
Schuyler Colfax
Former Vice President of the United States
Education
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Overview
Schuyler Colfax was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th speaker of the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869. Originally a Whig, then part of the short-lived People's Party of Indiana, and later a Republican, he was the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district from 1855 to 1869.
Colfax was known for his opposition to slavery while serving in Congress, and was a founder of the Republican Party. During his first term as speaker, he led the effort to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery. When it came before the House for a final vote in January 1865, he emphasized his support by casting a vote in favor—by convention the speaker votes only to break a tie. Chosen as Ulysses S. Grant's running mate in the 1868 election, the pair won easily over Democratic Party nominees Horatio Seymour and Francis Preston Blair Jr. As was typical during the 19th century, Colfax had little involvement in the Grant administration. In addition to his duties as president of the U.S. Senate, he continued to lecture and write for the press while in office. Believing Grant would only serve one term, in 1870, Colfax attempted unsuccessfully to garner support for the 1872 Republican presidential nomination by telling friends and supporters he would not seek a second vice presidential term. When Grant announced that he would run again, Colfax reversed himself and attempted to win the vice-presidential nomination, but it was given to Henry Wilson.
An 1872–73 Congressional investigation into the Crédit Mobilier scandal identified Colfax as one of several federal government officials who, in 1868, accepted payments of cash and discounted stock from the Union Pacific Railroad in exchange for favorable action during the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Though he vociferously defended himself against charges, his reputation suffered. Colfax left the vice presidency at the end of his term in March 1873, and never again ran for office. Afterward, he worked as a business executive and became a popular lecturer and speechmaker.
Colfax suffered a heart attack and died at a railroad station in Mankato, Minnesota, on January 13, 1885, while en route to a speaking engagement in Iowa. He is one of only two persons to have served as both speaker of the House and vice president, the other being John Nance Garner.
Early Life
Schuyler Colfax was born in New York City on March 23, 1823, the son of Schuyler Colfax Sr. (1792–1822), a bank teller, and Hannah Stryker (1805–1872), both of Dutch ancestry, who had married on April 25, 1820. His grandfather, William Colfax, served in George Washington's Life Guard during the American Revolution and married Hester Schuyler, the second great-granddaughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler.: 146–148 and a cousin of General Philip Schuyler. William Colfax became a general in the New Jersey Militia after the Revolution and commanded a brigade during the War of 1812.: 151
Schuyler Colfax Sr. contracted tuberculosis and died on October 30, 1822, five months before Colfax was born.[8] His sister Mary died in July 1823, four months after he was born. After the senior Colfax's death, Colfax's mother and grandmother ran a boarding house as their primary means of economic support. Colfax attended school in New York City until he was 10, when family financial difficulties caused him to end his formal education and take a job as a clerk in the store of George W. Matthews.
Hannah Colfax and George Matthews were married in 1836, and the family moved to New Carlisle, Indiana, where Matthews ran a store which also served as the village post office. There, Colfax became an avid reader of newspapers and books. The family moved again in 1841, to nearby South Bend, Indiana, after Matthews became St. Joseph County Auditor. He appointed Colfax as his deputy, a post that Colfax held throughout the eight years Matthews was in office
On October 10, 1844, he married his childhood friend Evelyn Clark. She died in 1863; they had no children.
On November 18, 1868, two weeks after winning the vice presidency, he married Ellen (Ella) M. Wade (1836–1911), a niece of Senator Benjamin Wade. They had one son, Schuyler Colfax III (1870–1925), who served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 1898 to 1901. He assumed office at the age of 28, and remains the youngest person to become mayor in the city's history.
Colfax was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). In 1850, Colfax and members William T. Martin of Mississippi and E. G. Steel of Tennessee were appointed to prepare a ritual pertaining to the Rebekah Degree and present a report at the 1851 annual meeting. On September 20, 1851, the IOOF approved the degree and Colfax was credited as its author and founder.
In 1854 Colfax was initiated into the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at DePauw University as an honorary member.
Career
- United States - Former Vice President