Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885

<p>Schuyler Colfax Jr. (March 23, 1823 – January 13, 1885) 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. A member of the Republican Party (after the Whig Party's demise in the early 1850s), he was the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district from 1855 to 1869.</p>

<p>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 what would become the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. When it came before the House for a final vote in January 1865, he made the unusual choice to cast a vote (by convention the speaker rarely casts a vote), voting in the affirmative. 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. In January 1871, Colfax encouraged a unified Italy to adopt a republican government that protected religious freedom and civil rights of its citizens. 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. However, when Grant announced that he would run again, Colfax reversed himself and attempted to win the vice presidential nomination, but was defeated by Henry Wilson.</p>

<p>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. Afterwards he worked as a business executive and became a popular lecturer and speech maker.</p>

<p>Colfax suffered a heart attack and died in a Mankato, Minnesota railroad station on January 13, 1885, en route to a speaking engagement in Iowa. To date, he is one of only two persons to have served as both speaker of the House and vice president; the other is John Nance Garner.</p>

COLFAX, SCHUYLER, a Representative from Indiana and a Vice President of the United States; born in New York City March 23, 1823; attended the common schools; in 1836 moved with his parents to New Carlisle, Ind.; appointed deputy auditor of St. Joseph County 1841; became a legislative correspondent for the Indiana State Journal; purchased an interest in the South Bend Free Press and changed its name in 1845 to the St. Joseph Valley Register, the Whig organ of northern Indiana; member of the State constitutional convention in 1850; unsuccessful Whig candidate for election to the Thirty-second Congress; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fourth and to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1869); chairman, Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination in 1868, having become the Republican nominee for Vice President; Speaker of the House of Representatives (Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses); elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket headed by Gen. Ulysses Grant in 1868, was inaugurated March 4, 1869, and served until March 3, 1873; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1872, owing to charges of corruption in connection with the Credit Mobilier of America scandal; lecturer; died in Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn., January 13, 1885; interment in City Cemetery, South Bend, Ind.

<p>Schuyler Colfax was born on March 23, 1823, in New York City, months after his father had died. His mother raised him by herself until 1834 when she remarried. The family then moved to Indiana. Colfax had little formal education, having left school as a young boy to help support the family. He became interested in politics at an early age and read newspapers voraciously. He was a supporter of the Whig Party, abolitionism, and the temperance movement. In 1844, he married Evelyn Clark. The couple had no children, and she died in 1863.</p>

<p>In 1845, Colfax and a friend scraped together enough money to buy a local newspaper. After losing his first election in 1851, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1854. The next election, he ran as a Republican. Colfax served in the House of Representatives until he resigned to become vice president in 1869, and he was elected Speaker of the House in 1863. Speaker Colfax was an effective leader who successfully united the different factions of the Republican Party. During the Civil War, he recruited military regiments in Indiana and worked to marshal support for President Abraham Lincoln and his policies. In fact, Colfax met with Lincoln to discuss Reconstruction just hours before the President was assassinated. After Andrew Johnson became President, Colfax was a member of the Radical Republicans who opposed the President's moderate policies for reintegrating the South into the Union. He also supported Congress's efforts to impeach Johnson although the Senate did not have enough votes to convict the President. As the election of 1868 approached, Colfax made it clear that he wanted to be the vice presidential candidate for the Republicans to run with General Ulysses S. Grant who was the presidential candidate. The pair easily won the election. Colfax was considered a fine vice president and an effective leader of the Senate but as was typical, he did not have much involvement in the Grant administration. In 1870, he announced his retirement but changed his mind by early 1872. It was too late by that time, however, and the Republicans had picked Senator Henry Wilson to run with Grant in the 1872 election. Vice President Colfax did not escape the scandals that engulfed the Grant administration. During the lame-duck session of Congress in 1872, he became caught up in the Credit Mobilier Scandal. It involved railroad companies overcharging millions of dollars for government contracts and the company's directors bribing various government officials with company shares. In January 1873, Colfax appeared before a House committee to defend himself against charges that he had accepted shares in 1868. Although he was never convicted of any wrongdoing, he was not cleared either, and his reputation suffered. After stepping down as vice president in 1873, Colfax retired and returned to Indiana. He had remarried in 1868, and two years later he became a father for the first time. Leaving public life, he began a lucrative career as a public speaker. He died on January 13, 1885.</p>

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