Jacob Dolson Cox
Jacob Dolson Cox, Jr. (October 27, 1828 – August 4, 1900), was a statesman, lawyer, Union Army general during the American Civil War, Republican politician from Ohio, Liberal Republican Party founder, educator, author, and recognized microbiologist. He served as president of the University of Cincinnati, the 28th governor of Ohio and as United States Secretary of the Interior. As Governor of Ohio, Cox sided for a time with President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction plan and was against African American suffrage in the South, though he supported it in Ohio.[1] However, Cox increasingly expressed racist and segregationist viewpoints, advocating a separate colony for blacks to "work out their own salvation."[2] Seeing himself caught between Johnson and the Radical Republicans, Cox decided not to run for reelection. He stayed out of politics for a year, though both Sherman and Grant advocated that Cox replace Stanton as Secretary of War as a means of stemming the demands for Johnson's impeachment. But Johnson declined. When Ulysses S. Grant became president, he nominated Cox Secretary of Interior, and Cox immediately accepted.
Jacob D. Cox
Samuel Quinby
October 27, 1828
Montreal, Lower Canada (now Quebec)
August 4, 1900 (aged 71)
Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Helen Finney
Oberlin College (BA, MA)
1861–1866
Secretary of Interior Cox implemented the first civil service reform in a federal government department, including examinations for most clerks. Grant initially supported Cox and civil service reform, creating America's first Civil Service Commission. However, Cox was opposed by Republican Party managers, who ultimately convinced Grant to cease civil service reforms in the Interior, a large department coveted for its vast Congressional patronage. President Grant and Secretary Cox were at odds over the fraudulent McGarahan Claims and the Dominican Republic annexation treaty.[3] Secretary Cox advocated a lasting, honest, and comprehensive Indian policy legislated by Congress after the Piegan Indian massacre. Cox resigned as Secretary of Interior having been unable to gain Grant's support over civil service reform. Although Cox was a reformer, Grant had believed Cox had overstepped his authority as Secretary of Interior and had undermined his authority as president. In 1871 Cox helped found the Liberal Republicans in opposition to Grant's renomination. In 1876, Cox returned to politics and served one term as a United States Congressman from Ohio. Congressman Cox supported President Hayes's reform efforts, but his term as Congressman was unsuccessful at establishing permanent Civil Service reform.[3]
Cox was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1870.[4]
Cox was elected U.S. Representative (Ohio) and served in Congress from 1877 to 1879. Afterward, Cox never returned to active politics. Cox served as president and receiver of a railroad, Dean of Cincinnati Law School, and as president of the University of Cincinnati. Cox also studied microscopy and made hundreds of photo-micrographs, and in 1881 he was elected fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. In 1882, Cox started a series of books he authored on Civil War campaigns, which remain today respected histories and memoirs. After Cox retired in 1897, he died in Massachusetts in 1900. Throughout the 20th century, Cox's life was mostly forgotten by historians, however, there has been renewed interest during the 21st century in Cox's military career as Union general during the Civil War, and his implementation of civil service while Secretary of Interior under President Grant, the first cabinet officer to do so in U.S. history.
Early years and education[edit]
Jacob Dolson Cox was born in Montreal (then located in the British colonial Province of Lower Canada) on October 27, 1828.[5] His father and mother respectively were Jacob Dolson Cox and Thedia Redelia (Kenyon) Cox, both Americans and residents of New York.[5] His father Jacob was of Dutch origin, descended from Hanoverian emigrant Michael Cox (Koch) who arrived in New York in 1702.[5] His mother Thedia was descended from Revolutionary War Connecticut soldier Payne Kenyon who was there when British General John Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga in 1777.[5] Thedia also was descended from Revolutionary War Connecticut soldier Freeman Allyn, who fought against Benedict Arnold at Groton.[5] The Allyns were the early settlers of Salem and Manchester, Massachusetts.[5] Thedia was additionally descended from the Elder William Brewster who emigrated to the Plymouth Colony on the Mayflower in 1620.[5]
The elder Jacob was a New York building contractor and superintended the roof construction of the Church of Notre Dame in Montreal.[1] Cox returned with his parents to New York City a year later. His early education included private readings with a Columbia College student. His family suffered a financial setback during the Panic of 1837, and Cox was unable to afford a college education and obtain a law degree. New York State law mandated that an alternative to college would be to work as an apprentice in the legal firm for seven years before entering the bar.[1] In 1842, Cox entered into an apprenticeship for a legal firm and worked for two years. Having changed his mind on becoming a lawyer, Cox worked as a bookkeeper in a brokerage firm and studied mathematics and classical languages in his off hours.[1] In 1846 he enrolled at Oberlin College in the preparatory school having been influenced by the Reverends Samuel D. Cochran and Charles Grandison Finney, leaders of Oberlin College to study theology and become a minister.[1] Oberlin College was a progressive educational facility that was coeducational and admitted students of different races. He graduated from Oberlin with a degree in theology in 1850[6] or 1851.[7][8] After a disagreement with his father-in-law over theology, Cox left his ministerial studies and became superintendent of the Warren, Ohio, school system. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853.[1]
Marriage and family[edit]
While attending Oberlin, Cox married the eldest daughter of college president Finney in 1849; at age 19, Helen Clarissa Finney was already a widow with a small son.[1] The couple lived with the president, but Cox and his father-in-law became estranged due to theological disputes. Cox was the father of the painter Kenyon Cox; his grandson, Allyn Cox, was a noted muralist.
Political and military career[edit]
Cox was a Whig and had voted for Winfield Scott in 1852, having strong family abolitionist ties. As the Whig party dissolved, in 1855 Cox helped to organize the Republican Party in Ohio and stumped for its candidates in counties surrounding Warren. Cox was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1859[6] and formed a political alliance with Senator and future President James A. Garfield, and with Governor Salmon P. Chase. While in the legislature, he accepted a commission with the Ohio Militia as a brigadier general and spent much of the winter of 1860–61 studying military science.[9]
Governor of Ohio[edit]
Before mustering out of the Army on January 1, 1866, Cox was elected governor of Ohio in October 1865. He served from 1866 to 1868, and post-war issues were dealt with during his tenure.[11] However, his regressive views on African-American suffrage and his earlier endorsement of President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policy caused him to decide not to run for reelection, having lacked the ability to resolve the division between Ohio Radical Republicans and President Johnson.[6] Cox viewed opposition towards black suffrage and advocacy of segregation as a winning formula for the Ohio GOP, telling Radical Republican colleague James Garfield regarding racial equality: "On that issue, if made, you will be beaten."[2]
Cox then moved to Cincinnati to practice law.
Later years[edit]
U.S. Representative (1877–79)[edit]
Republican Party candidate Cox was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Toledo in 1876. Cox served a single term in the Forty-Fifth Congress from 1877 to 1879. Cox defeated Democratic Party candidate Frank H. Hurd. Cox received 17,276 votes against Hurd who received 15,361 votes. [45] Cox represented the Sixth District of Ohio that included Fulton, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, Williams, and Wood counties. Cox declined to run for a second term. [45]
Death and burial[edit]
Cox died on summer vacation at Gloucester, Massachusetts. He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati.
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