote for
the bill of June 30, 1862, on the ground that it was
"utterly worthless." But the more stringent measure
of July 12 received his support. He took an active
part in the debates on the Tax bill of 1862, and in all
financial discussions proved his shrewdness as a busi
ness man.

24. See, for example, his speech in the Senate, Feb. 12, 1862
{Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 774).

CHAPTER VIII
The Campaign of 1862 in Michigan and Mr.
Chandler's Second Election to the
United States Senate
^PHE Senatorial election of January, 1859, resulted in
the retirement of Charles E. Stuart, Democrat,
and the election of Kinsley S. Bingham, Republican,
to the United States Senate. Mr. Bingham died
October 5, 1861, and the question of his successor be
came at once a matter of interest to the politicians.
Jacob M. Howard, Isaac P. Christiancy, Hezekiah G.
Wells and Austin Blair were all candidates for the
place. Mr. Chandler was particularly anxious that
Howard should not be elected. Mr. Howard was a
Detroit man and with both Senators from Detroit
there was danger that the locality argument would be
used effectively against the re-election of Mr. Chandler
in 1863. Early in November, 1862, Mr. Howard,
doubtless through Mr. Chandler's influence, was ten
dered the appointment of Minister to Honduras.1
Mr. Howard, however, refused to be exiled to Hon
duras to promote the political prospects of Senator
Chandler and declined the offer.2 According to the
Free Press, Chandler then threw his influence in favor
of H. G. Wells of Kalamazoo.3 The contest finally
1. Free Press, November 9, 1861.
2. Free Press, November 16, 1861.
3. Free Press, January 4, 1862.

CI ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
narrowed down to a fight between Governor Blair,
J. M. Howard and H. G. Wells. Blair was a radical
of the Chandler type but there was a constitutional
objection to his election. In the end Howard was
ehosen, and this result was not unnatural, for the con
servative influence had -been growing in strength and
Howard was regarded as more conservative than either
Chandler or his candidate Wells. His election was
heralded by the Democrats as a Conservative victory
and as a portent of the defeat of Chandler in 1863.4
Once elected, however, he became as radical as the
"Great Blood-letter" himself.
Howard was a scholarly man, a polished orator, an
excellent constitutional lawyer and a highly respected
citizen. His relations with the "rough and ready"
Zachariah Chandler, although amicable enough, were
not congenial. Howard cared nothing about "the
offices" and, as Chandler cared a great deal about
them, the distribution of the federal patronage was
controlled by Chandler.
During his first term in the Senate, Chandler used
the federal patronage to entrench himself in power.
He gained control of the machinery of the Republican
party in Michigan and used it to further his political
interests. When the Democratic State Central Com
mittee wrote to the Republican State Central Com
mittee proposing a Union Convention to nominate
candidates for the Legislature in 1862, they found the
radical Republican element in control and the prop
osition was declined.5

4. Free Press, January 11, 1863, quoting State papers.
5 . The correspondence is given in the Free Press, Sept. 6, 1 862 .

JACOB M. HOWARD

SECOND ELECTION TO U. S- SENATE 65
The breach between the radical and the conser
vative elements in the Republican party which was
disclosed in the Senatorial campaign of 1862 widened
as the months went by. In spite of the refusal of the
Republican State Central Committee to join the Demo
crats in a Union Convention, the Democrats began to
call themselves "Union Democrats" and "Fusionists."
By this they hoped to gain the support of conservative
Republicans who opposed Chandler and the radical
policy. In this they met with some success, for con
servative Republicans had to choose between the
Democratic party, calling itself the Union party but
repudiated by the regular Republican organization,
and the Republican party dominated by the radicals,
which stigmatized the Union movement as "fire-in-the-
rear Democracy."
During the campaign of 1862 Zachariah Chandler
was the personification of radical Republicanism in
Michigan. His reelection to the United States Senate
was the most prominent issue in the campaign. "Let
every man running for the Legislature be questioned
by the voters as to whether he will, under any cir
cumstances, vote for Chandler. Whoever declines to
say 'no' ought to be beaten at the polls," cried his
opponents.6 The Democrats were well aware that the
Republican candidates could not answer "no." Mr.
Chandler's agents had been busy in township caucuses
and county and legislative district conventions. They
had seen to it that only Chandler men received Re
publican nominations for the Legislature. By 1862
Mr. Chandler owned the Republican organization from
6. Free Press, November 1, 1862.
9

66 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
the State Central Committee down to the most obscure
caucus. In the slang phrase of the day, "Zachariah
Chandler carried the Republican organization in his
breeches' pockets." His power was due in part to his
control over the federal patronage and to a judicious
use of money, but it rested upon a solid basis of popular
support. The Republicans of Michigan regarded him
as one who "stood like a lion in the path of the 'fire-
in-the-rear' traitors who have labored to damn the
fair fame of Michigan for loyalty and patriotism in the
war for national existence."7
The campaign of 1862 in Michigan cannot be called
an "educative" campaign. Ridicule and abuse were
greatly relied upon by both sides. No distinct issue,
other than the reelection of Mr. Chandler, divided the
parties. Mr. Chandler, as a leading member of the
Committee on the Conduct of the War, was denounced
for the defeats of the Union arms and assailed as the
author of the "Blood letter." On September 17,
1862, Mr. Chandler wrote to Lyman Trumbull,8
"I want you to give me as much of the month of
October as possible. I am all right if we carry the
State, but the Browning-Cowan faction are trying to
get up an anti-confiscation, no-party union with the
Locos. We shall take solid [?] ground upon Con
fiscation & the use of all the elements which God and
Nature have placed in our hands to crush the Re
bellion. Come directly to my house. I will pay all
expenses." 7. Port Huron Press, as quoted in Detroit Advertiser and
Tribune, November 14, 1862.
8. MS letter, Trumbull Papers, Library of Congress.

SECOND ELECTION TO U- S. SENATE 67
The Republicans denounced fusion as "secession in
disguise" and advocated a vigorous prosecution of the
war. The battle of Antietam and the publication of
the Emancipation Proclamation were hailed with joy
by the radicals and undoubtedly helped them to carry
the election. On November 9, Mr. Chandler wrote
to a close friend, Charles T. Gorham, of Marshall,
Calhoun County, Michigan: "Detroit, Nov. 9th, 1862.
"Hon. Chas. T. Gorham,
"My Dear Sir: You have done nobly in Calhoun.
I wish I could say so much for Wayne, but here we have
had Secret Conservatism, Democracy & the Devil to
contend with & they [?] were too much for -us. The
Catholic Church was solid against us and at least
4-5ths of the Episcopal. Still we were never so strong
in the State as we are to-day. If the President will
now order on the columns and close the war before
spring as he can there will be no resurrection for Secret
Sympathizers or Conservatives after the soldiers return.
I go to Washington tomorrow evening & I shall express
my views mildly to Father Abraham. Shall be absent
only a week. Very truly- yours ,
"Z. Chandler."
When the Legislature met in January, 1863, the
first business was the election of a Senator. The Re
publican press argued that since the reelection of
Senator Chandler was the main issue in the election
of 1862, the result of the election was to be interpreted

68 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
as expressing the popular will that Mr. Chandler
should again be sent to the Senate.9 Mr. Chandler
was on hand in Lansing personally directing his sub
ordinates and superintending his interests. His lobby
was immense, including nearly every federal office
holder in the State from the army of collectors and
assessors to petty postmasters from the rural districts.
The nomination of Mr. Chandler by an open unani
mous vote upon the first informal ballot in the Re
publican caucus10 is most convincing evidence of his
political power and the efficiency of his political
methods.11 James F. Joy of Detroit, a conservative Republican
and a boyhood friend of Mr. Chandler, was nominated
by the Fusionists. Mr. Joy was not present in Lansing.
He did not want the nomination and though he could
not decline it until after the election, owing to the lack
of telegraphic communication between Detroit and
Lansing, he undoubtedly would have done so if it had
been possible. He had written an "Address to the
Legislature"12 which, piinted in pamphlet form, was
9. Advertiser and Tribune, January 6, 1863.
10. Free Press, Jan. 9, 1863, The Advertiser and Tribune, Jan.
10, said : " It is safe to affirm that at least in the North
ern States no man was ever sent to Washington as Sen
ator by a unanimous vote upon the first informal
caucus ballot."
11. The Free Press, Jan. 7, 1863, states that Mr. Chandler was
so confident of his reelection that he shipped the cham
pagne for his Senatorial dinner to Lansing before the
Republican caucus had even met to nominate him.
Whether true or not, this story might just as well be true
so far as Mr. Chandler's confidence in his reelection is
concerned.
12. This address is printed in full in the Free Press, January
10, 1863.

SECOND ELECTION TO U. S. SENATE 69
laid upon the desks of members of the Legislature the
morning of the Senatorial election. In this he charged
Mr. Chandler and the radicals with unduly meddling
in military affairs and thereby causing the failure of
the Peninsular campaign and other defeats of the
Union armies. He arraigned Mr. Chandler for al
lowing his organ, the Detroit Advertiser, to accept a
challenge from the Free Press to make the reelection
of Mr. Chandler to the Senate the issue in the cam
paign of 1862.
The radicals gave the conservatives no time to allow
the arguments in this pamphlet to exert an influence
on the members of the Legislature. Through adroit
parliamentary tactics,13 which included a vigorous use
of the previous question, the Senatorial election was
pushed through both houses by the Republican ma
jority without delay14 and on January 8, the ^second
day of the session, the Legislature, in joint convention
declared Zachariah Chandler elected to the United
States Senate for another term of six years.
13. For an interesting account of these, see letter from Lansing
Correspondent ill Free Press, January 13, 1863.
14. The vote in the House was —
Chandler 60
Jas. F. Joy 34
S. L. Withey 1

60 to 35
The vote in the Senate was —
Chandler 18
Joy 11
Felch 2
Wells 1
18 to 14

CHAPTER IX
In the Senate, 1863 and 1864
^PHE bill to provide a national currency based on
United States bonds received Mr. Chandler's
hearty support. On February 11, 1863, he said in the
Senate:1 " This is a part of the great financial question
which is in my judgment the great question in the
conduct of the war. If we can keep our finances
sound, if we can create a demand for our bonds, if we
can keep our Treasury supplied, we know and all the
world knows, that we can put down this rebellion.
If our finances fail, the nation fails. I believe that all
there is in this bill is good. In the first place, if it
accomplishes anything, it produces a demand for your
Government securities .... Again, it supplies you with
a better currency than the local banks now furnish.
lt furnishes the people with a currency based upon
United States stocks, whereas the circulation of the
New England banks is based upon nothing  I had
hoped that the New England banks and the other
eastern banks that have been flooding the West with
their paper for some years past, would be sufficiently
patriotic to come in and take these bonds .... Sir, it
is true  that they do send their circulation out
west; and we do not thank them for it. . . .We prefer
that the Government should occupy this vacuum
which is to-day filled by these Eastern banks. This
1. Globe, 3rd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 877.

IN U. S. SENATE 1863-64 71
is a question of whether you will legislate for a few
petty banks in New England or whether you will
legislate for the preservation of this great nation.
That is the question you are voting on now. Sir, I
will sacrifice banks and negroes and everything else to
save this nation; and I trust the Senate is equally
patriotic." As a Western business man, Mr. Chandler had
suffered from the flood of bank paper, much of it from
New England, which circulated in his State. In sup
porting this bill he was not only working for the
Union, but more particularly he was the champion
of the debtor Northwest against the banking interests
of the Northeast. The Detroit Advertiser and Tribune,
June 21, 1864 said: "Last Saturday was pay-day for
the employees of the Advertiser and Tribune  the
bills of 66 State banks were employed in the payment
of not quite $400.00. The only Michigan bill was a
Michigan Insurance 'one.' With very few exceptions
each bank was represented by but one bill."
In urging the passage of the Currency bill the paper
continued : " Let us have the uniform National system
 Let us no longer be compelled to remember from
whom it was we received each bill in our possession or
to rush to our bankers with each half dozen bills we
take to ascertain their genuineness and value or to
deposit them lest they should spoil upon our hands."
Mr. Chandler favored a prohibition tax by the
National Government upon State bank note circula
tion2 and opposed State and local taxation of bank
2. Globe, 3rd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 929.

72 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
stocks invested in United States bonds.3 Upon the
constitutional question involved he said: "Sir, I have
not got the Constitution on the brain .... I believe that
it is constitutional to do whatever is requisite to save
the Constitution and the Government."
On February 19, 1863, Mr. Chandler introduced a
bill4 to provide for the collection of abandoned property
in insurrectionary districts, for the purchase of staples
— cotton — by Treasury agents and the prevention of
frauds in connection with property captured or bought
in the Southern States by officers in the Army, Navy
or Treasury Department. During the debate on this
bill Mr. Chandler defended General Butler against
a charge brought by Senator Davis that he, Butler,
had connived with his brother to seize abandoned
property in Louisiana for private gain.5 To an ob
jection that the bill was unjust to rebels and uncon
stitutional Mr. Chandler replied:0 "A rebel has sacri
ficed all his rights. He has no right to life, liberty or
the pursuit of happiness."
The following letter was written by Mr. Chandler
to Lyman Trumbull:7 "Detroit, August 6th, 1863.
"Hon. Lyman Trumbull,
"My Dear Sir:
' 'We have in my judgment reached the critical period
of the war. Had Meade captured Lee's artillery as
I think he should have done, the fighting would have

3. Globe, 1st Sess. 38th Cong., p. 1872.
4. Globe, 3rd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 1090.
5. Feb. 27, 1863, Globe, 3rd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 1334.
6. Globe, 3rd Sess. 37th Cong., p. 1338.
7. MS letter, Trumbull Papers, Library of Congress.

IN U. S. SENATE 1863-64 73
been ended, or in other words the last great battle' of
the war would have been fought. Now we must fight
one more tremendous battle & if we are successful the
bubble will burst. Are we quite ready? The Slavery
question is settling itself with great rapidity. Every
negro regiment of a thousand men presents just one
thousand unanswerable arguments against the revoca
tion of the President's proclamation & every fight
wherein a negro regiment distinguishes itself by
desperate valour as at Port Hudson and  [?] adds
fourfold to their number and weight. Our armies are
greatly reduced by the returning 9 mos. & two years
men so much so that I am not quite sure the enemy
may not mass his forces & give us a repulse in some
quarter although I trust we shall guard against them.
I don't anticipate much activity during the month of
August anywhere unless a battle should be precipitated
at or near Culpepper, which I do not anticipate, in the
meantime the draft is going on. Our broken regiments
are filled up & negro brigades & divisions are being
added with great rapidity. Stanton assured me 4
weeks ago to-day that we should have 100,000 negro
troops in the field within 60 days from that date. I
have little fear that the President will recede. He is
stubborn as a mule when he gets his back up & it is
up now on the proclamation. Seward & Weed are
shaky [?] but this peculiar trait of stubbornness
(which annoyed us so much 18 months ago) is now
our Salvation. I shall remain here during this month
& should be glad to see you here, present my kind
regards to Mrs. Trumbull & believe me
"Very truly yours,
"Z. Chandler."

