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20th Vice President of the United States | |
| Predecessor | Levi P. Morton |
| Successor | Morgan Bulkeley |
| President | John G. Carlisle |
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U.S. Senator from Indiana | |
| Predecessor | David Turpie |
| Successor | Daniel D. Pratt |
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U.S. Representative from Indiana's 6th district | |
| Predecessor | John Coburn |
| Successor | Morton C. Hunter |
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U.S. Representative from Indiana's 7th district | |
| Predecessor | John G. Davis |
| Successor | Henry D. Washburn |
| Born | September 26, 1827 Liberty Township, Ohio, US |
| Died | April 10, 1897 (aged 69) Terre Haute, Indiana, US |
| Political Party | Democratic |
Daniel Wolsey Voorhees (September 26, 1827 – April 10, 1897) was an American politician who served as the 20th Vice President of the United States.
Early Life[]
Political career[]
Voorhees was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1861, right at the outset of the Civil War. He was an anti-war Copperhead for the duration of the war, a position which earned him increasing favor as the war went on and turned into a losing effort. He was elected again to the House in 1869 and then to the Senate in 1877.
The vice presidential nomination at the 1888 Democratic National Convention was an afterthought. Voorhees, who was widely liked by people in both parties and was known to be an extremely generous man, won the nomination easily without any campaigning. He and presidential candidate John G. Carlisle went on to win a tight victory.
Vice President of the United States[]
Voorhees envisioned a run-of-the-mill vice presidency, and that was largely what he got. He worked diligently to do what he could in the Senate to get civil service reform passed. After that successful effort, President Carlisle managed to offend the Confederate President John Tyler Morgan, and the two countries seemed to be heading on the warpath once again. Voorhees repeatedly advised against going to war, as he believed the Confederacy had won its right to exist in peace and harmony with the United States. His calls were routinely ignored, but the president assured him that his anti-Confederate rhetoric was not intended to spark a war but was only supposed to win an election.
The vice president found it hard to campaign for Carlisle in 1892. The election had rapidly devolved into a referendum on a possible war with the CSA, a war which Voorhees wanted no part of. Voorhees was very disturbed when the Confederacy came within a few votes of declaring war and from that moment on he privately swore that he would oppose such a war at every turn. He was prepared to say as much to the president and even resign his office if necessary, but the issue was rendered moot when the pair lost the election by a considerable margin. War never happened, and Voorhees was secretly relieved to be leaving office.
Post-Vice Presidency[]
Voorhees returned to Indiana and decided to retire from politics. Voorhees had always been very loose and generous with his money, a habit which left him nothing to leave to his daughter after his death. As his health declined, he worked hard to complete an autobiography that might bring in the needed funds. The book was completed in 1896 and sold moderately well, especially in Indiana. It also saw limited interest in the Confederacy.
Voorhees had always been in favor of silver currency as opposed to a gold standard. He spoke at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in favor of bimetallism, but did not endorse a specific candidate. He did personally congratulate the eventual nominee William Jennings Bryan before heading back home. This was his last official involvement with the Democratic Party before his death in 1897.
Legacy[]
Voorhees did not leave much of a lasting legacy outside of his home area in Indiana. His memoirs eventually became seen as an interesting insight into the anti-war movement during the Civil War and the political instability that followed the Union loss.
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