Matthew H. Carpenter
Matthew Hale Carpenter | |
---|---|
James R. Doolittle | |
Succeeded by | Angus Cameron |
Personal details | |
Born | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. | December 22, 1824
Political party | Republican |
Other political affiliations | Democratic |
Spouse |
Caroline Dillingham Carpenter
(m. 1855) |
Relations | Paul Dillingham (father in law) William P. Dillingham (brother in law) |
Children | 2 |
Education | United States Military Academy |
Profession | Attorney |
Matthew Hale Carpenter (born Decatur Merritt Hammond Carpenter; December 22, 1824 – February 24, 1881) was an American attorney and U.S. Senator representing the state of
Originally a
Background and education
Carpenter was born in
His son Ira Carpenter (1798–1862)[2] was chiefly a farmer, but he also gained prominence through positions such as justice of the peace, postmaster and state legislator.
Grandson Merritt displayed intelligence and oratorical talents at an early age, impressing people with his abilities to recite Cicero and exhort at religious revivals. He also displayed an aversion to physical work.[3]
After an explosive argument with a schoolmaster, the 13-year-old Carpenter was expelled from school. He was dissatisfied with the limits of Moretown, and left home to live and study law under the tutelage of family friend (and future Vermont governor)
He returned to live in Dillingham's home and managed his law office while Dillingham was then a congressman in Washington, D.C. Upon Carpenter's admission to the Vermont bar in November 1847 Dillingham offered to make him his law partner, but Carpenter declined so he could further his law studies under Rufus Choate of Boston. Choate was also impressed with Carpenter, and after a few months he too offered him a partnership, but Carpenter sought to make a name and career for himself in the West.[5]
Wisconsin attorney
After reading that the territory of Wisconsin had passed its constitution and was soon to become a state, Carpenter chose to migrate west and begin his career as a lawyer in Beloit on the endorsement of that spot by the New England Emigrating Society's Dr. Horace C. White. Arriving in June 1848, Carpenter quickly established a reputation as a successful and affordable attorney, attracting much acclaim from the local community.
His practice was interrupted by a painful inflammation of his eyes which rendered him blind. After traveling to New York to seek treatment, his sight gradually recovered after a year as he convalesced in the Waterbury home of his mentor Dillingham. Before returning to Wisconsin he became engaged to Dillingham's daughter Catherine, and they married five years later.[6]
In 1850 Carpenter returned to resume his law practice in Beloit using a new name, Matthew (Matt) Hale Carpenter, after
Gardner v. Tisdale
In 1855 Carpenter discovered that many Beloit residents did not hold legal title to their land because it was sold to them by someone who had
Barstow-Bashford election dispute
Wisconsin's gubernatorial election of 1855 was thrown into doubt when incumbent Democratic governor
Despite his defeat Carpenter had demonstrated his legal prowess to the state. A high volume of his cases required his presence in federal court in Milwaukee, leading to him locating his practice there in 1858. He was also coaxed there by Democratic party boss Josiah Noonan, who arranged a law partnership between Carpenter and Edward G. Ryan, another highly regarded attorney and a force in the state Democratic Party. Despite their excellent credentials, they proved to be temperamentally incompatible, and ended their partnership the next year.[13]
By the time Carpenter moved to Milwaukee he had become adept in the area of railroad litigation and sued many railroads on behalf of investors left holding bonds made worthless by fraudulent manipulation. His debut before the U.S. Supreme Court resulted in his winning a judgment against the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company.[14] He was also successful as part of a team of lawyers defending abolitionist Sherman Booth from a charge of rape.[15]
Loyal Democrat during the Civil War
Carpenter supported Democrat Stephen Douglas in the 1860 presidential election, viewing Republican Abraham Lincoln as an honest but incompetent sectional candidate. Yet, he warned those in his party that he saw secession as treason, and he would be "the first man to raise a musket" in defense of the Constitution.[16] Following the Confederates' attack on Fort Sumter in 1861, Carpenter did not enlist but became a rousing speaker in support of the Union cause.[17]
While he saw that many federal actions would be unconstitutional in peacetime, he reasoned that arbitrary arrests and suspensions of habeas corpus were acts of self-preservation during wartime and thereby permitted.[18] He also became an early advocate for emancipation, but only as a war measure rather than an act of humanity.[19] Excluded from meetings of the Democratic leadership, Carpenter joined other like-minded party members of the "Loyal Democracy" in considering a third party in Wisconsin, but nothing came of it.[20]
Personal letters he had written saying Lincoln was "idiotic" found their way into newspapers, but Carpenter supported him for re-election in 1864 by making numerous pro-Union and pro-Lincoln speeches.[21]
Defining the Reconstruction Acts
Carpenter was the key attorney in a series of landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court which helped define states' rights by determining the legality of the Reconstruction acts passed by Congress.