74 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
In September8 Mr. Chandler went to Ohio to stump
the State. A. G. Riddle writes:9 "I met Senator
Chandler at Painesville early in September and he
offered to accompany me. He had a single well worn
and easy going speech, not very long, which always
closed with a phillipic against England."
The election being over, "Senator Zachariah
Chandler10  having seen in the newspapers a para
graph that Mr. Thurlow Weed and Governor Morgan
had been in consultation with the President in regard
to his message,11 wrote a vehement letter to the Presi
dent telling him that there was a 'patriotic organiza
tion in all the free and border states, containing to-day
over one million of voters, every man of whom is your
friend upon the radical measures of your Administra
tion; but there is not a Seward, Weed or Blair man
among them all. 'How are these men,' he asked
'to be of service to you in any way? They are a
millstone about your neck. You drop them and they
are politically ended forever  Conservatives and
traitors are buried together. For God's sake don't
exhume their remains in your message. They will
smell worse than Lazarus did after he had been buried
seven days.' There was no man slower than Mr.
Lincoln to take personal offence at even the most
indiscreet advice or censure; but he answered this
letter of Mr. Chandler in a tone of unusual dignity
8. The 14th, according to letter of Z. Chandler to C. L. Miller,
Sept. 13, MS letter in State Capitol at Lansing.
9. Riddle, Recollections of War Times, p. 233.
10. Nicolay & Hay, A. Lincoln, A History, VII, 388.
11. The letter was dated Nov. 15, 1863, (note of N. & H.).

IN U. S. SENATE 1863-64 75
and severity.12 'I have seen,' he said, 'Governor
Morgan and Thurlow Weed separately, but not to
gether, within the last ten days; but neither of them
mentioned the forthcoming message or said anything,
so far as I can remember, which brought the thought
of the message to my mind. I am very glad the
elections this autumn have gone favorably and that
I have not by native depravity or under evil influences
done anything bad enough to prevent the good result.
I hope to 'stand firm' enough to not go backward, and
yet not go 'forward enough to wreck the country's
cause.' "
Mr. Lincoln's message of December 8, 1863, was
entirely satisfactory to • Mr. Chandler. John Hay
wrote in his diary,13 "Chandler was delighted." It
was in this message that the President outlined his
plan of reconstruction.
In January, 1864, Mr. Chandler14 spoke against
an amendment to the Enrollment Act to allow com
mutation of military service by a money payment —
"Tf you want $150.00 and do not want men, vote for
the amendment. If you want men, do away with the
exemption entirely and have your men come up or
furnish substitutes. I am opposed to this whole
theory of commutation. The Government wants men
not money."
On April 15, 1864, speaking in favor of the bill to
prohibit speculation in gold15, Mr. Chandler said:
"The price of gold is on the point of Grant's bayonets
12. Dated November 20, 1863.
13. N. and H., Lincoln, IX, 109.
14. Jan. 16, 1864, Globe, 1st Sess. 38th Cong.,.pp. 251-252.
15. April 15, 1864, Globe, 1st Sess. 38th Cong., p. 1644.

76 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
. . .and when Grant strikes the first crushing blow at
Lee, as he certainly will within 60 days from to-day,
you will see such a trouble in gold as the world never
witnessed before  I believe this rebellion is on its
last legs."
Mr. Chandler's enthusiasm for the Northwest some
times led him into amusing and extravagant state
ments. During the debate on the tax bill he said:16
"We have a foreign trade. We have a regular line
from Detroit to Europe. There are just as regular
lines between Detroit and Liverpool as there are be
tween New York and Liverpool only there are not
quite so many of them."
Mr. Chandler's hostility towards rebels was only
exceeded by his hatred of the Copperheads of the
Northwest. On one occasion, while dining with
friends at the National Hotel in Washington, Mr.
Chandler denounced in very strong terms Copperheads
in general and especially those of the West.17 Ac
cording to the newspaper account of the affair, "Voor
hees, of Indiana,18 who was sitting at another table
in company with Hannegan, also of Indiana, arose
from his seat, approached Chandler in an excited
manner demanding whether he referred to him, to
which Chandler replied, 'Who are you, Sir, I don't
know you,' at the same time rising from his chair.
Voorhees replied, 'I am Voorhees, of Indiana,' and
suiting his action to the word, struck Chandler on the
16. May 26, 1864, Globe, 1st Sess. 38th Cong., p. 2494.
17. New York Times, May 27, 1864, (Townsend Library,
XLIV, 459).
18. "Dan" Voorhees, then member of the House of Repre
sentatives.

IN U. S- SENATE 1863-64 77
side of the face. The two then closed, and the Senator
was rapidly getting the better of Voorhees, when
Hannegan came to the latter's assistance with a heavy
milk pitcher, snatched from the table, which he broke
on Chandler's head. The contents of the pitcher
splashed over the whole company. Chandler was
stunned by the blow, and had not fully recovered him
self when Hannegan dealt him a second blow with a
chair. At this juncture parties present interfered,
and the belligerents were separated. Chandler's head
was slightly cut by the pitcher, and his shoulder and
arm considerably bruised by the chair. Though not
able to close his hand, he has been out to-day attending
to his usual duties." Mr. Chandler as well as Mr.
Sumner had to suffer for expressing their opinions too
freely. On June 28, 1864, Mr. Chandler made some char
acteristic remarks19 on an amendment to Senate bill
No. 232 in regard to intercourse with disloyal States:
"I thought that death was a light penalty for licensed
Officers of the Government who furnished the rebels
with military supplies  I do not think three years
is any punishment for a man guilty of such a crime.
I certainly would impose the death penalty and take
from the President in such a case the pardoning power,
if that were possible."
The Congressional plan of reconstruction as em
bodied in the Wade-Davis bill and adopted by Con
gress during the closing hours of the first session of
the 38th Congress, was very near to Mr. Chandler's
heart. His anxiety over the disposition of the bill
19. Cong. Globe, 1st Sess. 38th Cong., p. 3324.

7s ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
by President Lincoln is well told in Nicolay and
Hay's Lincoln — 2-°
"Congress was to adjourn at noon on the Fourth
of July; the President was in his room at the Capitol
signing bills > which were laid before him as they were
brought from the two Houses. When this important
bill (Wade-Davis) was placed before him, he laid it
aside and went on with the other work of the moment.
Several prominent members entered in a state of in
tense anxiety over the fate of the bill. Mr. Sumner
and Mr. Boutwell, while their nervousness was evident,
refrained from any comment. Zachariah Chandler,
who was unabashed in any mortal presence, roundly
asked the President if he intended to sign the bill.
The President replied:21 'This bill has been placed
before me a few moments before Congress adjourns.
It is a matter of too much importance to be swallowed
in that way.' 'If it is vetoed,' cried Mr. Chandler,
'it will damage us fearfully in the Northwest. The
important point is that one prohibiting slavery in the
reconstructed States.' Mr. Lincoln said, 'That is the
point on which I doubt the authority of Congress to
act.' 'It is not more than you have done yourself,'
said the Senator. The President answered, 'I con
ceive that I may in an emergency do things on military
grounds which cannot be done constitutionally by
Congress.' Mr. Chandler, expressing his deep chagrin
went out and the President  said  'this bill
and the position of these gentlemen seem to me, in
asserting that the insurrectionary States are no longer
20. N. and H., Lincoln, IX 120-121 „
21. Marginal note in N. and H. reads J . H. Diary.

ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
Prom a daguerreotype in the possession of Mrs. Eugene Hale, Ells
worth, Maine.

IN U. S. SENATE 1863-64 79
in the Union, to make the fatal admission that the
States, whenever they please, may of their own motion
dissolve their connection with the Union.' "
The malcontents in the Republican party who met
in convention at Cleveland, May 31, 1864, and nomi
nated John C. Fremont for President, received no
support from Mr. Chandler. The Cleveland con
vention22 was founded upon issues both conservative
and radical. It was conservative in its denunciation
of the violations of the rights of free speech, free
press and habeas corpus in districts where martial law
had not been proclaimed. With complaints of such
violations Mr. Chandler had little sympathy. He
was radical on every measure for putting down the
rebellion, and infringements upon the constitutional
rights of individuals, if necessary to this end, were
in his opinion not only justifiable but praiseworthy.
The confiscation plank in the Cleveland platform was
radical, but Fremont repudiated it in his letter of
acceptance. The plank for a constitutional amend
ment to prohibit the re-establishment of slavery and
"to secure the equality of all men before the law"
was no more radical than a similar plank in the Balti
more platform, except for the last clause. The Cleve
land men denounced the Administration for "man
aging the war for personal ends." Mr. Chandler was
a practical politician and a firm believer in such a dis
tribution of the patronage as would maintain the Re
publican party in power. Furthermore, Mr. Chandler
was thoroughly identified with the past conduct of
22. For documents pertaining to this convention see Apple-
ton's Annual Encyclopaedia, 1864, p. 786.

80 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
the war — a criticism upon it was a reflection upon him
as well as upon Mr. Lincoln. But above all else, Mr.
Chandler was one of the "ins," not the "outs." He
was receiving a generous share of the federal patronage
from Mr. Lincoln, and thereby strengthening his own
power in Michigan. For him to have cast aside these
advantages and thrown in his lot with a coterie of
discontented men who had nothing to lose and every
thing to gain would have been Quixotic and unwise
and entirely foreign to every political policy and
sentiment upon which Mr. Chandler was eyer known
to act.23
According to the Post and Tribune "Life,"24 Mr.
Chandler induced Fremont to withdraw from the
contest and secured the support of Wade and Davis
23. H. M. Dilla, Politics of Michigan, 1865-1878, p. 35, speaking
of Chandler's attitude towards the Cleveland Convention,
says: "It would be expected from temperament and
past convictions that Chandler would have thrown his
influence with the opponent of Lincoln, in the interest
of a more vigorous prosecution of the war. This was not
the case, however, for he labored steadfastly in behalf of
Lincoln and he was among those who effected the with
drawal of Fremont. The motive for this action is not
evident."
I cannot agree with Miss Dilla on this point. Chandler's
attitude seems to me to have been the natural and in
deed the only possible position for him to take under the
circumstances. So far as I have been able to discover,
the Cleveland Convention received little support from
Michigan Republicans. The Detroit Advertiser and
Tribune opposed it openly and the Free Press gives no
information tending to show a strong movement in its
favor in Michigan. The Free Press, being Democratic,
would naturally show up- the weakness of the Michigan
Republicans if they were actually divided by the Cleve
land Convention.
24. Chapter XV.

IN U. S. SENATE 1863-64 81
for Mr. Lincoln. There is every reason to believe
that Mr. Chandler's influence was potent in healing
the breach in the Republican ranks.
During the campaign Mr. Chandler spoke in Indiana,
Connecticut, New Jersey and New York and made an
extended speaking tour in Michigan. In his own
State he found himself in thorough rapport with the
people. Particularly in the country districts men,
women and children came five, ten and even twenty
miles to hear him, and it was no unusual thing, par
ticularly in the new counties in the northwestern part
of the State, for stores to close, sawmills to shut down,
farm labor to be suspended and almost the whole
population to turn out to the Republican meetings.25
The result of the election was a Republican victory
in Michigan. Lincoln received26 79,149 votes ex-
lucsive of a "soldiers vote" of 9,402; McClellan re
ceived 68,513 exclusive of a "soldiers vote" of 2,959.
25. Advertiser and Tribune, Oct. 29, 1864.
26. Michigan Manual.
11

CHAPTER X
The Years 1865-66
"JWTR. Chandler's hatred of Great Britain fell little
short of a mild form of mania on the subject.
For years, upon the stump and in the Senate, he never
failed to "twist the lion's tail," upon every possible
occasion. He attacked Great Britain for issuing the
Neutrality Proclamation, for lax enforcement of her
neutrality laws in the matter of Confederate cruisers,
and for harboring rebels in Canada and allowing raids
across the border into the territory of the United
States. There was in fact considerable uneasiness in Detroit
during the war over the possibility of an attack upon
the city by the Confederates and their sympathizers
living just across the river in Windsor, Canada, and no
doubt Mr. Chandler shared in the feeling. But Mr.
Chandler was by nature an intense partisan. In de
fending Michigan he would revile New England and
New York; in defending the North he would castigate
the South; as a loyal Republican he would flay Copper
heads, and as. an American he took delight in berating
Great Britain. As a stump speaker Mr. Chandler
relied in large measure upon vituperation and a certain
rough, coarse humor. He was a powerful man physi
cally, as tall as Lincoln and in his later years con
siderably heavier. He possessed tremendous nervous
energy and when he spoke to a political audience he

THE YEARS 1865-66 83
used every ounce of it. In denouncing the sins of
Great Britain he was at his best, and the flood of
vituperation and abuse that he poured forth was
laughed at and highly enjoyed by the majority of his
constituents. We demand rather more refinement
in our political speeches to-day, but fifty years ago
Zachariah Chandler was one of the most effective
stump speakers in the Northwest.
It is possible that Mr. Chandler had a political
motive: he may have hoped to divert attention from
party dissensions at home by attacking a foreign
power and again giving the Republican party an op
portunity to call itself the party of patriots and stig
matize its opponents as traitors to their country.
But after all, it seems to have been with him a sort of
mania. As early as June 16, 1864, in a speech in the Senate,
Mr. Chandler declared:1 "If I had my way, I would
raise a wall of fire between this nation and Great
Britain  She -has sent out cruisers, English ships,
built of English timber, manned with Englishmen,
provisioned with English provisions, sailing under
British colors, to prey upon our commerce, until she
has virtually driven it from the face of the earth. Sir,
I am prepared to-day to say to Great Britain, 'Pay that
bill, principal and interest, or there shall be no com-
merical intercourse between you and us until that bill
is paid,' and if she did not pay the bill, and England
.got into war with any power on earth, I do not care if
it was the King of Dahomey, I would let loose a fleet
of fast sailing steamers that should make her drink the
1. Globe, 1st Sess. 38th Cong., p. 3008.

84 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
cup to the dregs  I would let private individuals
take out letters of marque, and I would let them
drive the English flag from the seas as she has driven
ours." The report of the release of the St. Albans raiders
by the Canadian authorities, for want of jurisdiction,
was published in the newspaper, December 14, 1864.
Mr. Chandler that same morning, introduced two
resolutions2 in the Senate which for undiplomatic
language could hardly be exceeded. The first one
read: "Whereas  the people of the British Provinces
seem disposed to protect these thieves, robbers, in
cendiaries, pirates and murderers, not only in their
individual capacity but by the quibbles of the law:
Therefore, Resolved, That the Committee on Military
Affairs be directed to inquire into the expediency of
immediately enlisting an Army Corps to watch and
defend our territory bordering on the lakes."
Objection being made, Mr. Chandler offered a sec
ond resolution, which after a long preamble instructed
the Secretary of State to compute the damages due
from Great Britain for allowing the Confederate
cruisers to escape, and to "demand" from the British
Government payment in full with interest at 6%.
Upon the subject of retaliation upon rebel prisoners
for cruelties suffered by Union soldiers in Southern
prisons, Mr. Chandler was radical. His colleague in
the Senate, J. M. Howard, introduced a bill upon the
subject and on January 30, 1865, Mr. Chandler spoke
in favor of it — 3
~~2 Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 38th Cong., p. 33-34.
3. Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 38th Cong., p. 496-497.

THE YEARS 1865-66 85
"I shall vote for this measure of retaliation, and
for any measure of retaliation that promises to be
effective. Ay, Sir, I will carry it to the point of
starvation  I will carry it to the stake and I will
carry it to any extent that is necessary to preserve the
lives of those helpless and suffering prisoners now
dying by thousands in the hands of these accursed,
hellish rebels."
No doubt the testimony before the Committee on
the Conduct of the War on the subject of the treat
ment accorded Union soldiers in Southern prisons and
elsewhere had much to do in arousing an intense de
sire for retaliation in Chandler and Wade. Upon this
point Chandler said:4 "The Committee on the Con
duct of the War has been laboring for years to induce
the Administration to adopt the system of retaliation;
but the labor has been fruitless. A year ago, when
that committee was directed to investigate the con
dition of the returned prisoners then arriving at
Annapolis, we found that language failed to convey
to the mind a correct idea of the condition of these
men, and we were compelled, in order to give even
an approximate idea of the treatment our prisoners
had received, to have photographs5 of those skeletons
before the people of the United States, that they might
realize the barbarities that had been perpetrated upon
them. We then hoped and believed that the Ad
ministration would adopt, and adopt immediately, a
4. Globe, 2nd Sess. 38th Cong., p. 496.
5. For these pictures see Report of Committee on the Con
duct of the War, House Report, No. 67, 1st Sess. 38th
Cong.

