|
| |
|
19th President of the United States | |
| Predecessor | Samuel J. Tilden |
| Successor | Chauncey Depew |
| Vice President | Chauncey Depew |
|
US Senator from Iowa | |
| Predecessor | James M. Tuttle |
| Successor | William Peters Hepburn |
|
US Representative from Iowa | |
| Predecessor | Position Established |
| Successor | Lucien Lester Ainsworth |
| Born | March 2, 1829 Perry, Ohio, US |
| Died | June 22, 1885 (aged 56) Washington, D.C., US |
| Spouse | Mary Neally |
| Political Party | Republican (1856-71), American (1873-79), National American (1879-85) |
William Boyd Allison (March 2, 1829 – June 22, 1885) was an American politician who served as the 19th President of the United States. He was the first president from the National American Party and the first US President to be assassinated in office.
Early Life[]
Political Career[]
Allison initially won election to the House of Representatives during the Civil War. He served for three terms before the collapse of the Republican Party, losing reelection to Democrat Lucien Lester Ainsworth in 1868. He refused to abandon his cause and stuck with the party until the end. After its final dissolution, Allison worked to establish some form of successor party to oppose the Democrats in Iowa. He was one of the early organizers of the American Party in the state. He also assisted in the early establishment of the National Party, considering either one to be much preferable to the Democrats.
As Iowa had been one of the more heavily Republican states in the nation before the party's end, it wasn't long before a coalition of Nationals and Americans managed to win a majority in the state legislature. Appreciative of Allison's efforts in fostering both parties, this coalition easily settled on him as their candidate for the 1876 US Senate election. Allison was elected to replace the Democrat incumbent James M. Tuttle. He officially caucused with the American Party but was more than willing to work with either on most issues.
Allison became known as a compromiser in the Senate, a man that anyone from any party could work with to get things done. He became one of the most senior senators that had been elected as part of the new Republican successor parties. As the National and American parties started to look into a merger after the events of 1876, Allison became a central figure in the planning and reconciling between the two factions. He was convinced that they could work together despite their ideological differences. His primary goal remained defeating the Democrats.
The parties merged in 1879 and Allison was easily reelected to the Senate in 1882 as a National American. He continued to foster good relationships with almost all of his colleagues. He was one of the driving forces behind the party's compromises with the Democrat President Tilden, helping to pass the Abolition Act in 1882 and the Gold Standard Act in 1883. The latter act triggered the Panic of 1883, beginning the worst recession the country had seen in decades.
Allison continually worked hard to secure the election of a National American to the presidency, never suspecting that he could take a central role in this pursuit.
Presidential Campaign[]
Allison was not a candidate going into the 1884 National American National Convention. The two main factions each had their preferred candidates, Allison not being one. Allison's American faction had a slight advantage over the Nationals but not enough to get their candidates nominated on any of the first 20 ballots. The focus switched to compromise candidates and dark horses, and Allison's name was quickly thrown into the ring. Due to his respect and history within both factions, he was able to attract just enough support from the National faction to win the nomination. Allison was surprised but eager to get to work.
For vice president, the party tried to select someone from the vital state of New York to balance out the westerner Allison. Chauncey Depew emerged as the primary pick. Depew was an attorney and businessman from New York, known for his work with railroads- it was hoped that his connections would help secure financing for the campaign. Allison was highly supportive of the pick. He, too, was known to be a strong supporter of railroad interests, which led to allegations from Democrats that the National American ticket was merely a puppet of the railroads and business interests.
Allison was mute on many of the highly charged issues in the country during the campaign. He wished to push his reputation as a compromiser. Although he had been somewhat instrumental in pushing the switch to a gold standard, the incumbent party in the White House received more of the direct blame. The National American Party asserted that the recession was just a bump in the road on the path back to responsible management of the nation's monetary system. Allison indicated his willingness to compromise on the issue and pass some measure of inflationary money policy to help mitigate the effects of the economic downturn. Opponents during the campaign criticized Allison's overall refusal to take strong public stances on the issues.
Allison himself ran a front porch campaign, leaving most of the active campaigning to his deputy Depew. The pair won a resounding victory over the Democratic ticket, ending 16 years of Democratic control of the White House.
