Oliver Hazard Perry Morton
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| Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton | |
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Fourteenth Governor of Indiana
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| In office January 16, 1861 – January 23, 1867 |
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| Preceded by | Henry S. Lane |
| Succeeded by | Conrad Baker |
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| In office March 4, 1867 – November 1, 1877 |
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| Preceded by | Henry S. Lane |
| Succeeded by | Daniel W. Voorhees |
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| Born | August 4, 1823 Salisbury, Indiana, USA |
| Died | November 1, 1877 Indianapolis, Indiana, USA |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Lucinda Burbank Morton |
Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton (August 4, 1823 – November 1, 1877) was a U.S. Republican Party politician from Indiana. He served as governor of Indiana during the Civil War, and was a stalwart ally of President Abraham Lincoln. Many historians consider him the finest Civil War governor. Morton later served in the U.S. Senate for a decade.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Morton was a native Hoosier (born in Wayne County), but he spent most of his formative years in Ohio. He was named for Oliver Hazard Perry, victorious US admiral in the Battle of Lake Erie. His mother died when he was three, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents. As a teenager, he moved to Centerville, Indiana, which remained his home for the rest of his life.
Initially Morton's chosen profession was that of a hatter. But becoming dissatisfied with it he decided to pursue a career in law. Although he did not complete high school, he attended Miami University in 1843 and 1844 and then Cincinnati College) to study law. With this schooling Morton was able to train himself in law. He returned to Centerville where he practiced law with Judge Newman ultimately becoming a successful and wealthy attorney. In 1852 Morton was elected as Circuit Judge but resigned after a year; he preferred practicing law to judging.[1]
Morton married the former Lucinda Burbank in 1845. They had five children, three of whom survived to adulthood.
[edit] Political career
Morton had been a Democrat for all of his adult life, but living in a largely Whig region he had little hope of any political career. After the repeal of the Missouri Compromise the Democratic Party began to go through a major change and Morton became a "radical". He joined the "People's" party in 1854, and in 1856 he was one of the creators of the Republican Party as a delegate to convention in Pittsburgh. His popularity among the new party was so great that he was unanimously nominated to be the Republican candidate for Governor of Indiana that year. Morton lost the election that year to Ashbel Willard but emerged more popular than ever.[2] Morton's speeches were noted to be "plain and convincing", and that he was not eloquent or witty, but rather logical and reasonable.
The Republicans nominated Morton for lieutenant governor in 1860, and this time he was a winner. In January 1861, the newly elected governor, Henry Smith Lane, was immediately chosen by the Indiana legislature for a U.S. Senate seat thereby elevating Morton to the governor's chair.[3]
[edit] Governor Morton
Morton served as governor of Indiana for six years (1861-1867) and strongly supported the Union during the Civil War. He raised men and money for the Union army, and demonized Indiana's Confederate sympathizers. He is the only governor honored by his state's veterans with a statue in Vicksburg National Military Park. In 1862, he attended the Loyal War Governors' Conference in Altoona, Pennsylvania, organized by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, which ultimately gave Abraham Lincoln support for his Emancipation Proclamation.
- See also: Indiana in the American Civil War
During his early tenure as governor, Morton was in full belief that war was inevitable and began early to prepare the state for it. He appointed men to cabinet positions who were well known to be against any compromise. He early on established the state arsenal and made many other preparation for the trials to come.[4] When war broke out on April 12, 1861 he telegraphed three days later to announce that he already had 10,000 soldiers underarms ready to suppress the rebellion.[5]
Morton was able to keep the state united during the first phase of the war, but once emancipation became an issue in 1862 he lost the support of the Democrat majority in the legislature. When the legislature sought to remove from his command the state militia and transfer it to a state board of commissioners (Democrats) Morton immediately broke up the legislature by getting his supporters to leave the capitol, thus denying the assembly quorum. Unfortunately no appropriations bill had been passed and the government quickly sunk into near bankruptcy. Exceeding his constitutional authority he secured millions of dollars in loans from sources like the federal government, county boards, state banks, and private businessmen like James Lanier who loaned the state enough money to pay maintenance on the state debt.[6] The most notable thing of this period was the honesty with which the government was run during this time. Every cent of the borrowed money was accounted for with no graft or corruption and all was repaid in the years to come. It was by these honest actions that he was able to avoid repercussions when the legislature finally was permitted to reconvene (With a new Republican Majority).[7]
In 1864 Morton was reelected to office defeating Democrat and longtime friend Joseph McDonald be over 20,000 votes. Although the campaign was in conducted in time of war, with both parties strongly opposing the other. both Morton and McDonald would remain friends after the campaign.[8]Oliver Morton was partially crippled by a paralytic stroke in late 1865 which incapacitated him for a time.