86 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
system of retaliation that would prove efficacious.
In that hope we were disappointed."
Sumner, Wilson, Trumbull and other radicals op
posed Mr. Howard's bill. Mr. Chandler pronounced
Mr. Sumner's substitute6 "a sublimated specimen of
humanitarianism. "7
In February the joint resolution to recognize the
State of Louisiana came up in the Senate.8 The
radicals were divided on the measure but Sumner,
Wade and Chandler were able by dilatory motions to
defeat its passage.
After the assassination of President Lincoln, some
of the members of the Committee on the Conduct
of the War called upon President Johnson who assured
them that in his opinion treason was a crime that
must be made odious, traitors must be punished and
impoverished, and loyal men must be remunerated
from the pockets of those who had brought on the re
bellion.9 Such sentiments delighted Mr. Chandler
and his associates. Andrew Johnson had served with.
Mr. Chandler on the Committee on the Conduct of
the War, and they had long been political and personal
6. Sumner's amendment to the joint resolution advising
retaliation for the cruel treatment of prisoners by the
insurgents would strike out all after the resolving clause
of the resolution and insert the following: " 
That any attempted imitation of rebel barbarism in the
treatment of prisoners. .. .being. .. .impracticable, use
less, immoral and degrading, it must be rejected as a
measure of retaliation. ..."
Globe, 2nd Sess. 38th Cong., p. 381..
7. Cong. Globe, 2nd Sess. 38th Cong., p. 496-497.
8. Upon this, see Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, IX, 454.
9. Speech in Detroit, Nov. 3, 1866. See Detroit Post, Nov.
5, 1866.

THE YEARS 1865-66 87
friends. Mr. Chandler loved a friend and hated an
enemy with singular blindness to the faults of the "one
and the merits of the other. He was slow to turn
against his former friend Andrew Johnson. All through
the Session of 1865-66 Mr. Chandler, although he
voted with the radicals, maintained silence upon the
important measures of reconstruction which were de
bated in the Senate. As early as May 2, 1865, the
Free Press commented upon the silence of Sumner,
Wade and Chandler. In January, 1866, 10 the same
paper announced that "the secret of his [Chandler's]
remaining so quiet in the Senate thus far was that
he had abandoned the radical faction and was a warm
Johnson man." Whether from political or personal
considerations, Mr. Chandler does not seem to have
been a leader of the radical anti-Johnson men, until
the winter of 1866-67.
January 15, 1866, he made a violent speech11 against
Great Britain and offered a resolution requesting the
President to withdraw our Minister from the Court
of St. James and to make national proclamation of
non-intercourse on account of the refusal of that
Government to make reparation for damages inflicted
upon our commerce. This resolution met with con
siderable ridicule from the newspapers. The Chicago
Tribune headed an editorial upon it, "Senator Chand
ler's Joke." Mr. Chandler in reply12 wrote a letter
to the editors which closed :

10. Free Press, Jan. 6, 1866.
11. Cong. Globe, 1st Sess. 39th Cong., pp. 226-227.
12. For this whole matter see New York Herald Feb. 3, 1866.
(Townsend Library, LXIV, 318).

** ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
"In conclusion, Messrs. Editors, I would say that
if this be a 'joke,' I am of the opinion that Great
Britain will find it a serious one. If she does not pay
the bills, I shall push the matter this year, next year
and the year following and if I die before these bills
are paid in full, satisfactorily adjusted or retaliated
for, I shall die pressing these claims, and shall leave
as a legacy to my descendants and successors the
charge to prosecute until the claims are paid."
Sumner's resolution of protest against the practice
of pardoning criminals abroad on conditions that they
emigrate to the United States called forth from Chand
ler some characteristic remarks :13
"If the Senator from Massachusetts would put
anything that was effective into his resolution I
should not object to it; as, for instance, if he would
declare that a repetition of these acts would be a just
cause of war, or that we would retaliate, or something
more than a simple protest by Congress  That
will do for a Secretary of State ; it will do for one of the
servants of this Government; but it is beneath the
dignity of this body to pass such a resolution."
Much of Chandler's work in the Senate was con
nected with the Committee on Commerce. He was
for years the Chairman of that important Committee,
and as a Western man his influence was always thrown
in favor of a broad interpretation of the interstate
commerce clause of the Constitution. On March 20,
1866, he spoke14 at length in favor of a bill to grant a
monopoly to induce a company to lay an Atlantic
13. Mar. 19, 1866. Globe, 1st Sess. 39th Cong., p. 1493.
14. Cong. Globe, 1st Sess. 39th Cong., p. 1518.

THE YEARS 1865-66 89
cable between the United States and the West Indies.
To an objection that Congress had no constitutional
power to grant such a monopoly, Mr. Chandler re
plied: "This constitutional objection seems to me
very puerile. The Constitution confers on Congress
the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations,
and among the several States and with the Indian
tribes.15 I should like to know how we can better
exercise the power to regulate commerce than by
regulating our telegraphic lines with foreign nations."
Tn still another instance, during the year 1866, Mr.
Chandler championed a liberal interpretation of the
power of Congress under the interstate commerce
clause of the Constitution. A bill was before the
Senate to build- a ship-canal around the falls of Niagara.
A majority of the Committee on Commerce were
opposed to asserting the right of the United States to
act without permission from the State of New York.
Michigan and the Northwest wanted the Niagara
canal built to give an outlet for their commerce. New
York opposed it because it would take traffic from the
Erie Canal. Mr. Chandler said: "I believe the
Government possesses the power to regulate commerce
as it sees fit between States; and I do not believe that
the State of New Jersey or the State of New York or
any other State can raise an obstacle that shall inter
fere with the commercial relations between the other .^.
States of this Union." £#*- ^*»— f* ¦*%^:*J*~fr^J
The liberality of the appropriations for Michigan,
which uniformly appeared in the River and Harbor
bill as it was reported from the Commerce Committee,
15. Globe, 1st Sess. 39th Cong., p. 3456.

90 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
met with a good deal of comment from Mr. Chandler's
colleagues in the Senate. His efforts to obtain ap
propriations for the St. Clair Flats were so persistent
and earnest that "Senator Chandler's St. Clair Flats"
came to be regaided as a standing joke and were often
referred to in debate to raise a laugh at the Senator's
expense. At one time,16 during the debate on the Sundry
Civil Appropriation bill, it was proposed to deprive
Michigan of two lights, one on Isle Royal and another
in Saginaw Bay. Mr. Chandler's speech in opposition
to this is characteristic of his championship of the
commercial interests of Michigan —
"I suppose the Senator is aware (if he is not, I will
inform him) of the fact that Lake Superior is to-day
more rich in minerals, except gold, than California.
We have more silver than California, and I think more
than California and Nevada put together. We have
not dug it all out (laughter) but we are taking out
silver there that yields four' thousand to the ton, and
you consider yourselves very rich when your ore
yields $400. We have the richest mines on earth,
and they are very near to this light, and it is needed
for all the commerce — and it is very great — passing
to and fro — and it is increasing every day."
Mr. Stewart: "I suppose you want a light to find
the silver."
Mr. Chandler: "The light that you now propose
to strike out is the only light on Saginaw bay .... The
commerce of Saginaw bay is perfectly enormous, in
cluding over 400,000,000 feet of lumber alone and some
16. Feb. 28, 1873. Globe, 3rd Sess. 42nd Cong., p. 1955.

THE YEARS 1865-66 91
two or three million barrels of salt, besides an enor-
mous amount of other articles, and this is the only
light you have to the other entrance to the bay."
The Senate succumbed and refused to accept the
amendment striking out the lights.
Mr. Chandler took some part in the debates on the
Tax bill; but as before remarked, though he voted
with the radicals, he kept strangely quiet upon recon
struction issues. Jacob M. Howard, however, was
outspoken in his hostility to President Johnson.
The most prominent issue in the campaign of 1866
in Michigan was that of reconstruction. The Demo
crats and Conservative Republicans endorsed Presi
dent Johnson's policy of immediately admitting into
Congress the Representatives and Senators from
Southern States on the theory that since the Con
stitution did not recognize the right of secession the
Union was still intact and every State within it had a
constitutional right to be represented in Congress.
The Republicans, entirely under the control of the
Radicals, approved Congressional reconstruction and
declared that the Southern States should be entitled
to representation in Congress only after they had
accepted the Fourteenth Amendment, the most ob
jectionable section of which was that the Southern
States should either grant suffrage to the Negro or
suffer a reduction in the number of their Representa
tives proportional to the number of Negroes ex
cluded. 1
The campaign was a strenuous one. The Con
servative Republicans, calling themselves National
Unionists, held a mass convention at Detroit on

92 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
August 9, drew up resolutions endorsing Johnson's
reconstruction policy and elected delegates to the
national convention of the Conservative Republicans
to be held at Philadelphia on August 14. Just a few
days before the Philadelphia Convention the Demo
cratic State Central Committee received notice from
the National Unionists that a double set of delegates
would be welcome at Philadelphia. There being no
time to call a Democratic Convention, the Democratic
State Central Committee took the responsibility of
appointing Democrats to attend the Philadelphia Con
vention. The opposition to the Republicans began to
look formidable. Among the National Union delegates
were such prominent men as James F. Joy and Henry
Barnes, the Detroit editor. The leading man among
the Democratic delegates was Charles E. Stuart,
former United States Senator from Michigan. The
National Unionists and the Democrats differed with
each other upon many questions, including finance,
taxation, and protective tariff, but they were a unit
upon the reconstruction issue. In order to win the
election they agreed to act together. The Democrats
endorsed17 the State ticket nominated by the Michigan
National Unionists and both forces now presented a
solid front to the Republicans.
Mr. Chandler made a vigorous campaign in behalf
of the Republicans and came out flat-footed in op
position to the President. In regard to the question
whether the Southern States were in or out of the
Union, he said:is
17. Detroit Free Press, Sept. 6, 1866.
18. Detroit Post, Nov. 5, 1866.

JOHN ORR
Brother of Margaret (Orr) Chandler. Prom a miniature in the posses
sion of Mrs. Eugene Hale, of Ellsworth, Maine.

THE YEARS 1865-66 93
"The question is rather a mythical one at best.
They occupied a double relation to the Government;
first, they were rebels, and as such were liable to be
hung for treason. Afterwards  the whole people
of the South became alien enemies of the Government
.... we conquered them finally and then held them by
and under the laws of war. Those laws have changed
from age to age .... but have ever, even as late as
July, 1866, permitted the conquerors to levy all the
expenses of the war upon the conquered."
He declared19 that if the Democrats gained the
election the holders of rebel script would so "debauch"
the Democratic Congress that the people would have
the rebel debt to pay. He castigated the "Bread and
Butter"20 men of Michigan without mercy, and called
Seward, who was a leading member of the National
Unionists, morally, physically and intellectually an
imbecile and a coward.21 He approved the Four
teenth Amendment but declared that it did not go far
enough, viz., to extend suffrage and equality to the
Negro.22 He declared that President Johnson and the
Democrats were trying to "deliver the administration
of the Government into the hands of traitors reeking
with the blood of freemen."23 For his part24 he would
rather "trust the liberty of his country in the hands
of the loyal black whose gun was aimed at the enemies
19. Detroit Free Press, Oct. 20, 1866.
20. The epithet applied to the National Unionists by the Re
publicans.
21. Free Press, Oct. 20, 1866.
22. Speech at Lansing, Oct. 18, 1866. Free Press, Oct. 20,
1866.
23. Ibid.
24. Speech at Detroit, Nov. 3, Post, Nov. 5, 1866.

91 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
of his country than in the hands of a grayback traitor
whose gun was pointed at his country."
If an item in the Free Press2i is to be believed, Mr.
Chandler depended upon something besides oratory
to carry the State; it says: "A letter from Jackson
county informs us. of the receipt of circulars from the
Hon. Z. Chandler, asking for the names of Democrats
who are very poor."
Mr. Chandler stumped the State with his old-time
vigor, and the result of the election was that a heavy
Republican majority sanctioned the position of the
radicals.

25. Free Press, Oct. 9, 1866.

CHAPTER XI
Foreign Affairs and Reconstruction
TT is a law of politics that men who enter public
life full of patriotism and enthusiasm for some
great moral issue, once that object is attained, are
not likely to see that new issues have arisen and that
new problems have come to demand solution. They
go on along the old lines. It was so with Zachariah
Chandler. Sent to the Senate to fight slaveholders,
maintain freedom in the Territories and preserve the
Union, the Northwest found in him an able champion.
His very narrowness of vision, bitter partisan spirit
and indomitable courage and energy had prevented
compromise and brought the South to her knees.
But these very qualities so potent for good during the
war were productive of evil after the war. A new issue
was before the nation: How should the Union be re
constructed? Statesmen, men of wisdom and broad
vision were needed to answer this question. Mr.
Chandler had known the bitterness of the conflict
too well, he had fought the Copperheads and rebels
too long to be able to take a statesmanlike position
upon the issues of reconstruction. The men like
Chandler who because of their fierce readiness to fight
had refused compromise and had called forth the
energy of the North to crush the South were now in
capable temperamentally of taking an attitude of
conciliation which the situation seems to have re-

9G ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
quired. So Chandler joined the Radicals and the
Radicals were essentially the "stand-patters" who
never fbrgot that Southerners had been rebels, Demo
crats and Copperheads. The Radicals were intent
on maintaining the Republican party in power though
the price were Negro suffrage and frequeftt violation
\ of rights vested by theA Constitution. vThe Con
servatives were the liberals\ who rose above a desire
for vengeance and sought only to heal the wounds left
by the conflict.
But in reconstruction as in rebellion, Mr. Chandler
was still representative of the spirit of the Northwest.
The crippled veterans in the streets, the vacant places
in the family circles, cried aloud for vengeance. That
ruthless spirit which felled the forests of Michigan
and conquered the wilderness demanded that the last
root and branch of the rebellion be blotted out and
found in Mr. Chandler an able champion of its desires.
There is another phase of Mr. Chandler's career
that deserves special mention, and that is his attitude
toward foreign affairs. His blustering speeches in the
Senate and on the stump were distinctly "jingoistic."
He was constantly offering resolutions in the Senate
couched in undiplomatic and even threatening lan
guage, upon various matters connected with our foreign
policy. It would be difficult to conceive of a man
more unfitted by nature and by training to cope with
the affairs of the State Department, and yet Mr.
Chandler probably made more speeches upon matters
connected with our foreign policy than upon any other
single topic. No doubt the Northwest favored ex
pansion, and probably many of Mr. Chandler's con-