After he concluded his eloquent arguments, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton hugged him, declaring "Carpenter, you have saved us!" Even McCardle's attorney Jeremiah S. Black lauded him as "the first Constitutional lawyer in the country." However, Radical Republicans in Congress feared that the reconstruction acts would be ruled unconstitutional, so they quickly pushed through a law repealing the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867, barring jurisdiction in pending cases and preventing a clear decision from being rendered by the court.[24]
In the
In
These cases brought Carpenter handsome fees, national acclaim, and much derision from the losing factions. He'd also won the support of Stanton and President Ulysses S. Grant, who both urged him to run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate.[27]
Republican senator
Following the Civil War Carpenter's transformation from a
With high-profile backing Carpenter ran successfully for the senate seat occupied by James R. Doolittle, a "Johnsonized" Republican who had fallen out of favor with his party.[28] With his victory he solidified his status with the "Madison Regency," a Republican group that included former governor and Johnson's Postmaster General Alexander Randall, Madison postmaster Elisha W. Keyes and Wisconsin State Journal editor and Republican state central committee chairman Horace Rublee.[29] After Rublee was appointed minister to Switzerland by President Grant, Keyes became party chairman and closely coordinated with Carpenter to distribute federal patronage jobs to political allies.
Once in the Senate, Carpenter moderated his views to the degree that he became one of the spokesmen of the emerging Stalwart Republicans. He opposed any "fundamental conditions" placed on states wishing to be readmitted to the Union, and favored blanket amnesty for former Confederates.[30] Carpenter was known as one of the staunchest supporters of the Grant administration.[31] In the Senate he presented an unabashed defense of political patronage, mocking the idea of civil service reform.[32] Carpenter would garner a reputation for his oratory skills as a member of the Senate, including with a return to Beloit in 1869. At Beloit College, he gave a foreign policy speech that has been deemed particularly historically significant.[33]
He also feuded with Liberal Republican senators Charles Sumner and Carl Schurz over many issues. He delivered a sarcastic denunciation of Sumner's wide-reaching civil rights amendment to the Confederate amnesty bill.[34] As the chair of an investigating committee he also debunked Sumner and Schurz's claim that the War Department had broken its neutrality when it sold outmoded rifles to France during the Franco-Prussian War.[35] Despite such skirmishes Carpenter was a respected figure in the senate, being elected president pro tempore by his colleagues in 1871. He also served as chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills (42nd Congress) and the committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense (42nd and 43rd Congresses).
As part of another committee inquiry, Carpenter went to
Drawing fire from press and party
As Carpenter's influence grew within the Grant administration, so did the condemnations from the press. One of his Senate investigations resulted in two journalists being jailed for not divulging the source of a leaked treaty.
In 1873 Carpenter angered many in his own party by taking positions that ran counter to the stalwart doctrine. In a spirit of reform he boldly owned up to administration excesses such as the
Wishing to make the
Despite the incessant criticism, Carpenter was seen as being easily re-elected in 1875. Nevertheless, a surprise bolt by disgruntled Republicans combined with votes by calculating Democrats resulted in the election of Angus Cameron, a La Crosse Republican.[44]
Out of office and under scrutiny
In 1875 Carpenter was implicated in the Whiskey Ring scandal that funneled federal liquor tax revenues to some states' Republican parties. Although he was close to key participants in the Milwaukee ring, no evidence emerged to prove his involvement.[45]
During this time Carpenter, along with Jeremiah S. Black and Montgomery Blair, was also defending Grant's Secretary of War William W. Belknap against charges that he had accepted money in exchange for the appointment of a post trader.[46] Despite Belknap's immediate resignation outraged House Democrats proceeded with his impeachment. Carpenter portrayed Belknap as the hapless victim of a social-climbing wife, but his legal victory relied on his assertion that jurisdiction over Belknap ended with his resignation.[47]
Also in 1875 Carpenter was defense counsel for officials of the Miners’ National Association (MNA) in an important labor case that sought to apply the legal concept of conspiracy to union picketing and organization efforts. The case grew out of a coal miners' strike in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, which was supported by the MNA, then numerically one of the largest American trade unions. First over fifty of the striking workers were tried upon a charge of criminal conspiracy and thirty-six of them were convicted with some sentenced to jail, although they appeared to have been guilty of no more than peaceful picketing. Then John Siney, the president of the MNA, and Xingo Parks, one of the union's best organizers, were tried on the same charge. Siney was acquitted, but Parks convicted, although pardoned shortly thereafter.[48]
