Galusha A. Grow

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Galusha A. Grow
24th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
In office
July 4, 1861 – March 4, 1863
Preceded byWilliam Pennington
Succeeded bySchuyler Colfax
Leader of the
House Republican Conference
In office
July 4, 1861 – March 4, 1863
Preceded byWilliam Pennington
Succeeded bySchuyler Colfax
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania
In office
March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1863
Preceded byDavid Wilmot
Succeeded byWilliam Henry Miller
Constituency12th district (1851–53)
14th district (1853–63)
In office
February 26, 1894 – March 3, 1903
Preceded byWilliam Lilly
Succeeded byJohn M. Morin (1913)
Constituencyat-large district
Personal details
Born
Aaron Galusha Grow

August 31, 1823
Ashford, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedMarch 31, 1907 (aged 83)
near Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (1850–57)
Republican (1857–1907)
Alma materAmherst College
ProfessionAttorney
Signature

Galusha Aaron Grow (August 31, 1823 – March 31, 1907) was an American politician, lawyer, writer and businessman, who served as 24th

1850 congressional elections, he switched to the newly organized Republican Party in the mid-1850s when the Democratic Party tried to force the extension of slavery
into western territories.

Elected speaker for the

1862. For over a century he remained the last incumbent House speaker to be defeated, until Speaker Tom Foley lost his seat in 1994.[1]

After leaving office he continued to speak out on political issues, but did not serve in elective office. Then, 31 years after leaving office, Grow won an 1894 special election to succeed William Lilly. It remains one of the longest known interregnums between terms of service for a House member. Over the course of his career, Grow represented the people of three Pennsylvania congressional districts: the 12th district (1851–1853), 14th district (1853–1863), and Pennsylvania's at-large congressional district (1894–1903).

Early life and education

Grow was born Aaron Galusha Grow in Ashford, Connecticut. His given names were the suggestions of an aunt living in Vermont, who was visiting Grow's mother when he was christened: "Aaron" was the aunt's husband's name (his full name was Aaron Nichols (1764–1807)), and "Galusha" was the surname of a governor of Vermont she admired.[2] His family called him Galusha when he was growing up, and before Grow was a teenager, he had started writing his name with his given names reversed.[2] He was educated at Franklin Academy in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, and later at Amherst College. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in November 1847 and then began his law practice.[3]

Political career

Galusha Grow, c. 1859
Lawrence O' Bryan Branch.

Early elections

Grow ran as a

1856 election
and remained a member of that party for the rest of his political career.

Congressional brawl of 1858

During the

hairpiece of Rep. William Barksdale. The embarrassed Barksdale accidentally replaced the wig backwards, causing both sides to erupt in spontaneous laughter.[4][5][6]

Later that year Grow was

re-elected to a fifth term. When the next Congress convened in December 1859, he was one of 90 congressmen to receive votes during the two-month-long 44-ballot speaker election,[7] dropping out following the first ballot.[8]
On December 29, 1859, North Carolina Congressman Lawrence O'Bryan Branch challenged Galusha Grow to a duel after the two exchanged insults on the House Floor. Both men and their seconds were arrested by District of Columbia police before the duel could take place.[9]

1861 speaker election

The deepening rift between

roll call vote, at which time 28 votes shifted to Grow.[10]

1861 election for speaker – 159 votes cast, 80 votes necessary to win election:[11][12]
■ Galusha A. Grow (R–Pennsylvania) 99
■ Francis Preston Blair Jr. (R–Missouri) 12
■ John J. Crittenden (U–Kentucky) 12
■ John S. Phelps (D–Missouri) 7
■ 

Clement Vallandingham
(D–Ohio) 7
■ Erastus Corning (D–New York) 7
■ Samuel S. Cox (D–Ohio) 6
■ Others 9

Although events of the war dominated and the

Homestead Act
, which in over a century resulted in the establishment of 1.6 million homesteads.

Loss of congressional seat and interim

Grow, a supporter of the Radical Republicans, was defeated in his re-election bid in 1862, becoming the second sitting House Speaker in a row to lose his seat.

Grow was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in

1868
.

He moved to

International - Great Northern Railroad
, a position he held until 1875. He then returned to Pennsylvania and the practice of law from 1875 to 1894.

Return to Congress

Galusha Grow, 1891

Grow returned to the United States Congress as a

member at-large from Pennsylvania
from 1894 to 1903; was the chairman of the committee on education in the 56th Congress.

Death and legacy

Grow resided in

Houghton Mifflin in 1917.[2]

A monument to Grow was erected in 1915 at the Susquehanna County Courthouse Complex in Montrose, Pennsylvania.[13]

The gravesite of Speaker Grow

See also

References

  1. ^ "Thomas Foley, House Speaker, Dies at 84". New York Times. October 18, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d Galusha A. Grow: Father of the Homestead Law from Google Books
  3. ^ United States Congress. "Galusha A. Grow (id: G000507)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  4. ^ Allan L. Damon (December 1975). "Filibuster". American Heritage Magazine. 27 (1). Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
  5. ^ Cong. Globe, 35th Cong., 1st Sess. 603 (1858) Archived August 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ Nilsson, Jeff (December 4, 2010). "Beatings, Brawls, and Lawmaking: Mayhem in Congress". The Saturday Evening Post. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  7. ^ Ostermeier, Eric (October 30, 2015). "House Speaker Elections by the Numbers". Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Libraries. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  8. ^ "US House Speaker (1859–60)". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  9. ^ "The Near Duel Between Representatives Galusha Grow of Pennsylvania and Lawrence Branch of North Carolina". US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  10. ^ "The Independence Day Election of Pennsylvania Representative Galusha A. Grow as Speaker of the House". Historical Highlights. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  11. ^ Cong. Globe, 37th Cong., 1st Sess. 4 (1861)
  12. ^ "US House Speaker (1861)". Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  13. ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes David L. Taylor (February 1996). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Susquehanna County Courthouse Complex" (PDF). Retrieved December 30, 2012.[permanent dead link]

External links

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district
March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Thomas M. Bibighaus
 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 14th congressional district
March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1863 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's at-large congressional district
February 26, 1894 – March 3, 1903 		Succeeded by
Vacant
Political offices
Preceded by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
July 4, 1861 – March 4, 1863 		Succeeded by
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