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RECONSTRUCTION 97
stituents believed as he did that the United States was
the greatest nation in the world and could whip the
combined armies of Europe; but that his jingoistic
attitude was representative of the feelings of his con
stituents is hardly true. His popularity in Michigan
was due to the fact that he was "sound on the main
question," and not due to his belligerent attitude on
foreign affairs; and yet even in foreign affairs Mr.
Chandler was but an exaggerated type of the Western
diplomatist. It is characteristic of American diplo
macy to deal frankly, boldly, even bluntly with foreign
nations, and American diplomacy has its. root in the
West, where men are wont to treat their daily diffi
culties in very summary fashion.1
As an illustration of Mr. Chandler's attitude on
reconstruction we will now consider some of his re
marks in the Senate and elsewhere during 1867 and
1868. On December 4, 1866, he spoke2 in favor of a
bill to withdraw from the President the power to
pardon rebels. February 11, 1867, he declared3 that
if Andrew Johnson had violated the law in appointing
provisional governors for the States lately in rebellion,
he should be impeached. A few days later he made
a violent attack4 upon Secretary McCulloch for ap
pointing Assistant Assessors of Internal Revenue in
the Southern States who were unable to take the oath.
In the course of this speech he declared that Secretary
1. See Cornelius O'Dowd (Charles Lever) on "American
Diplomacy," Blackwood's Magazine, December, 1868,
(Vol. 104).
2. Globe, 2nd Sess. 39th Cong., p. 8-9.
3. Globe, 2nd Sess. 39th Cong., p. 1135-6.
4. Feb. 27, 1867. Globe, 2nd Sess. 39th Cong., p. 1884.
13

98 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
McCuUoch was a pauper and a criminal and that he
was ready to say so elsewhere when the protection of
privilege would be lacking. He was active in op
posing adjournment during 1867, believing that it
was unsafe to adjourn long enough for the President
to get control of reconstruction. On September 25,
1867, William Thorpe wrote5 to Andrew Johnson
from Detroit: "The only advocate of impeachment
about here is Senator Z. Chandler, who may be seen
at all hours of the day running after men in the streets
and exhorting them in the most fervent manner."
In a speech at Ashtabula, Ohio,6 on October 1, Mr.
Chandler said that although he voted for the Four
teenth Amendment he believed at the time that it
was a base surrender of the loyal Union men of the
South — "Rebels must take back seats and of course
loyal men must govern this country. I care not
whether they be black or white." On February 21,
1868, a resolution was offered in the Senate simply
expressing disapproval of the action of the President
in removing Secretary Stanton. Mr. Chandler moved7
to add the words "as a violation of the rights of the
Senate and unauthorized by law." The Senate re
fused to agree.
Mr. Chandler of course voted "guilty" on the im
peachment of Andrew Johnson. The story is told8
that as the impeachment trial drew to a close, Mr.
Chandler entered the Senate chamber one morning,
when a friend eagerly asked, "Do tell me, Mr. Chand-
5. MS letter, Johnson Papers, Library of Congress.
6. McPherson's Scrap Book, Campaign of 1867, II, 134-136.
7. Globe, 2nd Sess. 40th Cong., p. 4509.
8. Free Press, May 24, 1868.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RECONSTRUCTION 99
ler, how is it going to-day?" "Go and ask that
d — d scoundrel in the corner; it all depends on him,"
roared the Senator, looking at Ross of Kansas, of
whose defection he had just heard.
In a similar way we may note the evidences of Mr.
Chandler's jingoistic attitude on foreign affairs. De
cember 3, 1866, he offered a resolution in the Senate
in regard to the French troops in Mexico inquiring
whether "the French Emperor has offered any ex
planation or apology for his course."9 Mr. Sumner
having pointed out the undiplomatic character of the
language, the Senate refused to consider the resolution.
On March 25, 1867, Mr. Chandler spoke at length10
on a bill reported from the Committee on Commerce
declaring it legal for citizens of the United States to
sell ships to friendly belligerents. This bill of course
was directed at Great Britain. "Pass this Bill, Sir,"
cried Mr. Chandler, "and I will guarantee you that
Great Britain will be begging for permission to pay
the Alabama claims before three months."
Speaking at a banquet in St. Louis, Missouri, in
June, in regard to the Alabama claims, Mr. Chandler
said :u
"I am not willing to arbitrate with anybody, Mr.
President, the bill must be paid with interest from its
date and there is no discount upon it. And, Sir, I am
disposed to be very liberal with Great Britain. She
is a very old power and she is a very feeble power now.
She has ceased to command the respect of the nations
9. Globe, 2nd Sess. 39th Cong., p. 7-8.
10. Globe, 1st Sess. 40th Cong., p. 328-9.
1 1 . Detroit Post, June 2 1 , 1 867 .

100 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
of the earth  I am willing to take collateral
securities. Great Britain owns a little land up North
tof us and I, Sir, am willing to consider this a first
\rnortgage on the little debt that Great Britain owes.
I do not want it arbitrated. I want to let it rest
until the time comes to foreclose that mortgage....
This North American continent belongs to us and ours
it must be."
In July12 Mr. Chandler made a speech in the Senate
on the Mexican situation. After glorying over the
shooting of Maximilian he exclaimed: "We want
the Austrians, the French and the English to under
stand that if they commence a war against Mexico
now they have got to fight the United States of North
America. Sir, pass a single resolution of sympathy
and aid and no nation will interfere with Mexico ....
All the nations of Europe combined would not under
take to fight the United States to-day on this side of
the Atlantic."
On November 29 Mr. Chandler introduced13 a joint
resolution declarative of the neutrality of the United
States between Great Britain and Abysinia. The
language used was copied verbatim from the pro
clamation of neutrality issued by Great Britain May
14, 1861, except that the "United States" and "Con
federate States" were changed to "Great Britain"
and "Abyssinia."14
On December 9 Mr. Chandler made a speech14 in
support of his resolution, reviewed the grievances of
12. July 3, 1867, Globe, 1st Sess. 40th Cong., p. 507.
13. Globe, 1st Sess. 40th Cong., p. 810.
14. Globe, 2nd Sess. 40th Cong., p. 83-84.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND RECONSTRUCTION 101
the United States against Great Britain, estimated
the damages due to the United States at two billion
dollars, and declared that when the United States
had shut Great Britain from the continent of North
America and the adjacent islands, the debt would be
paid and the national honor satisfied.

CHAPTER XII
Mr. Chandler's Third Election to the United
States Senate
QN August 27, 1868, Mr. Chandler wrote1 to
Jacob M. Howard:
"The Copperheads are at work in earnest and have
some hopes of carrying two or three Congressional
Districts. We are pressed for speakers & I think you
should come home at the earliest possible moment-.
Suppose you give up Minn, until Nov. At any rate,
hurry home as soon as possible. I commence regularly
next week."
In his speeches during the- campaign of 1868, Mr.
Chandler approved Congressional Reconstruction,
abused Copperheads and rebels, and denounced the
payment of the war debt in greenbacks. Some of his
methods of winning votes were decidedly undignified.
At Battle Creek, on August 24, Mr. Chandler at the
close of his speech said:2 "Now I want to ask Gover
nor Oglesby (111.) one question. Come up. here.
(The Governor advanced to the front of the stand).
I want to ask you, can we, with so many splendid
looking women be defeated?" (Laughter and ap
plause). Governor Oglesby: "I will do the Hon
orable Senator the justice to say that I have not
anywhere looked upon a more intelligent audience,
1. MS letter, Howard Papers.
2. Free Press, August 26, 1868.

third election to u. s. SENATE 103
with more handsome ladies present in it, than I have
to-day." At Mt. Clemens a few days later the following report
is made by an eye-witness:3 "He spoke for about
two hours and wound up his great speech by turning
round to his right and addressing the ladies (of whom
the meeting was composed by half) 'and if any of you
ladies,' he said, 'are married to a Copperhead husband,
let him sleep alone.' " This was going pretty far
even for those days, and met with rebuke from Demo
cratic newspapers; but Mr. Chandler was a product
of his time, and his speeches and jokes did not offend
his audiences as similar ones would to-day.
The reelection of Mr. Chandler was not a prominent
issue in the campaign, but immediately after the
Republican victory in November the Senatorial ques
tion began to be widely discussed. The Detroit Post
and the majority of the Republican State press sup
ported Mr. Chandler.4 The Advertiser and Tribune,
Republican, opposed him. The relations between
Mr. Chandler and some of the persons behind the
Advertiser and Tribune had been unfriendly for some
time. As a result, Mr. Chandler started the Post, the
first number of which appeared in March, 1866. The
Post was distinctly a Chandler paper and the organ
of the Chandler "Ring," and with its establishment
3. "Argus" in Free Press, Sept. 10, 1868.
4. Free Press, Aug. 22, 1868 said: "To secure his reelection
to the United States Senate, our Zachariah has lately
been perambulating the interior of the State for the
purpose of greasing the palms of the Radical Scribes.
The happy results of these exertions are already apparent
in the loud chorus of praise which resounds from a cer
tain portion of the rural press."

104 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
the Advertiser and Tribune became the organ of the
anti-Chandler wing of the Republican party.
Mr. Chandlei's methods to insure his return to the
Senate were much the same as before. His friends
had been active in township and ward caucuses and
legislative district conventions and wherever possible
had secured the nomination of men for the Legis
lature who would vote for him for the United States
Senate. In some districts, in spite of these efforts,
anti-Chandler men had been nominated by the Re
publicans, and Mr. Chandler!s agents, according to
report,5 worked to defeat these men and to elect the
Democratic candidates; because, although a Republi
can majority in the Legislature was considered certain,
a majority of Chandler men in the Republican Sena
torial caucus was not so sure and yet was absolutely
essential to ensure Mr. Chandler's reelection. Mr.
Chandler could better afford to reduce the Republican
majority in the Legislature than to increase it with
anti-Chandler Republicans whose votes in the Re
publican Senatorial caucus would have to be offset
by an increased number of Chandler men.
The despotic power of the Chandler "Ring" was
the subject of much hostile criticism. The Advertiser
and Tribune of December 2, 1868, said: "There are
State officers; there is another U. S. Senator; there are
six Congressmen for this State and leading Republicans
in all parts of it — but what are they? The Republican
party of Michigan is for Mr. Chandler, not for them.
Only such nominations must be made, only such men
elected, as will promote his personal fortunes and
5. Advertiser and Tribune, Dec. 2, 1868.

THIRD ELECTION TO U. S. SENATE 105,
continuance in office. Other men must be defeated
and kept down, because if they rise, Mr. Chandler
sinks. No man but a personal adherent of Mr.
Chandler is to hold office in this State if he can help it.
Everybody who has the temerity to oppose Mr.
Chandler is denounced for political treachery and a
combined attempt to break him down in his political
character and standing and even personal assault and
indignity have been resorted to to intimidate or
silence opposition."
"Square Truth" wrote:6 "The fact is, Mr. Chand
ler's strength has grown out of this very spirit of
usurpation which for the last eight or ten years has
characterized him in his political intercourse with the
Republicans of this State. He it was who first as
sumed to frame and hang up the political slate in
Detroit — and a Slate not for all Federal, but for all
State and even county and township offices. With a
royal-like assumption, he straightway essayed to
make and unmake public men, and to write out,
through years to come, all candidates for public pre
ferment. 'Whom he would he slew and whom he would
he set up, and whom he would he put down.' By the
grace of Zach. Chandler men went to Congress, and the
Legislature. By the grace of Zach. Chandler men were
made Governors, Lieutenant Governors and State
Treasurers, and by the same royal courtesy they be
came Collectors and Assessors of the Revenue 
poor Sinbad Michigan! The Man of the Sea is upon
your shoulders and he means to ride just so long as
he in his good pleasure desires thus to amuse himself."
6. Letter from "Square Truth," Advertiser and Tribune,
December 26.

108 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
Mr. Chandler's personal habits met with severe
criticism. The Puritan wing of the Republican party
called for his retirement on the ground that his habits
were immoral. The Northwestern Christian Advocate
cried,7 "No drunkard in Office." A writer from St.
Johns declared,8 "He is given to the use of profane
language and intoxicating drink." The Advertiser and
Tribune observed,9 "A public man must also greatly
influence the young  If his example is per
nicious and yet he is elevated and honored, it will be
an invitation to young men to practice vice."
No doubt Mr. Chandler was well lied about, but
that there was at least some basis of truth in the widely
circulated reports in regard to his use of liquor is
evident from an editorial in the Post,10 the Chandler
organ, which says, "Some years ago, during the fierce
excitement and military habits of the war, there is no
doubt Mr. Chandler was less carefully abstemious
than he is now." The Post, however, declared that
he had reformed. The Nation notes11 that Gen. Benj.
Butler published a certificate testifying to Mr. Chand
ler's sobriety. Whether this was regarded as con
vincing testimony by the people of Michigan is per
haps' problematical.
But in spite of disappointed office-seekers jealous
of Mr. Chandler's political autocracy, and the ad
mitted fact that his habits were hardly consistent
with a party which claimed to be "the party of great
7. Quoted in Advertiser and Tribune, Dec. 4.
8. Quoted in Advertiser and Tribune, Dec. 10.
9. Quoted in Advertiser and Tribune, Nov. 21.
10. Post, Dec. 9.
11. Nation, Jan. 14, 1869.

THIRD ELECTION TO U. S- SENATE 107
moral ideas," Mr. Chandler was still a power among
the voters of the State: his personality appealed to
them. "Jensen" wrote:12 "I pass to  the more
reasonable objection of want of culture, and great
intellectual endowment. In its technical sense, I
do not claim that for Mr. Chandler. It is well for
him that it is not so. It is the bane of most of our
so-called scholars and great men that they are scarcely
ever energetically or violently great. Occupied much
of the time in passionless and abstract thought, they
are illy qualified for many of those practical duties
without which even Statesmanship fails of its highest
development. Now, it appears to me, that we are
in one of those crises which demand of our Senatorial
nominee more of the qualities than of the mere powers
of intellect  For my part, I want a man in the
U. S. Senate from Michigan (no matter what his ac
quirement) who can neither be bought, sold nor scared.
Twelve years of public life entitles at least this to be
averred of Zachariah Chandler." And the Adrian
Times13 declared: "We want no doubtful man to
represent our State in the Senate and for this reason,
if for no other, we advocate Mr. Chandler's re-election."
The inside history14 of this Senatorial contest is
decidedly interesting. Mr. Chandler fully realized
that a coalition between the two most promising
12. Post, Dec. 2.
13. As quoted in the Post, Dec. 2.
14. My statements are based upon the following: Ms
letter, Allen Potter to J. M. Howard, dated Jan. 12,
1869, in Howard MSS; Letters of A. Blair and Dr. Geo.
W. Fish, published in Advertiser and Tribune Jan. 11,
1871; an interview with E. W. Barber of Jackson, Mich.;
and contemporary newspapers.

108 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
candidates outside of Detroit, Austin Blair of Jackson
and Thomas W. Ferry of Grand Haven, might prove
disastrous to his own candidacy. He therefore laid
plans to break up the opposition. Three friends of
Mr. Chandler made a proposition to Austin Blair
asking him to support Mr. Chandler in January, 1869,
and promising in return Mr. Chandler's support of Mr.
Blair for the Senate in January, 1871, when a suc
cessor to Jacob M. Howard was to be selected. It
was the ambition of Austin Blair's life to go to Wash
ington as United States Senator from Michigan. This
overture from Mr. Chandler gave him the opportunity
to realize this ambition, but he rejected it. Austin
Blair was a man who possessed many admirable
qualities, honesty and patriotism, but he lacked
political acumen. He could not read men and he
surrounded himself with advisers whose wire-pulling
abilities were as meager as his own.
Having failed with Mr. Blair, Mr. Chandler turned
to T. W. Ferry. Mr. Ferry agreed to a proposition
the terms of which were identical with those rejected
by Mr. Blair.
Of course the agreement between Mr. Chandler
and Mr. Ferry was a secret. Mr. Blair knew nothing
of it and seemingly never suspected it. He entered
into an alliance with Mr. Ferry to join forces, defeat
Mr. Chandler and elect a Senator outside of the
Detroit "Ring." Mr. Ferry therefore was bound
secretly to both Chandler and the opposition interests.
Mr. Blair went to Lansing in January, 1869, ex
pecting to meet Mr. Ferry as agreed. Mr. Ferry
remained at home. The delegates from Mr. Ferry's

AUSTIN BLAIR
From the oil portrait in the Capitol, Lansing.