Presidency[]
Allison's inauguration was a highly celebratory event. With control of the presidency and Congress, National Americans were eager to reverse over a decade of Democratic control. In his inaugural address, Allison promised to heavily raise tariffs, secure civil rights for free blacks, and institute harsher policies towards the Confederacy. He was able to be productive right off the bat. He first signed an economic relief bill that reestablished some measure of bimetallism, requiring the treasury to buy a certain amount of silver every year. He next signed a bill that moderately raised tariffs, though not to the level he had hoped for. He continued to push for more protectionist tariffs in pursuit of stimulating the economy.
The other primary focus of his administration was restoring the Union's outward resistance to the Confederacy. He and his American faction aimed to reforge the United States as a free and equitable alternative to the regressive nation down south. Many in the faction believed that the Confederacy was weakly held together and would collapse at the first sign of serious economic and cultural upheaval, thus allowing the Union to reabsorb the lost states. To this end, Congress passed and Allison signed the Slave Refuge Act, also known as the Sanctuary Act. This new law repealed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1875 and replaced it with a measure prohibiting US citizens from returning slaves to the South or assisting in their capture. It declared "as slavery is outlawed within the bounds of the United States, any individual formerly enslaved in any other sovereign nation who enters the boundaries of the United States shall be immediately and perpetually considered free by the laws of the United States." It also decreed that the act of trying to capture an escaped slave would be considered equivalent to slave holding, carrying the same criminal penalties. This essentially turned the Union into an official sanctuary for escaping slaves from the Confederacy. Many in the Confederate government were absolutely enraged, as their fugitive slave problem was continually becoming worse and this would surely cause the leakage to become far more troublesome. It was considered to be a declaration of open hostility against their government and way of life.
Allison was more than willing to oppose their backwards way of life. Now leading the country, he became more pronounced in his opinions, though he tried to maintain his image as a compromiser. Democrats who had previously held a positive opinion of him spurned and denounced him as a radical. Even some in the National faction began to grumble that his measures were going too far. President Allison next began work with Congress on passing a new Civil Rights Act, as the first had been repealed by the Democrats in 1869. His work was suddenly cut short by an assassin's bullet.
Assassination[]
Ever since Allison had entered office, a man named Charles J. Guiteau had been pestering members of the president's cabinet, seeking a job in government. He felt that he had helped get Allison elected with a (heavily plagiarized) speech he wrote in his favor. When he couldn't get a job, he sought to cement his legacy in another way: killing the president. Guiteau believed that the patronage system supported by Allison's American faction should have guaranteed him some sort of role in government. Not getting an appointment soured him on the party as a whole. On June 14, 1885, he approached President Allison on a train platform as Allison was preparing to leave Washington. With a single shot to the midsection, Allison went down. Guiteau reportedly declared "None of you are fit to serve!" He was quickly apprehended and beaten.
Charles J. Guiteau, presidential assassin
Doctors frantically tried to save the president, and they did manage to keep him alive for over a week after the fact. However, he was comatose for most of that time and could barely speak when he was awake. It turned out that the bullet had punctured his left lung and doctors couldn't find it. With unsanitized hands and equipment, they probed the wound, probably giving him the infection that ended up being the president's demise. At 12:01 PM on June 22, President Allison died. He was the first president to be assassinated and the first in over 30 years to die in office. With Allison's death, the presidency passed to Vice President Chauncey Depew.
Vice President Depew, who became president upon Allison's death
The nation was shocked and extremely saddened by Allison's death. His inauguration as president had seemed to herald in a new era, and now that era had already been brought to a violent end. Masses of mourners descended upon Washington for Allison's public funeral procession. Guiteau was later sentenced to death.
Some in the Confederacy celebrated Allison's death, believing that Depew would not support the same harsh measures as he had. President Beauregard, however, issued a public statement of condolences.
Legacy[]
Allison became a martyr for his cause. Depew worked to finish his legacy as president, first passing the Civil Rights Act of 1886 followed by a Voting Rights Act in 1887. Depew would likely not have supported both measures if not for Allison's demise. The new president also continued opposition to the Confederacy, ultimately sparking the New Orleans Crisis.
Allison is considered by most to have been a good president who could have been a great one if allowed to complete his legacy. His short time in office was extremely productive nonetheless, leading him to be ranked as one of the better presidents the United States ever had. Depew led a somewhat controversial administration which likely could have been avoided in the case of Allison's survival, although the assassination did serve to make the country more united amongst a rising tide of criticism for Allison's radical policies.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