Following the disputed presidential election of 1876, Carpenter was hired by supporters of the Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden to examine Louisiana's vote counts and argue for victory over Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. Carpenter's first-hand accounts of the corrupt Republican state administration gave the Democrats some reason for hope, but ultimately the partisan make-up of the special electoral commission (7 Republicans, 6 Democrats) and its refusal to look behind the certified counts made many of their rulings a forgone conclusive win for Hayes.[49]
Return to the senate
Despite ongoing press criticism and declining health, in 1878 Carpenter launched a bid for the senate seat occupied by Republican
Carpenter's second term as senator lacked the political drama of his Reconstruction years. He spoke in favor of President
Death
While Carpenter's evident declining health was attributed to his indulgent lifestyle, he also suffered from the lung congestion of Bright's disease. After a cycle of relapses and recoveries he died on February 24, 1881, at his Washington, D.C., home surrounded by friends and family. He was buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.[53]
Family
In 1855 Carpenter married Caroline Dillingham, the daughter of Paul Dillingham.[54] They were the parents of four children. Daughters Ada and Annie were born and died in 1860.[55] The other two lived to adulthood—a daughter named Lilian (1857–1942)[56] and a son named Paul Dillingham Carpenter (1867–1932).[57][2] Paul D. Carpenter was an attorney in Milwaukee and also served as judge of the county court.[58]
See also
Notes
- ^ Heg, J. E. (1881). Wisconsin Blue Book. Madison, WI: W. J. Park, State Printer. p. 487.
- ^ a b c Year Book of the Wisconsin Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Milwaukee, Wis.: Swain & Tate Company. 1896. p. 49.
- ^ Thompson, p.3–10
- ^ Thompson, pp. 11-15.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 15-21.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 21-29.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 33-34.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 31-33.
- ^ Thompson, p. 35.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 37-39.
- ^ Brown, William Fiske (1908). Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History. Vol. 1. Chicago, IL: C. F. Cooper & Co. pp. 157–158.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 40-45.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 46-52.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 54-61.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 61-62.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 62-63.
- ^ Thompson, p. 65.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 64-65.
- ^ Thompson, p. 66.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 72-78.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 79-82.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 89-90.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 91-98.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 98-99.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 100-102.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 102-103.
- ^ Thompson, p. 99.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 105-117.
- ^ Thompson, p. 112.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 133-138.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 148-149.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 156-160.
- ^ "Speech of Matthew H. Carpenter, at the Dedication of Memorial Hall, Beloit College, July 1869. The Mission and the Future of the Foreign Policy of the United States". Readings. 25 May 2016.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 160-164.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 166-171.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 178-191.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 222-223.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 149-154.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 200-202.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 215-216.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 193-198.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 221-222.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 205-207
- ^ Thompson, pp. 218-230
- ^ Thompson, pp. 233-242
- ^ Poore, Ben. Perley, Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, Vol.2, pp.310-311 (1886).
- ^ Thompson, pp. 243-246
- ^ Witte, Edwin E., Early American Labor Cases, 35 Yale Law Journal 7, 1926, pp. 830-31
- ^ Thompson, pp. 247-253
- ^ Thompson, pp. 254-264
- ^ Thompson, pp. 264-266
- ^ Thompson, pp. 268-270.
- ^ Thompson, pp. 275-280.
- ^ Huse, Hiram A. (1892). A Memorial Sketch of Paul Dillingham: Officers and Members: Report of Proceedings of the Annual Meeting. Vol. 3. Montpelier, VT: Argus and Patriot Book and Job Printing. p. 77.
- ^ Thompson, p.294
- ^ Thompson[page needed]
- ^ Thompson[page needed]
- ^ Campbell, John A. (1902). A Biographical History, with Portraits, of Prominent Men of the Great West. Chicago, IL: Western Biographical and Engraving Co. pp. 221–222.
References
- Thompson, E. Bruce (1954). Matthew Hale Carpenter: Webster of the West. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Further reading
- Flower, Frank A. Life of Matthew Hale Carpenter. Madison, Wis.: David Atwood & Co., 1883.
- Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of Matthew H. Carpenter, A Senator from Wisconsin. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1882.
External links
- United States Congress. "Matthew H. Carpenter (id: C000171)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Matthew H. Carpenter at Find a Grave