THIRD ELECTION TO U- S. SENATE 109
district, without • notifying the Blair men, went into
consultation. The first question submitted was, shall
we present the name of Mr. Ferry for the Senate?
To this every member responded, No. The second
and only other proposition submitted to this meeting
was for each member to express his first choice for a
candidate. To this, one responded Blair and every
other voted for Chandler. Mr. Ferry then had been
true to Zach. Chandler and had left Governor Blair
in the lurch. Governor Blair soon saw that he had
no chance and returned to Jackson.
There were still some 24 votes in opposition to Mr.
Chandler. These were won over by the lobby. Of
this lobby a writer in the Advertiser and Tribune1'*
said : "We saw these veterans at Lansing twelve years
ago. How few of them die! How fresh they look!
On Tuesday evening Mr. Chandler, our political
leviathan, accompanied by a retinue that might have
been mistaken in its immensity for the Israelites who
remembered longingly the flesh-pots of Egypt, filed
into Capitol Avenue! It was a real army, of two
hundred strong, and every train for the succeeding
twenty-four hours brought additions until there was
such a lobby as the oldest inhabitants never beheld.
We bow in admiration to it. "Stupendous" is the
only term that will describe it. It overflowed every
where. It bore down on the astounded legislators
like a cavalry charge. All the evening — nearly all
night — all the next day, with Briarean hands it was
leading member after member, who had previously
been put through from eight to ten distinct courses of
~\S. January 7, 1869.

110 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
lobby, to the rooms of the great chief, where post-
offices and consulates were flung about in such pro
fusion that a man going upstairs in the vicinity was
likely to be hit! The industry and assurance of the
lobby were equal to ifcs dimensions. It was a jolly
lobby, and had its laughing section, which exploded
like incessant peals of artillery. Humorous as was
the outward aspect of this veteran lobby, made up
of the picked politicians of the State, every one of
whom could lay a wire with artistic precision and
trace it until it grew as fine as Wollaston's experi
mental gossamer, it was tremendously effective. It
literally swallowed up the opposition."
"C. K. B." wrote in the same paper,16 ''It has con
sisted of two divisions — the bully raggers and. the
honey fuglers. The bully raggers have talked loud
and long and conducted their campaign on the Chinese
plan of frightening the enemy by a tremendous noise.
The honey fuglers have been bland, oily and insinuating
and they have done the quiet button-holing and the
closeting. This lobby has achieved, however, a
triumph beyond its most sanguine expectations and
it therefore vanishes to-morrow in a blaze of glory."
The Republicans met in caucus on the evening of
January 6. On the first (and only) informal ballot,
Mr. Chandler received 78 out of 96 votes. His nomi
nation was then made unanimous.17 The Republicans
having a majority in the Legislature, Mr. Chandler
was assured of a third term of six years in the United
States Senate.
16. Advertiser and Tribune, January 8, 1869.
17. Advertiser and Tribune, January 7, 1869.

CHAPTER XIII
Grant's First Administration and the Campaign
of 1872
"jV/TR. CHANDLER was a firm believer in the protec
tive principle. During the winter of 1868-69 he
succeeded in getting through the Senate a high tariff
on copper. . The copper tariff also passed the House,
to the great joy of the Lake Superior region. At
Houghton, guns were fired, whistles blown and bon
fires lighted, but the celebration was premature —
Johnson vetoed the bill.
In April, 1869, Mr. Chandler made a fiery speech
in the Senate, and offered a resolution1 to the effect
that the President be authorized to negotiate with
England for the transfer of the British possessions in
North America and the consequent abandonment by
the United States of all claims against her. On
motion of Mr. Sumner the resolution was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Soon after the inauguration of President Grant,
Mr. Chandler took occasion 'to punish his enemies
and reward his friends by whose help he had been
returned to the Senate.2 George Jerome was made
Collector of the Port at Detroit. Mr. Jerome was
personally very popular with the voters of the State
1. April 17, 1869, Globe, 1st Sess. 41st Cong., pp. 727-731.
2. This account is based upon the following:' Advertiser and
Tribune, April 9, 1869; April 15, April 20, May 14, Aug.
20, 1870; and January 3, 1871.

112 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
and possessed great political influence. He belonged
to the "good-fellow" type of politician, and of him it
was said,3 "Everyone says he has carried Chandler
on his shoulders from the outset of his, Chandler's,
political career. I have no doubt he has been Chand
ler's mainstay." Mr. James M. Edmunds, perhaps
the most astute politician in Michigan and Mr. Chand
ler's right-hand man, was made Postmaster at Wash
ington, D. C. Mr. William A. Howard's reward for
long and faithful service was an appointment as
Minister to China; he declined this, however, to
accept the land agency and attorneyship for the G.
R. & I. Railroad. The District Attorneyship was
given to Mr. A. B. Maynard. Mr. H. B. Rowlson,
editor of the Hillsdale Standard, a paper that had
vigorously supported the election of Senator Chandler,
became Collector of Internal Revenue. The new
Indian Agent, Mr. Brockway of Calhoun County, had
lobbied for Mr. Chandler at Lansing in January, 1869.
Another lobbyist, Mr. Edward Lefavour, was made a
Special Treasury Agent at $6.00 per day. Hon.
George Swift of Wayne, at first an opponent of Mr.
Chandler's reelection but later one of his most con
spicuous supporters, was appointed Consul at Windsor,
Canada. The office-holders who had supported Austin
Blair now came up for punishment. Samuel Lacey
was turned out of the Marshall post-office ; Mr. Kings
bury, Postmaster at Grand Rapids lost his head in
spite of the protest of Mr. T. W. Ferry. It is un
necessary to complete the list. The test of fidelity
3. MS letter, Judge J. J. Speed to J. M. Howard, dated Feb.
9, 1869, Howard Papers, Vol. 91.

GRANT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 113
to the Republican party in Michigan was loyalty to
Zachariah Chandler. He dominated the whole Michi
gan delegation in Congress and every appointment
and removal was one directed or authorized by him.
In May, 1869, Mr. Chandler in company with his
wife and daughter left for Europe. Mr. Chandler
had wealth and he liked to spend it. Just how much
truth there was in the newspaper reports that he took
along "four negro servants" is hard to say. Ac
cording to report, two of these were men to take care
of the Senator; the two women were to divide their
attentions between the two ladies of his family. The
men wore coats resplendent in gold embroidery,
grape-vines worked up the backs, and the Chandler
coat-of-arms on the coat-tails; their hats were of
black silk and decorated with large silver cockades.
The ladies wore the coat-of-arms and the Chandler
"C" on their belt buckles. A good many stories
were told about Mr. Chandler's experiences abroad.
On one occasion, it is said,4 he was engaged in con
versation with an English notable who asked why it
was that the Americans felt such resentment towards
England while they did not complain of France that
had tried to induce England to join her in recognizing
the Confederacy. "Oh," replied the Senator bluntly,
"we don't care a brass farthing what other nations
say; its only what they do. France did not hurt us.
any; but you did." "But," urged the Englishman,
"suppose we had listened to Napoleon; the result
might have been different, you know." "How differ-
4. Free Press, May 8, 1870.
15

114 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
ent?" "Why, you know, the Confederates might
have won the fight." "I don't know any such thing,"
replied the Senator. "How? You don't mean that
the sword of England would not have turned the
scale!" cried the amazed John Bull. "Why, look
here," retorted the Senator, "How large an army has
England got, anyhow? How many troops could
England put into the field?" "Perhaps sixty thousand
regulars." "Sixty thousand! Why Gen. Grant in
one battle at the Wilderness killed sixty thousand
men in four days and in a week the ranks were full
again. If the whole British Army had been there they
would have hindered one of our half-dozen armies
just four days; that's all, Sir!"
On January 31, 1870, Mr. Chandler spoke on the
Currency bill. He was a rigid opponent of inflation
and his influence in maintaining a sound currency
was important.
During the debate on the Funding bill, Mr. Chandler
spoke against a proposition to establish an agency
abroad for the payment of interest on the national
debt. *' Mr. President," he said,5 "it is more a matter
of pride than anything else. If we propose to take
our stand among the first nations of the earth, it is
beneath our dignity as a great nation to make our
interest payable anywhere except at the Treasury
of the United States."
On April 19, 1870,6 Mr. Chandler offered a resolution
in the Senate directing the President to appoint com
missioners to negotiate with the people of Winnipeg
5. March 9, 1870, Globe, 2nd Sess. 41st Cong., p. 1788.
6. Globe, 2nd Sess. 41st Cong., 2808.

LETITIA GRACE (DOUGLASS) CHANDLER
Wife of Zachariah Chandler.

GRANT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 115
on the subject of annexation to the United States.
On the 22nd he supported this by a speech7 in which
he said,
"We are to-day the strongest military power on
earth. . . .This continent is ours and we may as well
notify the world now as at any future time that we
will fight for our own  We have been forbearing
toward Great Britain; we have been forbearing toward
all the world; but the time has now arrived to assert
the Monroe Doctrine. The time has arrived or
nearly arrived when we shall say to all the world,
'Hands off this continent; it is ours, and we intend to
possess our own.' "
The evening of May 21, the Senate met for an all
night struggle over the bill to enforce the Fifteenth
Amendment. Mr. Chandler's efforts in behalf of the
bill are evidenced by the following letter:8
"Friend Howard,
"The cops are acting as meanly as they know how
come up at once & help us out dont fail.
(Signed) "Z. Chandler.
"Hon. J. M. Howard,
"3 A. M."
On the back of this letter is a note by Mr. Howard:
"Hon. Z. Chandler, May 21, 70 On the bill to en
force the 15th amendt — is in a hurry — I got out of
7. Globe, 2nd Sess. 41st Cong., p. 2288.
8. Howard MSS.

116 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
bed, went to the Senate & we passed the bill at 7|-
A. M. & adjourned."
On the 28th, Mr. Chandler made a speech9 in favor
of the annexation of San Domingo. In December10
he made a violent attack upon Sumner for criticizing
President Grant and the San Domingo scheme. A few
days later Mr. Chandler wrote11 to Charles T. Gorham
of Marshall:
"Sumner made a malicious attack upon the Presi
dent and was properly rebuked  Sumner has
no common sense he is overstocked with uncommon
sense &  [?] with one grain of common sense
would make a splendid man but the lack is fatal.
The President is doing splendidly is as sound a Re
publican as you or I & on the whole the best. . . .[?]
two Year Old I ever knew."
Of Grant's first Administration it was said:12 "He
has sat by and seen the Country tolerably well gov
erned." Among the men who dominated the Presi
dent — Morton, Chandler, Conkling, Cameron and
Butler — Mr. Chandler was one of the most influential.
He was always ready to smoke a cigar, take a drink,
play a game of cards or tell a good story. His ag
gressiveness, high spirits and talkativeness were a
decided contrast to Grant's quiet ways and made
them personally very congenial. Undoubtedly Mr..
9. May 28, 1870, Globe, 2nd Sess. 41st Cong., p. 408.
10. Dec. 21, 1870, Globe, 3rd Sess. 41st Cong., p. 241-3.
11. MS letter dated Jan. 7, 1871.
12. Springfield Republican, Nov. 24, 1871.

GRANT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 117
Chandler's influence over Grant was used to further
a harsh policy towards the South, a jingoistic and
expansionist policy abroad and opposition to civil
service reform at home. No man was more active in
bringing about the removal of Mr. Sumner from the
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and sub
stituting Simon Cameron than was Mr. Chandler.
As a member of the "Ku Klux Committee" he was
active in bringing out information which would show
the necessity of keeping the South in subjection. In
1872 he opposed abolishing the moiety system in con
nection with the collection of the tariff and internal
revenue — a system valuable for corrupt office-holders
who desired graft, but an obstacle in the way of reform
of the customs service. He voted on March 7, 1872,
for an amendment to the Legislative Appropriation
bill to repeal all laws and regulations establishing civil
service reform and competitive examinations. This
amendment was laid on the table on motion of Senator
Trumbull by a vote of 40 to 19 — Cameron, Chandler
and Carpenter were among the 19.
Mr. Chandler was personally honest. His bitterest
enemies never ventured to suggest, seriously, that he
ever touched a penny of the public money that did not
belong to him. But he was a practical politician.
He opposed civil service reform because it would
interfere with the patronage. He had grown ac
customed to the political methods which some men
were now trying to remedy and he liked them; they
had served him well and with them, he hoped to keep
the power that he had.
The Senatorial contest of January, 1871, resulted

118 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
in the election of Thomas W. Ferry of Grand Haven to
succeed Jacob M. Howard. "The real contest was
between Ferry and Blair, as location was made the one
important thing in the contest," wrote13 Mr. Chandler
to his friend C. T. Gorham. The Blair-Fish letter no
doubt had considerable influence.14 Dr. Fish had
written a letter to Blair describing the deal between
Ferry and Chandler which resulted in the sudden
withdrawal of Ferry in January, 1869, and the election
of Chandler to the Senate. In reply Mr. Blair wrote
to Fish a letter in which he declared that Howard
"has been the right bower of all the corrupt rings
here" and expressed his opinion in regard to the leading
Republican politicians by the words, "a lot of corrupt
scoundrels." This letter was confidential and was
surreptitiously taken from Dr. Fish's desk and pub
lished in the Free Press. As a result, Mr. Blair found
himself not only politically but personally hated by
the dominant Ring. They fought him bitterly. When
J. M. Howard found his own chances of reelection
gone he threw most of his vote in favor of Ferry,
with the result that Blair's political prestige suffered
a blow from which it never recovered.
The campaign of 187215 in Michigan was a contest
between the Radical Republicans on the one hand and
the Liberal Republicans and Democrats acting in
harmony on the other. The radicals declared that the
problems growing out of the war constituted the most
13. MS letter dated Jan. 7, 1871.
14. On this see Advertiser and Tribune, Jan. 11, 1871.
15. For a fuller account of this campaign see H. M.. Dilla,
Politics of Michigan, 1865-1878, in Columbia University
Studies, XLVII, No. 1, pp. 129-147.

GRANT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 119
vital issue before the nation. They congratulated
themselves upon their record and declared that they
were the only party that could be trusted to keep the
Government from, the hands of those who had tried to
break up the Union. The Liberal Republicans and
the Democrats insisted that the war was over; that the
"bloody-shirt" had been waved long enough, that
amnesty should be promptly granted to former rebels;
that the Radical Administration was full of corruption
and had failed to meet the new issues of reform.
During the campaign of 1872, Mr. Blair joined
the Liberal Republicans. In a speech at Marshall16
he declared that the old Republican party had failed
to meet the new issues of reform and that the ring in
national politics was but a replica of a ring which
had dominated the Republican party of Michigan for
years. Mr. Chandler, of course, denounced the cry of
reform. At Orange, N. J.,17 he said: "What are they
howling for reform for? We have it now. There is
hardly a man who is setting up his cry for reform
who is not a corrupt scoundrel or a thief. What is
Lyman Trumbull?. ..How about Doolittle?" At
Adrian, Michigan,18 he accused Austin Blair of dis
honesty in office. Mr. Chandler's stump speeches
usually opened with a funny story. His favorite
story during the campaign of 1872 ran something like
16. Detroit Tribune, July 15, 1872.
17. New York Times, Aug. 25, 1872, McPherson's Campaign
of 1872, IV, 58, 59. •*
18. Aug. 2, 1872, Adrian Times, Aug. 3, McPherson's Cam
paign of '72, Vol. III.

