Shuyler
Colfax, was the first post Civil War Vice President, and the first Speaker of the house to serve as Vice President.
He was Born in 1823 in New York City. His Grandfather had served with George Washington during the Revolutionary war, and his grandmother was a cousin of General Philip Schuyler. Philip Schuyler was also the father in law of Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr’s opponent in two New York senatorial elections, losing in 1789 and winning in 1796. Shuyler Colfax Sr., died from tuberculosis two years before Shuyler Jr. was born.
He quit school at age ten and worked a retail store earning money to support himself, his mother, and his grandmother. In 1836 his mother married George Matthews and the family moved to Indiana. Young Shuyler was given a job working at his step-father’s store, which was also a local post office.
In his spare time Colfax became a master of self education, reading and studying any books that he was able to get a hold of.
In 1841 the family moved to South Bend and his Step-father was elected as a Whig to be the county auditor. He appointed Shuyler to be his deputy. Colfax soon took a liking to politics and joined the “Moot Legislature” a group which followed and studied the Indiana state legislature.
At age 16 he wrote to Newspaper publisher Horace Greeley (Go West Young Man), and asked if he could submit articles to be published in the New York Tribune. Greeley was more than happy to publish the young man’s articles and it started a friendship that continued unit Greeley’s death in 1872.
When he was 19 the local Whigs made him the editor of the South Bend Free press.
During this time he was an admirer of Henry Clay, and his paper promoted the Whigs political agenda. It was during this time that Colfax vowed not to drink alcohol. Some Whigs thought that he should also give up cigars, but he loved them too much. In 1845 he purchased the Free Press and renamed it The St.
Joseph Valley register. Author Harriet Beecher Stowe called it “A morally pure paper”.
He was a delegate to the Whig convention of 1848, and the Indiana state
constitutional convention in 1849. At the state convention Colfax opposed an amendment that would prohibit free Negroes from entering the state and would not allow Negroes already in Indiana to purchase property. Despite his efforts the amendment passed and remained in the Indiana constitution until it was ruled to be unconstitutional by the US Supreme court in 1865.
In 1850 he barely lost an election for the US house. In 1852 he was dismayed when the Whig party split and finally ceased to exist. He decided not to run for office and spent some time as a Know Nothing, trying to get that party to endorse and anti-slavery platform.
In 1854 his friend Horace Greeley, who had just finished a term in Congress, encouraged Colfax to run for office. As a candidate for the new Republican Party Colfax convinced anti-slavery Democrats, whigs, and Free soilers to join the party, and helped organize local branches of the Republican Party. During his election campaign his speech denouncing the pro-slavery Kansas state legislature was copied and published as a Republican campaign document.
He was elected to the US House of Representatives and when he was reelected in 1856 he became the Chairman of the Committee of Post offices, and Post roads. Even though he never had a law school education he impressed him fellow legislators with his ability to understand complex issues and then explain them in ways that common people could understand.
In 1860 Colfax continued his support of the Republican Party and was reelected to another term in the House. He declined to run for Speaker, but he did gain close access to the new president, and was often invited to White House meetings. In 1863 Speaker Golusha Grow was defeated for reelection and this time Colfax accepted the nomination and was elected Speaker of the House. Lincoln had once called Colfax, “An untrustworthy intriguer” and would have preferred someone from the less radical wing of the party.
It was April of 1865, and with the war coming to an end Colfax went to the White House to discuss matters of future
reconstruction legislation. After the meeting Lincoln invited him to join his party and see a play at Ford’s Theater. Colfax declined and instead went to bed early that night.
One can only imagine what thoughts must have run through his mind when he was suddenly awakened from a sound sleep and then told “the President has been shot”. He dressed quickly and was taken to boarding house where the wounded Lincoln lay dying.
In his early days in Congress he had been moderate on his approach to emancipation but in his later days he had become an avid abolitionist. He broke with precedent when as Speaker he asked that his vote be recorded when he voted for the bill that would become the 13th amendment to the US Constitution.
When Colfax traveled to the rocky Mountains to tour the mines he was greeted with brass bands and banquets. He had been worried that Andrew Johnson would be too lenient on the rebel states and made a speech demanding that any state seeking readmission must promise to guarantee equal treatment under the law for all freed men. President Johnson resented Colfax for preempting his own speech on the matter of reconstruction.
When President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Freemen’s Bureau, Colfax joined with other Republicans and demanded Johnson’s impeachment.
The main issue during the election of 1868 was Reconstruction. Ulysses S.Grant had never been interested in politics, and had voted for Buchanan in 1856. Colfax was nominated for Vice President to satisfy the radical wing of the Republican party. Grant’s opponent was Horatio Seymore, a Peace Democrat during the war, and Colfax opponent was General Francis Blair, who was pro-Union during the war, but an opponent of the policies of the Radical Republicans.
Another smaller issue was the growing number of anti-alcohol societies and organizations. Some argued that Colfax, a known
tee-totaler would be a good balance for Grant who was known for enjoying a good strong drink.
During the campaign the Democrats said that Colfax had been a member of the anti-Catholic Know Nothing party, but the Republicans fought back by organizing Irish and German support clubs for Grant-Colfax.
Days after the election Colfax, now a widower, married Ellen Wade, the niece of Ohio Senator Ben Wade, who had also been a candidate for Vice President at the 1868 Republican convention.
As Vice President Colfax never had to break a tie vote and like previous Vice presidents didn’t have much to do. However when rumors and investigations began hinting at graft and corruption in the Grant administration some party members began talking about Colfax as the candidate for President in 1872. But the rumors and investigations soon caught up with Colfax himself. In what would later be known as the Credit Mobilier scandal Colfax had accepted railroad stock that would later be seen as part of a bribe. Colfax had not come from a very financially sound back ground and found it difficult to turn down gifts. Was Colfax a man who’s limited education didn’t teach him about the world of “gifts in exchange for favors”, or just an opportunist who got caught? Either way it was the beginning of the end for his political career.
In 1871 he announced that he would retire at the end of his term, but in 1872 he changed his mind and tried again to be
re-nominated for Vice President. The delegates at the convention decided instead to nominate Henry Wilson.
During his retirement Colfax found that there was quite a lucrative market in anything having to do with Lincoln. He made some money making speeches about his relationship with Lincoln during the war. Other than that he soon became an American unknown.
In 1885, while waiting at a railroad station in Mankato Minnesota, he was killed by a sudden heart attack. No one knew who he was, so they had to identify him from the papers in his pocket.
The biographies I found on line made no mention of his academic achievements. He must have been an impressive politician to be chosen Speaker of the House instead of one of the many members who were university graduates and attorneys. But he is best remembered, if at all, for having accepted stock from the railroads in the infamous Credit Mobilier scandal.
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