Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler (December 10, 1813 – November 1, 1879) was an American businessman, politician, and one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose radical wing he dominated as a lifelong abolitionist. He was mayor of Detroit, a four-term senator from the state of Michigan, and Secretary of the Interior under President Ulysses S. Grant.
Zachariah Chandler
December 10, 1813
Bedford, New Hampshire, U.S.
November 1, 1879 (aged 65)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Whig (before 1854)
Republican (1854–1879)
Letitia Douglas
As a successful young businessman in Detroit, Chandler supported the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, he advocated for the Union war effort, the abolition of slavery, and civil rights for freed African Americans. As Secretary of the Interior, Chandler eradicated serious corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, fully endorsing President Grant's Peace Policy initiative to civilize American Indian tribes. In 1879, he was re-elected U.S. Senator and was a potential presidential candidate, but he died the following morning after giving a speech in Chicago.
Early life and career[edit]
Zachariah Chandler was born in Bedford, New Hampshire, on December 10, 1813. His father was Samuel Chandler and his mother was Margaret Orr. Through an entirely paternal line Samuel Chandler was a descendant of William Chandler who had migrated to Roxbury, Massachusetts, from England in 1637. Through this line he was the seventh generation of his family born in North America. Margaret Orr was the oldest daughter of military officer Col. John Orr. Chandler was educated in the common schools. Upon graduation, deciding not to attend college, Chandler moved west in 1833 to Detroit, at that time the capital of Michigan Territory. In Detroit, Chandler opened a general store and through trade, banking, and land speculation became one of the wealthiest men in the state of Michigan.[1]
Marriage and family[edit]
On December 10, 1844, Chandler married Letitia Grace Douglas, a native of Baltimore, who moved to New York.[1] A social entertainer, Letitia lived in Washington during the Winter throughout Chandler's career. Chandler and Letitia had one daughter, Mary Douglas Chandler, who married Senator Eugene Hale of Maine. Chandler's and Letitia's grandchildren included Frederick Hale, who was a long-serving U.S. Senator from Maine, and Chandler Hale, who served as a U.S. diplomat in Rome. Letitia, known to have a "gentle and kindly disposition" and to be "much beloved," died on February 19, 1899.[2]
Political career[edit]
From his youth, Chandler had been strongly opposed to slavery, and hoped that the Northern Whig party would be able to stop Southern slave power from spreading slavery into the Western Territories. Chandler financially supported the Detroit Underground Railroad, which helped fugitive or runaway slaves find safe haven.[3]
In 1848 Chandler began his political career by making campaign speeches for the Whig party presidential candidate Zachary Taylor. In 1851, Chandler was elected Mayor of Detroit and served one year in office. In 1852, Chandler ran as a Whig candidate for the Governor of Michigan, but he was defeated. Having supported Kansas as a free state without slavery, Chandler signed a petition that formed the Republican Party on July 6, 1854. In 1856, Chandler was a delegate at the first Republican Party National convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was a member of the Republican National Committee.[1] The Republican Convention that year nominated John C. Frémont for president, known as The Pathfinder, who wanted to rid Kansas of African American slavery, and opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.