120 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
this:19 "During the war a private in an Illinois regi
ment went into a drinking saloon, where he found a
man in chaplain's uniform, evidently much inebriated,
who asked him what regiment he belonged to. 'The
19th Illinois,' was the answer. 'What do you belong
to?' The drunken man straightened up and replied,
'I belong to the Army of the Lord, Sir!' 'Well,' said
the soldier, 'that may be, but to my thinking you are
a thunderin' ways from headquarters!' Now any
man who supports the nominees of the Baltimore
convention must, if he claims to be a Republican, be
'a thunderin' ways from headquarters.' "
Of course Mr. Chandler compared the records of the
Republican and Democratic parties, waved the
"bloody-shirt," praised Grant and ridiculed Greeley.
He had no doubt as to the outcome. As early as
August 24, 1871, he wrote to C. T. Gorham:20 "The
political outlook was never so good as at present.
Our enemies are doing the work better than we could.
In fact, if we make no mistakes the battle of 1872 is
already fought and won. There will be little or no
opposition to President Grant's renomination except
for Sumner and Schurz & their prestige is gone. Schurz
has gone to the C  Democracy & taken Missouri
with him & can do us no more harm. Sumner will
grumble and growl and support the  [?]"
In July, 1872, he again wrote to Mr. Gorham:21
"The political outlook for Grant is good and growing
better. We have every reason to believe that the
19. Speech at Norembega Hall, Bangor, Maine, July, 1872.
McPherson's Campaign of '72, III, 11-12.
20. MS letter.
21. MS letter.

GRANT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION 121
percentage of Republicans who will support Greeley
will be very small while on the other hand many
democrats will vote for Grant as preferable to Greeley
& many more will not vote at all. The colored men
will vote as a unit for Grant although the Greeleyites
are making desperate efforts to carry them over to
the other side. The contest promises to be a very
personal one & abuse without limit will be poured on
the heads of the prominent characters of both parties.
The Democrats are making the most desperate efforts
to win & the Republicans are equally determined that
their ancient enemies with their allies shall gain
nothing in the way of office, power or control of nation
al affairs. You have doubtless heard of the defection
of Austin Blair. This was not expected. He waited
until it was morally certain that Greeley would be
nominated by the Democrats at Baltimore and then
with a great parade of mock virtuous indignation he
deserted the Republican camp & threw himself into
the expectant arms of the Democracy. It is believed
that they have made some fine promises & will nominate
him either for Governor or for Congress — It is im
material to the old National Republican party of
Michigan what they do with their newly found political
treasure. He will be flattened out completely and
permanently in a political sense whenever our people
have the opportunity to be heard at the ballot-box.
His old friends and the Republican Press throughout
the State including the Jackson Citizen condemn Mr.
Blair's course in emphatic terms & his following will
doubtless be very small. The people of Michigan are

122 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
too thoroughly embued with Republican principles to
give them up for the husks of Democracy."
Mr. Chandler's most sanguine expectations were
fully realized. The Republican majority for Grant
in Michigan was over 55,000. Even the Democratic
strongholds of Detroit and Wayne County were re
deemed at last.

CHAPTER XIV
Grant's Second Term and Mr. Chandler's Defeat
in 1875
JV/TR. CHANDLER had the good sense to vote
against the Salary Grab bill and to speak in op
position to the increase in the pay of Senators and
Representatives. Of course Mr. Chandler's living
expenses in Washington far exceeded the amount of
his salary as Senator. His house in Washington was
situated in the most fashionable quarter; his annual
expense at the Capital was not far from $35,000 or
$40,000. Washington correspondents waxed eloquent
over his "coach and footman" and the "livery" of
his house servants which included silver buttons
mounted with the Chandler "C." The debut of
Mr. Chandler's only daughter was a most gorgeous
affair and was described by Mark Twain in a very
amusing letter to the Chicago Republican.1
On January 20, 1874, Mr. Chandler made a speech2
in the Senate against inflation of the currency by further
issues of greenbacks and advocated an immediate
resumption of specie payments. As a war measure,
Mr. Chandler had voted for an issue of greenbacks in
1862 and 1865, but his natural shrewdness showed
him the fallacy of inflating the currency. He wrote
1. Reprinted in Detroit Post, February 20, 1868 and Free
Press, February 22, 1868.
2. Globe, 1st Sess. 43rd Cong., p. 777-8.

124 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
to C. T. Gorham,3 "I have heartily opposed inflation
at every point, but if the inflationists succeed in con
trolling our financial policy, suppose I can endure
living in a balloon as long as any of them."
The death of Charles Sumner left Chandler the
senior Senator in continuous service. Hamlin and
Cameron entered the Senate with Chandler in 1857,
but both had been out for a period since then.4
The campaign of 1874 was of great importance to
Chandler because his term in the Senate expired
March 4, 1875, and it was to the Legislature elected in
1874 that he had to look for reelection.
The schism made in the Republican ranks by the
Liberal Republican movement in 1872 reappeared in
the organization of the Republican opposition as a
National Reform party in 1874. Criticism of the Ad
ministration by both National Reformers and Demo
crats consisted of charges of corruption, extravagance
in national expenditures and usurpation of power in
interfering with the States lately in rebellion.. The
Salary Grab Act, the Credit Mobilier scandal, the
Press-Gag law, and many other instances of radical
evil-doing were made the most of by the opposition
parties. It was also declared that the radicals were
determined to give Grant a third term and that the
patronage of the National Government was corruptly
used to maintain the old party in power. The cam
paign gives evidence of a wide-spread feeling of dis
satisfaction with the still unsatisfactory conditions in
the lately reconstructed States and the corruption
3. April 1, 1874. MS letter.
4. Detroit Tribune, March 14, 1874.

ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
From the oil portrait in the Capitol, Lansing.

CHANDLER'S DEFEAT IN 1875 125
among men who held high office in the nation's capital.
Men were growing weary of the ceaseless cry of the
Radicals against those who had brought on the re
bellion. They felt that the South had been punished
enough and they were anxious to bring peace to the
people who had suffered so much for their mistaken
convictions. The condition of the currency too was a matter
for anxious thought. The country was suffering from
the effects of the panic of 1873 and all parties were
split into factions occupying diverse views on the
desirability of inflating the currency by further issues
of greenbacks or the advisability of resuming specie
payments and maintaining the currency on a "sound
money" basis. The State conventions of all the
parties in Michigan were so convinced of the hopeless
ness of uniting their followers upon any common
ground respecting the currency question that they all
adopted platforms so vague in their terms on this
point that both hard-money and soft-money men
could read them with hope if not with confidence.
In the Republican party in Michigan the seriousness
of this diversity in its ranks is shown by the fact that
the two Senators occupied diverse positions upon the
money question: Mr. Chandler demanded hard money
and the immediate resumption of specie payments;
Mr. Ferry demanded inflation by further issues of
greenbacks. In his campaign speeches, Mr. Chandler,
who knew his Bible well, quoted from the Scriptures
to prove that the Liberal Republican party was of
ancient origin — was, in fact, born in the Cave of
Abdullam. The Democratic press ridiculed these " ser-

126 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
mons" and redoubled their attacks upon Mr. Chand
ler's personal habits.
The tidal-wave of 1874 wrought havoc with the
Republican party of Michigan. They secured a bare
majority in the Legislature. The Senate had 18
Republicans and 14 Democrats; in the House there
were 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats.5 Immediately
following the election the Senatorial question began
to be widely discussed. The Detroit Tribune led the
opposition to Mr. Chandler. This paper admitted
that on the questions growing out of the war and
slavery, Mr. Chandler's votes and speeches had been
on the right side; it acknowledged that no trait of
personal venality attached to him; but it declared that
he had identified himself with an obnoxious system, of
party management which had resulted in wide-spread
discontent with the Republican party; he represented
the spoils system and opposed reform; he was a machine
politician; he dominated the "Ring" in Michigan and
was associated with Butler in Washington.6
Mr. Chandler was already "organizing victory."
As early as August 12, he wrote7 to Charles T. Gorham,
an able lieutenant of Marshall, but at this time United
States Minister to the Netherlands:
"Political matters are looking very well throughout
the State but I shall want you here of course as your
influence will be important & we make it a rule never
to lose anything by inattention and neglect."
An illuminating incident came out in connection.
5. Detroit Tribune, Nov. 28, 1874.
6. Tribune, Nov. 27, 1874.
7. MS letter.

CHANDLER'S DEFEAT IN 1875 127
with a vacancy in the office of deputy collector at
Wyandotte. There were of course numerous ap
plicants for the place. Mr. Griffin, editor of the
Wyandotte Courier, was among them. Being in
Detroit about November 27, he called on Chandler's
right-hand man, George Jerome, Collector at Detroit,
who told him that his commission was in his safe but
that its delivery depended upon Representative Oco-
bock's action in the election of a Senator. In other
words Mr. Griffin was to become deputy collector in
case he could influence the Representative from his
district to vote for Mr. Chandler.8 In December,
Mr. Reynolds, postmaster at Grand Haven, received*
a large number of newspaper clippings, arguing for
the return of Mr. Chandler to the Senate, accompanied
by a request that he secure their insertion in the
Grand Haven Herald. Political assessments were of
course levied on office-holders and so far as possible
only Chandler men had been nominated for the Legis
lature. Mr. Chandler's plan10 was to call a caucus of Re-
8. Tribune, Dec. 26, Dec. 30 and Free Press. Jan. 6, 1875.
9. Detroit Tribune, Dec. 29, 1874.
10. In writing this account of Mr. Chandler's defeat, I have
relied upon the following sources :
a. The contemporary newspapers.
b. An interview with Mr. S. L. Kilbourne, a Demo
cratic member of the Michigan Legislature in
1875.
c. A letter written me by Mr. LeRoy Parker of
Batavia, N. Y., a Republican member from
Branch County who voted against Mr. Chandler
in 1875.
d. A letter from Rev. H. P. Collin of Coldwater,.
Michigan, who very kindly interviewed for me
Mr. VanAiken, one of the seven Republicans
who voted against Mr. Chandler's election.

128 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
publican members as soon as possible. He had a
majority of the Republicans pledged to support him,
and the Republicans were a majority in the Legis
lature. If he could get all of the Republicans into
caucus and bind them to him by caucus action before
the opposition had time> to organize, he could win.
But there were some Republicans in the Legislature
that refused to attend the caucus and stood firm upon
"no caucus dictation." Out of 71 Republican mem
bers of the Legislature only 59 signed the call and only
57 attended the caucus. The caucus was held on
Thursday evening, January 7. Upon the first informal
caucus ballot, Mr. Chandler received 52 votes; J. W.
Childs, 3; Judge J. V. Campbell and Governor John
J. Bagley 1 each. A motion was made, and put by a
standing vote, to make the nomination unanimous;
but one member, Bailey of Shiawassee, voted, No.
The caucus, then, had bound 57 members to vote for
Mr. Chandler; 67 were necessary to elect him. The
men who stayed out of the caucus were Senator Jones
of Branch, Representatives Billings and Parker of
Genesee, Van Aiken and Robinson of Branch, West of
Berrien, Hardin of Allegan, Garfield and Briggs of
Kent, Copley of Van Buren, Neff of Wayne, Ludington
of Huron, Ocobock of Wayne, and Taylor of Shiawas
see. Both Ludington and Ocobock signed the caucus
call, however, and voted for Chandler.
Mr. Chandler was on the ground early, with an
immense lobby that attached itself to the recusant
Republicans and attempted to influence them by every
argument that ingenuity and skill could devise. Four
Methodist ministers were conspicuous members of the

CHANDLER'S DEFEAT IN 1875 129
lobby and were useful in attacking men on their
moral and spiritual side. Chandler agents were sent
to kindle back-fires in the districts of the doubtful
members and to circulate petitions urging them to vote
for Chandler. Thomas J. West of Berrien, who came
to Lansing an avowed anti-Chandler man, was won
over11 by a delegation of citizens from Benton Harbor
imploring him not to vote against Chandler because
Chandler, being Chairman of the Committee on Com
merce, could get through a hoped-for appropriation
for the Paw Paw River. Mr. West was taken by the
delegation to Mr. Chandler's rooms and Mr. Chandler
declared that the bill would receive his tenderest care.
Nothing was said about Mr. West's vote, but Mr.
West frankly told the minority that he should vote for
Chandler, as he could in this way serve his constituents
in a vital matter.
On January 19 the vote for United States Senator
was taken, the two houses acting separately. In the
Senate Mr. Chandler received a bare majority: 17 out
of 32; in the House no one had a majority. On the
following day the two Houses met in joint convention.
On the first ballot, Mr. Chandler received 64 votes;
the Democrats gave 60 votes for George V. N. Lothrop ;
I. P. Christiancy received 5 and J. Webster Childs, 3;
total 132; necessary to a choice, 67. Mr. Chandler
lacked but three votes of a majority. Of the 14 Re
publicans who refused to attend the caucus, seven
had been won over and seven remained obdurate.
Representative Garfield of Kent had surrendered only
at the last moment. He was old and weak from, sick-

11. Tribune, January 11, 1875.
17

130 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
ness and had been subjected to lobby pressure day
and night. As he arose to vote he said, "Contrary to
my own convictions but in response to a petition
signed by 412 of my constituents, and to the persistent
demands of a lobby twice as large, I vote for Zachariah
Chandler."12 On Wednesday, the 20th, then, no one
had a majority, and the convention adjourned. On
Thursday, the . Legislature again met in joint con
vention. The Democrats, despairing of gaining the
support of the Republican minority for a Democratic
candidate, and fearful of another Chandler victory,
now united with the seven anti-Chandler Republicans
upon a compromise candidate, Isaac P. Christiancy,
a conservative Republican and one of the Justices of
the Supreme Court of Michigan. The first ballot
stood Christiancy 68, Chandler 63, Bagley 1. Before
the clerk could announce the result, Chandler men,
foreseeing the defeat of their candidate, began to
change their votes to various Republicans in hope of
attracting opposition votes and breaking the election.
The plan failed. Zachariah Chandler was defeated
.at last.
Of the seven Republicans who voted against Mr.
Chandler to the last, three were from Branch County.
The Branch County men refused to sign the call or
attend the caucus, and it was afterwards said that
"Branch County killed Mr. Chandler." The Branch
County members were opposed to the political system
that he represented. They did not belong to the
Chandler "Ring;" they were farmers who wanted a
more democratic system of party management, and
12. Michigan Argus, Jan. 29, 1875.