[edit] Senator Morton
In 1867 Morton was elected a Senator. He resigned from his Governor post that same year. In 1873 he was reelected and served there until his death. In the Senate he became a party leader and was the chairman of the Committee of Privileges and Elections.[9]
Being in the Senate during reconstruction, Morton supported most of the radical and repressive plans for punishing the southern states. He also supported the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson for his "moderate" views on reconstruction and was sorely disappointed when the impeachment failed. Under President Ulysses S. Grant he would support the Inflation Bill and the Redemption Act while opposing the Electoral Commission Bill. Although he had delivered a speech against giving blacks the right to vote in 1865, by 1870 he had completely changed him mind and supported full suffrage for the former slave population. He is quoted as saying "I confess, and I do it without shame, that I have been educated by the great events of War."[10][11] He was a contender for the 1876 Republican nomination for President at the Cincinnati Convention where his name was offered by Richard W. Thompson. His vote total placed him second to James G. Blaine on the early ballots. By the sixth ballot he had slipped to fourth place and on the next vote nearly all the anti-Blaine delegates, including Morton's, united to give Rutherford B. Hayes the nomination.
[edit] Death
He suffered a second stroke in 1877 while on a trip to Oregon investigating charges of bribery made against La Fayette Grover, a newly elected senator from that state. He died shortly afterwards in Indianapolis.[12]
His funeral was attended by many dignitaries throughout the United States. The President ordered all flags to half mast. His memorial ceremony was held in Roberts Park Church and he was buried that in the Crown Hill Cemetery.[13]
[edit] Policies and criticism
In 1862, Morton asked Henry B. Carrington for assistance organizing the state's levies for service. Morton established an intelligence network to deal with rebel sympathizers, Knights of the Golden Circle (Copperheads), Democrats, and anyone opposed to his rule, and Carrington was put at its head. While Carrington succeeded in keeping the state secure, his operatives also carried out arbitrary arrests, suppressed freedom of speech and freedom of association, and generally maintained a repressive regime. Morton illegally (it had not been authorized by the legislature) called out the state militia in July 1863 during "Morgan's Raid." Although Morton was criticized for exceeding his authority as governor (he refused to call the Democrat-dominated legislature into session in either 1863 or 1864, and quietly passed the word for Republicans to absent themselves from the capital to deprive the Democrats of a quorum), he was popular in the state and was re-elected governor in 1864.
From 1867 to 1877, Morton was a United States Senator, where he was noted for his intense partisanship. In the 1870s, he became a prominent member of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party; a faction more concerned with building the party and its power than with any particular ideological stand.
Morton's stand on paper money made him controversial. He was considered "soft" because he favored issuing paper money with no backing during difficult times. This view, combined with his failing health, hurt him in his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1876. He did, however, participate as a member of the Electoral Commission appointed to determine the outcome of that contested presidential election.
[edit] Legacy
Morton is memorialized in the United States Capitol as one of Indiana's two statues on the National Statuary Hall Collection. There are also two statues of him in downtown Indianapolis, in front of the Indiana Statehouse and as part of the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on Monument Circle. Morton Senior High School in Hammond, Indiana, home of the "Morton Governors," is named after him.
[edit] References
- Garraty, John A. and Mark C. Carnes. American National Biography, vol. 13, "Morton, Oliver Perry". New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 131
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 131
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 132
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 132-133
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 133
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 134
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 134
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 134-5
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 135
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 138
- ^ Lockridge, Ross F. The Story of Indiana, 1957, pg. 325-332
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 137
- ^ Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana By William Wesley Woollen Pg 138
[edit] External links
- Oliver Hazard Perry Morton at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Oliver Hazard Perry Morton at Find A Grave
- Civil War Home- Morton biography
- Morton's statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection
- Indiana Historical Bureau: Biography and portrait
- Civil War: Governor Morton Telegraph Books
| Preceded by Abram A. Hammond |
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana 1861 |
Succeeded by Conrad Baker |
| Preceded by Henry S. Lane |
Governor of Indiana 1861 – 1867 |
Succeeded by Conrad Baker |
| Preceded by Henry S. Lane |
United States Senator (Class 3) from Indiana March 4, 1867 – November 1, 1877 Served alongside: Thomas A. Hendricks, Daniel D. Pratt and Joseph E. McDonald |
Succeeded by Daniel W. Voorhees |
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