CHANDLER'S DEFEAT IN 1875 I31
they had a grievance. Cyrus G. Luce, a long-time
resident of Gilead Township, Branch County, a
farmer and a friend of the Branch County members
of the Legislature, was opposed to Chandler. He be
lieved, and they believed, that Mr. Chandler had
cheated Mr. Luce out of a Republican nomination for
State Treasurer by directing the tellers in the Re
publican Convention to announce fraudulently that a
ballot for State Treasurer, by which Mr. Luce would
have received the nomination, was void, there being
more votes than delegates.
Representative Parker of Genesee opposed Mr.
Chandler on account of' his political methods. A
letter from him reads :
"The State had been almost lost to the party that
fall and I was confident that it was largely due to the
too practical politics of Senator Chandler."
But back of all these reasons there lay a cause that
is bound to overtake the most astute of politicians,
and that is, the pushing of the younger element for
recognition. These seven Republicans were young
men, who resented the dominance of a ring of older
politicians. Chandler had held office for eighteen
years; he had his friends, tried and true, whom he kept
in the most lucrative positions within his control.
The young men wanted their share, and in 1875 they
had an opportunity to throw down the barriers that
had so long kept them, from place and power.
Mr. Chandler felt greatly chagrined over his defeat,
and took the first train for Washington. On February
17 he wrote to C. T. Gorham the following letter —

132 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
"United States Senate Chamber,
"Washington, Feb. 17, 1875.
"My Dear Sir,
"Your kind favor of the 20th of Dec. has been mis
laid or would have received earlier reply.
"The Senatorial contest is over and the Democrats
with a handful of bolting quasi Republicans have won
the victory.
"They hope by this maneuvre to so demoralize the
Republican party in the State, that it can be carried
for the Democracy in 1876 but I shall do what I can
to cause their victory to be .a barren one to turn their
rejoicings into lamentations, to see that their bright
hopes, like Dead Sea fruit, turn to ashes on their lips.
"They also solace themselves with the idea that
having been beaten in this contest, I will of course go
into state of retirement, seldom if ever to be heard
from again. In this they will meet with another
great disappointment, for with a fair prospect of at
least twenty years more of vigorous health I shall be
able to make the working of their political plans an
interesting puzzle to all parties in interest.
"Our work is plain but laborious. With unity, har
mony and hard work we can still keep the Democratic
forces training in the awkward squad while ours stand
shoulder to shoulder. "Very truly yours,
"Z. Chandler.
"Hon. C. T. Gorham."

CHAPTER XV
Summary of Mr. Chandler's Political Career,
1875-1879
OOME of Mr. Chandler's most important work was
done after his retirement from the Senate
March 4, 1875. In October of that year he was ap
pointed, by President Grant, Secretary of the Interior
to succeed Mr. Delano. Mr. Chandler made many
changes in the personnel of his Department, put a
stop to the glaring frauds which existed there and in
troduced business methods of administration.1
In the summer of 1876, Mr. Chandler was chosen
Chairman of the National Republican Committee.
He was the real director of the Hayes campaign, and
the incongruity of the campaign of a civil service re
form candidate directed by a dyed-in-the-wool spoils
man like Zachariah Chandler, did not escape comment.2
On the morning after the election Mr. Chandler sent
the following telegram3 over the wires of the Associated
Press: "Rutherford B. Hayes has received one hun
dred and eighty-five electoral votes, and is elected."
1. George F. Hoar says in his Autobiography of Seventy Years
(II, 75), "I knew him afterwards in the Department of
the Interior. He was, in my judgment, the ablest ad
ministrative officer without an exception who has been
in any executive department during my public life."
2. Letter of E. L. Godkin to C. E. Norton as given in Ogden's
Life of Godkin, II, 112-113.
3. Foulke, Life of Oliver P. Morton, II, 432; John Sherman's
Recollections of Forty Years, I, 553.

134 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
There are men still living who believe that the final
success of Hayes was due to the efficiency of Zachariah
Chandler's political methods in manipulating the re
turning boards in the Southern States. Once elected,
however, President Hayes appointed his Cabinet from
the reforming element of his party, and Carl Schurz,
to the chagrin of the radicals,4 succeeded Mr. Chandler
in the Interior Department. On April 26, 1877, Mr.
Chandler wrote5 to C. T. Gorham:
"The D  1 is let loose for a season. The mo
ment you & I left it was announced [?] that neither
of us would return and the Indian Bureau thieves
commenced their onslaught. Smith is run by the
Chief Clerk and I think is captured by the thieves.
At any rate he has recommended the most of them.
Any one but you and I would say let em come back but
I cannot consent even for our Glory to have it done
 Why should I desire [?] any [?] more of strife
and confusion I don't know.
He wrote again to Mr. Gorham0 on May 9: "I am
not a candidate for Christiancy's seat. I will not at
tempt to apologize for what has no apology. I will
not fight the battles of 57, 8, 9 and 60 over again.
Then I was in pistol and rifle practice and met the Rebs
on equal ground now I am out of practice & am over
60 years of age. . . .Hayes has passed The Repub
party over to its worst enemy. We have no hope for
4. Reminiscences of Carl Schurz, III, 375.
5. MS letter.
6. MS letter.

STATUE OF ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
In Statuary Hall, United States Capitol.

SUMMARY 1875-79 135
1878 even in Ohio & Indiana or Illinois but can & will
beat them in 1880."
On February 18, 1879, Mr. Chandler was elected to
the United States Senate to serve the unexpired term
of I. P. Christiancy, resigned. Mr. Chandler's "Jeff.
Davis Speech" of March 3, 1879, was the sensation
of the close of the session. The Campaign of 1879
found Mr. Chandler again upon the stump. On
October 31 he spoke at Chicago. That night he re
tired, as well, apparently, as usual. The following
morning he was found dead in his bed at the Grand
Pacific Hotel.
With the death of Zachariah Chandler a national
figure passed away. His political position was more
commanding during the summer of 1879 than ever
before.7 Even in New England he was received with
unbounded enthusiasm, and but for his sudden death
he would have been among the most formidable
candidates for the Presidency at the next election.8
7. Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, II, 642.
8. George F. Hoar, Autobiography of Seventy Years, II, 76.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AIDS
Dilla, H. M. The Politics of Michigan, 1865-1878. {Columbia
University Studies, Vol. XLVII, No. 1), pp. 255-258.
Index to New York Tribune, 1876-1880.
GENERAL SECONDARY WORKS
Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia, 1864.
McPherson, E., Political History of the Great Rebellion.
McPherson, E., Political History of the United States During the
Period of Reconstruction, 1865-1870.
Moore, ¥.', Rebellion Record, 1861-1868.
STATISTICS
Michigan Almanac, published by Detroit Tribune Co.
Michigan Legislative Manuals.
Tribune Almanac, published by New York Tribune.
World Almanac, published by New York World.
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
Congressional Globe and Congressional Record.
Report of the Joint Committee on ihe Conduct of ihe War.
PERIODICALS
American Whig Review, Dec, 1852. "A Political Letter."
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, May 15th, 1869, has a short
article on Z. Chandler.
Granite Monthly, March, 1882. Article by M. M. Culver, "New
Hampshire Men in Michigan, No. 2. Hon. Z. Chandler."
Magazine of Western History, for June, July and August, 1886.
Article on Mr. Chandler by "Walter Buell.
Political Science Quarterly, Vol. VII, p. 522, A. D. Morse, "The
Republican Party."
Putnam's Magazine, September, 1854, "Our Parties and Politics."

140 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER
BIOGRAPHIES (INDIVIDUAL)
Fessenden, F., Wm. Pitt Fessenden.
Flower, F. A., Edwin M. Stanton.
Flower, F. A., Matthew H. Carpenter.
Foulke, W. D., Oliver P. Morton.
Hamlin, C. E., Hannibal Hamlin.
McLaughlin, A. C, Lewis Cass.
Merriam, G. S., Samuel Bowles.
Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln. A History.
Nicolay and Hay, Complete Works of A. Lincoln, Vol. IX, p. 112.
Pierce, E. L., Charles Sumner.
Post-Tribune, Zachariah Chandler.
Riddle, A. G., Benjamin F. Wade.
BIOGRAPHIES (COLLECTED)
Appleton, Cyclopaedia of American Biography.
Barnes, W. H., History of Congress (40th and 41st).
Bersey, J., Cyclopaedia of Michigan.
H. Taylor Company (publishers), Compendium of the History and
Biography of Detroit.
Farmer, S., History of Detroit and Michigan, Vo .II.
National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.
NEWSPAPERS
Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michigan Argus.
Detroit, Michigan, Advertiser; Advertiser and Tribune; Daily
Democrat; Free Press; Post; Tribune.
Jackson, Michigan, Citizen.
Marshall, Michigan, Statesman.
New York, N. Y., Nation.
Niles, Michigan, Republican.
Pontiac, Michigan, Gazette.
Springfield, Mass., Republican.
NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS (COLLECTED)
McPherson's Scrap Books. (Pol. 1864-1875) Library of Congress.
Townsend Library, Columbia University.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 141
AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES
Blaine, Jas. G., Twenty Years of Congress.
Grant, U.S., Personal Memoirs.
¦ Hoar, G. F., Autobiography of Seventy Years.
Julian, G. W., Political Recollections.
McClellan, G. B., Own Story.
McClure, A. K., Recollections of Half a Century.
Poore, B. P., Perley's Reminiscences .
Riddle, A. G., Recollections of War Times.
Schurz, C, Reminiscences .
Sherman, J., Recollections of Forty Years.
MONOGRAPHS
Campbell, J. V., Outlines of Political History of Michigan.
Cox, S. S., Three Decades of Federal Legislation.
Curtis, F., The Republican Party.
De Land, V., History of Jackson County.
De Witt, D. M., Impeachment and Trial of A. Johnson.
Dilla, H. M., Political History of Michigan, 1865-1878.
Farmer, S., History of Detroit and Michigan, Vol. I.
Haworth, P. L., Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presidential Election of
1876.
Ivlcicv 1 P 'otitic oil PciYtlBS .
Michigan Historical Collections, Vols. XIV, XXXV, XXXVIII.
Roberts, R. E., Sketches of Detroit.
Turner, F. J., "The West as a Field for Historical Study" in Amer
ican Historical Association, Report, 1896.
MANUSCRIPT MATERIAL
I have found Chandler letters or letters concerning Chandler
among the Lyman Trumbull, E. B. Washburn and Andrew
Johnson papers in the Congressional Library and among the
Jacob M. Howard and Jas. F. Joy papers in the Burton Library
in Detroit. I found a letter of some importance from Mr.
Chandler in the possession of the Historical Commission in
Lansing, Michigan. Mrs. A. F. Redfield of Marshall, Michigan,
allowed me to copy some eighteen letters written by Mr.
Chandler to C. T. Gorham.

INDEX

INDEX

Adams, C. F., 49
Advertiser, Detroit newspaper, 21,
28
Advertiser and Tribune, Detroit
newspaper, 103
Alabama claims, 99
Antietam, battle of, helped Re
publicans carry elections in 1862,
67
Bagley, John J., 128
Baptists, denounced for anti-
slavery agitation, 32
Barnes, Henry, Detroit editor,
delegate to National Union Con
vention, 1866, 92
Bibliography, general aids, 136;
general secondary works; statis
tical works, 136; documents, 136;
periodicals, 136; biographies, 137;
newspapers, 137; newspaper clip
pings (collected), 137; autobiog
raphies and reminiscences, 137;
monographs, 137 ; manuscript ma
terials, 137
Bingham, Kinsley S.,
eulogized by Chandler at Jack
son Convention, 25; nominated
Governor of Michigan by Free
Democrats, 23; nominated Gov
ernor of Michigan by Republi
cans (1854), 25; elected Governor
of Michigan, 28; candidate for
United States Senate (1857), 40;
opposes compromise, 54; elected
to Senate, 63; death, 63
Blair, Austin, 49, 53, 54, 74;
candidate for United States Sen
ate, 40, 63, 108-109, 118; betrayed

by Ferry (1868), 108-109; Chand
ler punishes his supporters, 112;
character, 108; joins Liberal Re
publicans, 119; accused by
Chandler of dishonesty in office,
119; denounced by Chandler, 121
Blair-Fish letter, 118
Blair, Montgomery, 58, 74
Blodgett, Delos A., 37, 67
Blood-letter, 54, 66
Branch County, members in legis
lature help defeat Chandler in
1875, 130
Brown, John, Chandler's speech on,
47-48
Buchanan, James, 28, 45-47
Bull Run, Battle of, Chandler
present at, 57, 58
Butler, Benjamin F., 126; Chand
ler's opinion of, 59; Chandler's
defence of, 72; certifies to Chand
ler's sobriety, 106
Cameron, Simon, 117; agreement
with Wade and Chandler to
resent insults of Southern Sena
tors, 48
Campaign of, see Election of
Campbell, Judge J. V., 128; Out
lines of Political History of Mich
igan, 138
Cass, Lewis, 17, 25; quoted on con
duct of clergy in politics, 33;
Nicholson letter, 39; character
ized, 40
Catholics, 23, 35 (n. 9), 37, 67; see
Democratic party
Chandler, Zachariah
Early years, 7

146

INDEX

Mayor of Detroit; nominated by
Whigs (1851), 7; elected, 8;
city printing controversy, 10-11;
quoted on failure of Revolution
of 1848, 12-13; comments on his
administration, 13
Candidate for Governor of Mich
igan; nominated by Whigs (1852),
14; quoted on his nomination;
14; campaign speeches, 17;' de
feat, 18; see Election of 1852 in
Michigan
Work in formation of Republican
Party in Michigan; activity in
anti-slavery meeting in Detroit
in 1854, 21; negotiates with Free
Soilers, 23; favors dissolution of
Whig party and organization of
a new party based on anti-
slavery, 21; leader in Jackson
Convention, 24; speech at Jack
son Convention, 24-25; his re
ward to come later, 26; a true
representation of the radical
spirit of the Northwest, 34;
quoted on election of 1862, 37
Elected to succeed Lewis Cass
in Senate (1857); real struggle
took place in Republican caucus,
40; political methods, 41; nature
of his support, 41 ; reasons for his
success, 41-44
Early Years in the Senate and
Campaign of 1860; slaveocracy
in control opposed by Chandler,
44; speech attacking Democrats
for monopolizing memberships on
standing committees, 45; speech
on Kansas (Mar. 12, 1858), 45;
efforts to secure appropriation for
channel through St. Clair Flats,
46; arraigns Democrats for ex
travagance, 46-47; speech on
John Brown raid, 47-48; insult
ing speeches of Southern Senators

resented, 48; letter to Lyman
Trumbull on Campaign of 1860,
48-49; campaign speeches in
Michigan, New York, New Eng
land and Illinois, 49; letter to
Lyman Trumbull urging that
Lincoln visit Detroit, 49-50;
letter to Lyman Trumbull on
financial situation (Nov. 1860),
51-52Senator in War Time; letter to
Gov. Blair opposing Peace Con
gress, 53; Blood-letter, 53; votes
on Corwin proposition and Chit
tenden Resolutions, 54 (n. 4);
speech of Mar. 2 defending
Blood-letter and opposing all com
promise, 54-55; acrid reply of
Sen. Wigfall of Texas, 55-56; re
marks on Pacific Railway bill,
56; amendment to Pacific Ry.
bill agreed to by Senate, 56 (n.
10); urges Lincoln to arrest
traitors in Congress, 57; present
at Bull Run, 57; urges Lincoln to
prosecute war more vigorously,
57; calls upon McClellan, 57;
offers resolution in Senate to ap
point committee on Conduct of
the War, 58; appointed member
of Committee on Conduct of the
War, 59 ; speech in Senate against
McClellan, 60; letter to Trum
bull on early reverses of Union
Arms, 60-61; narrow and prej
udiced yet courageous and zeal
ous, 62; supports policy of con
fiscating rebel property, 62; op
poses J. M. Howard for Senator
and favors H. G. Wells, 63;
political methods, 64
Campaign of 1862 in Michigan
and Second Election to the
Senate; his reelection to Senate
the chief issue in campaign of

INDEX

147

1862, 65; political methods, 65-
66; letter to Trumbull, 66;
letter to C. T. Gorham, 67;
lobby at Lansing, Jan., 1863,
68; nominated by unanimous
vote on first informal ballot, 68;
James F. Joy, Address to the
Legislature, 68-69; reelected to
Senate, 69
In the Senate, 1863 and 1864;
speech in support of Currency
bill, 70-72; introduces bill on
Confederate property, 72; de
fends B. F. Butler, 72; remarks
on Rebel rights, 72; letter to
Trumbull, 72-73; stumps Ohio in
Sept., 74; denounces Conserva
tive Republicans in letter to
Lincoln, 74; Lincoln's reply, 75;
delighted with President's mes
sage on reconstruction, Dec. 8,
1863, 75; speaks against commut
ing military service by a money
payment, 75; favors bill to
prohibit speculation in gold,
75-76; remarks on "regular lines
between Detroit and Liver
pool," 76; assaulted by Cop
perheads in National Hotel,
76; favors death penalty for
officers who sell military supplies
to the enemy, 77; urges Lincoln
to sign Wade-Davis bill, 77-78;
Lincoln's reply, 78-79; reasons
for opposition to Cleveland con
vention and candidacy of Fre
mont, 79-80 (n. 23); induces
Fremont to withdraw and helps
heal breach in Republican party,
80-81; in campaign of 1864, 81.
The Years 1865-1866; reasons for
his hostility towards Great Bri
tain, 82-83; personality, 82-83;
"twists the lion's tail," 83-84;
favors policy of retaliation upon

rebel prisoners for cruelties suf
fered by Union soldiers in South
ern prisons, 84-86; helps defeat
joint resolution to recognize State
of Louisiana, 86; delighted with
Andrew Johnson's sentiments on
reconstruction, 86; slow to be
come an anti- Johnson man, 87;
violent speech against Great
Britain, 87; letter to Chicago
Tribune, 88 ; remarks on Sumner's
resolution of protest against prac
tice of pardoning criminals abroad
on condition that they emigrate
to the United States, 88; favors
liberal interpretation of Inter
state Commerce clause, 89; work
in connection with committee on
commerce, 88-90; position on re
construction issues in campaign
of 1866, 92-93; campaign meth
ods, 94
Foreign Affairs and Reconstruc
tion, 1866-1868; why Chandler
was radical on reconstruction,
95-96; jingoistic attitude on for
eign affairs, 96-97; attacks Sec.
McCuUoch, 97-98 ; votes guilty in
impeachment trial of Johnson,
98 ; offers resolution in Senate in
regard to French troops in Mexi
co, 99; remarks on Alabama
Claims, 99-100; speech on Mex
ico, 100; offers joint resolution
on Abyssinia, 100; speech against
Great Britain, 100-101
Grant's First Administration and
Campaign of 1872; firm believer
in protective tariff, 111; "twists
the lion's tail," 111; secures
Federal appointments for friends
and supporters, 111-112; his trip
to Europe, 113; opposes inflation
of the currency, 114; opposes
establishment of an agency

148

INDEX

abroad for payment of interest
on the national debt, 114; offers
resolution looking to the annexa
tion of Winnipeg, 114-115; speech
on same, 115; efforts in behalf of
bill to enforce the Fifteenth
Amendment, 115; speech in favor
of annexation of San Domingo,
116; attacks on Sumner, 116;
letter to Chas. T. Gorham com
menting on Sumner and Grant,
116; his influence with Grant,
116-117; opposed to civil ser
vice reform, 117; member of "Ku
Klux Committee," 117; per
sonally honest but a practical
politician, 117; quoted on Sena
torial contest of Jan., 1871, 118;
denounces cry for reform and
waves "bloody shirt" in cam
paign of 1872, 119-120; letters to
C. T. Gorham on campaign of
1872, 120-121
Grant's Second Term and Chand
ler's Defeat in 1875; votes
against Salary Grab bill, 123;
living expenses, 123; debut of
Miss Chandler described by Mark
Twain, 123; opposes further in
flation of the currency, 123-124;
in campaign of 1874, 125; meth
ods used to secure reelection to
Senate, 126-130; lobby at Lans
ing, 128-129; vote in the Legis
lature and defeat of Chandler,
129-130; analysis of causes for
his defeat, 130-131; letter to
C. T. Gorham commenting on
his defeat, 131
Summary of Chandler's Political
Career, 1875-1879; Secretary of
the Interior in Grant's cabinet,
133; chairman of National Re
publican Committee and real
director of Hayes' campaign,

133-134; turned out of Dept. of
Interior, 134; letters to C. T.
Gorham, 134; elected to Senate
to serve unexpired term of I. P.
Christiancy, 135; Jeff Davis
speech, 135; death, 135
Cheboygan, 34-35, 37
Childs, J. Webster, 128, 129
Chippewa County, 35, 37
Christiancy, Isaac P., candidate for
Senate (1857), 40; (1863), 63;
succeeds Chandler in the Senate,
130; resigns, 135
Civil Service reform, 117
Clay, C. M., 49
Cleveland Convention (1864), 79
Commerce, Senate committee on,
45; Chandler's work on, 88
Compromise of 1850, 15; repeal of
denounced by Northern Whigs, 21
Conduct of the War, committee on,
58, 59 (n. 17 and 18), 61, 62, 66,
85, 86
Confiscation of Rebel property,
Chandler in favor of, 62
Congress, see Chandler
Copperheads, 95; Chandler's hatred
for, 76
Credit Mobilier, 124
Crittenden Resolutions 54, (n. 4)
Cuba, 46, 47
Currency bill, 70 ff., 123-124, 114
De Land, Charles V., History of
Jackson County, 138
Delta County, politics of, 37
Dilla, H. M., Politics of Michigan
1865-1878, 136
Democratic party, strength in Mich
igan in 1848 and 1852, 20; vote
in Congress on Kansas-Nebraska
bill, 20-21; strength among newly
arrived immigrants, 23 ; really the
party of aristocrats, 29 ; strong in
certain parts of Michigan, 34, 37;
Irish and, 35; Catholics and, 35,

INDEX

149

37; French and, 35-36; Germans
and, 36; Hollanders and, 36;
Episcopalians and, 37; monop
olizes memberships of Senate
committees in 35th Congress, 45;
see Election
Detroit, Chandler nominated
Mayor of, 7; population (1851),
7; city improvements needed
(1851), 28; Democratic strong
hold (1851), 8; Chandler elected
Mayor of (1851), 8; nature of the
office, 9; sympathy for Revolu
tion of 1848, 11; anti-slavery
meeting in (1854), 21; Tribune.
Whig organ, 21; Advertiser, Whig
organ, 21; Free Press, Democra
tic newspaper, 21; citizens un
easy over possibility of attacks
by Confederates from Canada,
82; National Union Convention
at in 1866, 92; Post established
as organ of Chandler "Ring,''
103; gives Republican majority
in 1872, 122.
Dutch, see Hollanders
Edmunds, James, M., 112
Election of 1852 in Michigan, 14 ff.
Election of 1854 in Michigan, 28
Election of 1860 in Michigan, 51;
see Chandler
Election of 1862 in Michigan, 65 ff.
Election of 1864 in Michigan, 81
Election of 1866 in Michigan, 91 ff.
Election of 1868 in Michigan, 102 ff.
Election of 1872 in Michigan, 118 ff.
Election of 1874 in Michigan, 124 ff.
Emancipation Proclamation, 67
Emmet County, politics of, 34-35,
37
Episcopalians, politics of, 37, 67
Erie Canal, 89
Farmer, S., History of Detroit and
Michigan, 138

Ferry, Thomas W., 108-109, 112,
118, 125
Fifteenth Amendment, 115
Fourteenth Amendment, 9 1 ;
Chandler's views on, 93, 98
Free Democrats, 20-22
Free Soilers, 15, 18, 22; strength
in Michigan in 1848 and 1852,
20; convention at Jackson (1854),
23; convention at Kalamazoo, 24
Fremont, John C, 59; nominated
for president at Cleveland (1864),
79; withdraws, 80
French, political affiliations of,
35-36
Fugitive Slave Law, 15; not the
cause of the dissolution of the
Whig party in Michigan, 20
Funding bill, 114
"Fusionists," 65; nominate Jas. F.
Joy for United States Senate
(1863), 68
Germans, political affiliations of,
36
Governor of Michigan, Chandler
nominated by Whigs (1852), 14;
Bingham nominated by Repub
licans (1854), 25; Bingham elect
ed, 28; politics of since 1854, 28
(n. 13)
Gorham, Charles T., 37, 120, 126,
132, 134
Grant, Ulysses S., 116-117, 120, 122,
124, 133
Great Britain, reasons for Chand
ler's hostility towards, 82-83;
Chandler "twists the lion's tail,"
83-84, 87-88, 99-101, 111, 114-115
Greeley, Horace, 21, 120, 121, 122
Hay, John, quoted, 75
Hayes, Rutherford B., 133, 134
Helper's Impending Crisis, 47, 47
(n. 8)
Hollanders in Mich., politics of, 36

150

INDEX

Howard, Jacob M., 102, 108; can
didate for Senate (1857), 40;
candidate for Senate (1861), 63;
elected to Senate to succeed
Bingham, deceased, 64; relations
with Chandler, 64; hostility for
Pres. Johnson, 91; introduces
bill in Senate favoring policy of
retaliation upon rebel prisoners,
84; letter from Chandler with
note by Howard on Struggle over
bill to enforce the Fifteenth
Amendment, 115-116; in Sena
torial election of 1871, 118
Howard, William A., 50; quotes
Chandler on his nomination for
Governor of Michigan, 14; faith
ful supporter of Chandler, 112
Houghton, Mich., 37, 111
Internal improvements, 17
Irish, political affiliations, 35
Isle Royal, 90
Jackson, Andrew, 52
Jackson, Michigan, Republican
party founded at, 24 ff.
Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, 54
Jerome, George, 111-112, 127
Johnson, Andrew, member of Com
mittee on Conduct of the War,
59, 86; early friendship with
Chandler, 86-87; remarks on re
construction delight the Radicals,
86; reconstruction policy, 91;
Chandler turns against, 93;
Chandler favors impeachment of,
97-98
Joy, James F., nominated by
Fusionists for Senate (1863), 63;
Address to the Legislature, 68-69;
delegate to National Union Con
vention (1866), 92
Julian, George W., Political Recol
lections, 138
Kalamazoo, Michigan, Free Soil
Convention at (1854), 24

Kansas, Chandler's speech on
(March 12, 1858), 45
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 21; the oc
casion not the cause for the dis
solution of the Whig party in
Mich., party votes on in Con
gress, 20-21; issue of results in
mass meetings throughout Mich.
(1854), 21
Kellogg, F. W., 49
Kent County, politics of, 36
Keweenaw County, politics of, 37
Kinkel, Dr. Gottfried, visit to
Detroit, 12
Know Nothing party, 28
Kossuth, Louis, 11
Ku Klux Committee, 117
Lacey, Samuel, 112
Lefavour, Edward, 112
Liberal Republican party, 118-119,
124
Lincoln, Abraham, 49-50, 51, 57,
61, 67, 73-75, 78, 81, 86, 116.
Lothrop, G. V. N., 129
Luce, Cyrus G., 131
McClellan, General George B., 61,
8 1 ; visited by Chandler, Trum
bull and Wade, 57; quoted, 57-58;
Chandler's opinion of, 59 ; Chand
ler's speech against, 60; removed
from Command, 60; electoral
vote for (1864), 81
McClelland, Robert, nominated for
Governor of Michigan, by Demo
crats, 14; characterized, 14
McCuUoch, Hugh, Secretary of the
Treasury, attacked by Chandler,
97-98
Mackinac County, politics of, 35, 37
Manistee County, strongly anti-
slavery, 32
Mark Twain, 123
Marquette County, politics of, 37
Maynard, A. B., 112
Mayor of Detroit, Chandler nomin-

INDEX

151

ated by Whigs, 7; elected, 8;
nature of the office (1851), 9
Menominee County, politics of, 37
Methodists, 33
Mexico, Chandler introduces reso
lution in Senate On French troops
in, 99; Chandler's speech on, 100
Michigan, Chandler nominated
Governor of, 14; causes for anti-
slavery sentiment in, 30 ff. ;
strength of union sentiment in,
37-38; sends no delegates to
Peace Congress, 53; Chandler
secures liberal Federal appro
priations for, 89; dissolution of
Whig party in, see Whig party
Michigan Central Railroad, 50
Monroe Doctrine, 114
Nashua Letter, 16
National Reform party, 124
National Unionist party, 91-92
Newspapers, bibliography, 137;
New York Tribune, 21, 32;
Detroit Post, 103; Detroit Ad
vertiser and Tribune, 103
New York, State of, 89
New York Tribune, 21, 32
Niagara ship canal, 89
Nicholson Letter, 39
Oglesby, Governor of Illinois, 102-
103
Ontonagon County, politics of, 37
Ottawa County, politics of, 36
Pacific Railway, Chandler's re
marks on, 56; Chandler's amend
ment to bill to establish accepted
by the Senate, 56 (n. 10)
Peace Congress, Michigan not rep
resented in, 53
Pierce, Franklin, 15-17
Port Hudson, 73
Post, Detroit newspaper, estab
lished as Chandler organ, 103
Post-Tribune Life of Zachariah
Chandler, 137

Press-Gaglaw, 124
Radical Republicans, 118-119
Red River Expedition, 59
Republican party of Michigan,
founded, 24 ff.; early feeling in
resulting from fusion of old
parties, 26; organized for cam
paign of 1854, 27-28; gained
ascendency in Michigan (1854),
28; characterized, 29, 40; dom
inated by Chandler 104-105;
see Election
Riddle, A. G., quoted, 74; Ben
jamin F. Wade, 137
Rowlson, H. B., 112
Saginaw Bay, 90
Saginaw Valley, 24
St. Albans raiders, 84
St. Clair Flats, Chandler's efforts
to secure Federal appropriation
for channel through, 46, 90
Salary Grab bill, 123, 124
San Domingo, 116
Sault Ste. Marie Canal, 17
Schurz, Carl, 134
Scott, Winfield, 15, 16, 17, 18, 57,
58
Seward, Wm. H, 73, 74; enter
tained at Chandler's home, 49;
castigated by Chandler (1866),
93
Stanton, Edwin M., Secretary of
War, 60, 73, 98
Stuart, Charles E., 63, 92
Sumner, Charles, 86 (n. 6), 87, 88,
116, 117, 120, 124
Swift, George, 112
Thorpe, William, quoted, 98
Trumbull, Lyman, 48, 49, 50, 51,
60, 66, 72, 86; urges Lincoln to
prosecute the war more vigor
ously, 57; denounced by Chand
ler (1872), 119
Union Democrats, in campaign of
1862, 65

152

INDEX

United States Bank, 18
Van Raalte, Rev. A. C, 36
Voorhees, "Dan," 76-77
Wade, Benjamin F., 49, 53, 86, 87;
agreement with Chandler and
Cameron to resent insults of
Southern Senators, 48; present
at Bull Run, 57; urges Lincoln
to force the fighting, 57; member
of Committee on Conduct of the
War, 59
Wade-Davis bill, Chandler urges
Lincoln to sign, 78
Waldron, Henry, quoted, 51
Warren, Joseph, 21
Wayne County, population and
politics, 34 (n. 8), 122
Weed, Thurlow, 74, 75

Wells, Hezekiah G., Candidate for
Senate (1863), 63; supported by
Chandler, 63
Whig party, nominates Chandler
for Mayor of Detroit (1851), 7
nominates Chandler for Gov
ernor of Michigan (1852), 14
adjourns convention (1854) with
out making nominations, 27
causes for dissolution in Mich
igan, 20 ff.
Wigfall, Senator, 56, 57
Williams, General John R., 8
Wilmot Proviso, 25
Winnipeg, 114
Wisner, Moses, candidate for Senate
(1857), 40