James Abram Garfield (19 November 1831 - September 19, 1881) was the 20th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his assassination at the end of that year. Garfield has served nine terms in the House of Representatives, and has been elected to the Senate before his nomination for the White House, although he rejected the Senate seat once he was elected president. He is the only member of the House to sit for president.
Garfield was raised by his widowed mother in a simple state on a farm in Ohio. He worked in various jobs, including on canal boats, in his youth. Beginning at age 17, he attended several Ohio schools, then studied at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, graduating in 1856. A year later, Garfield entered politics as a Republican. He married Lucretia Rudolph in 1858, and served as a member of the Ohio State Senate (1859-1861). Garfield opposed the separation of the Confederacy, served as a great general in the Union Armed Forces during the American Civil War, and fought in battles in Middle Creek, Shiloh, and Chickamauga. He was first elected to Congress in 1862 to represent the 19th District of Ohio. Throughout Garfield's extended congress service after the Civil War, he firmly supported the gold standard and gained a reputation as an expert orator. Garfield initially agreed with the Radical Republican view of Reconstruction, but then favored a moderate approach to enforcing civil rights for the liberated.
At the 1880 National Convention of the Republic, the elected Senator Garfield was present as campaign manager for Finance Minister John Sherman, and gave a presidential nomination speech for him. When Sherman and his rivals - Ulysses S. Grant and James G. Blaine - could not get enough votes to secure the nomination, the delegate chose Garfield as a compromise at the 36th vote. In the presidential election of 1880, Garfield did a front-porch front campaign as low as possible, and narrowly defeated Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock.
Garfield's achievements as president include a resurgence of presidential authority over senatorial courtesy in the appointment of executives, the energy of American naval forces, and the cleaning of corruption in the Post Office, all for a very short time at the office. Garfield made important diplomatic and judicial appointments, including a US Supreme Court judge. He increased the power of the presidency when he challenged a powerful New York senator, Roscoe Conkling, by appointing William H. Robertson to the favorable position of the New York Port Collector, starting an argument ending with Robertson's confirmation and the resignation of Conkling of the Senate.. Garfield advocated agricultural technology, educated voters, and civil rights for African Americans. He also proposed a substantial civil service reform, finally endorsed by Congress in 1883 and signed into law by his successor, Chester A. Arthur, as the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act.
On July 2, 1881, he was shot at Baltimore and Potomac Railway Station in Washington D.C. by Charles J. Guiteau, a lawyer and author with complaints. The injury was not immediately fatal to Garfield, but his unclean and unprotected doctor's hands were said to have caused the infection that caused his death on September 19th. Guiteau was found guilty of the murder and executed in June 1882; he tried to name his crime as a simple attack by blaming the doctors for Garfield's death. With his sentence cut short by his death after just 200 days, and mostly spent in ill health trying to recover from the attack, Garfield is a little remembered in addition to his murder. Historians often do not register him in the rankings of the US president because of his short presidency.
Video James A. Garfield
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James Garfield was born as the youngest of five children on November 19, 1831, in a wooden cottage in Orange Township, now Moreland Hills, Ohio. Orange Township has been in the Western Reserve until 1800, and like many who settled there, Garfield's ancestor came from New England, his ancestor, Edward Garfield immigrated from Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England, to Massachusetts around 1630. James Abram's father was born in Worcester, New York, and came to Ohio to seduce his childhood lover, Mehitabel Ballou, only to find him married. He even married his older sister Eliza, who was born in New Hampshire. James was named for his older brother, dead in infancy.
In early 1833, Abram and Eliza Garfield joined the Church of Christ, a decision that will help shape the lives of their youngest son. Abram Garfield died later that year; his son grew up in poverty in a household led by a strong-willed Eliza. James is his beloved son, and both remain close for the rest of his life. Eliza Garfield married again in 1842, but soon left her second husband, Warren Belden (perhaps Alfred Belden), and later divorce scandal given to him in 1850. James took the side of his mother and when Belden died in 1880, noted the fact in his diary with satisfaction. Garfield enjoyed her stories about his ancestors, especially her great-grandfather and his ancestors who served as knights Caerffili Castle.
Poor and fatherless, Garfield was ridiculed by his friends, and his whole life was very sensitive to the slights. He escaped through reading, gobbling up all the books he could find. He left home at the age of 16 years in 1847. Rejected by the only ship in the harbor in Cleveland, Garfield instead found work on canal boats, responsible for managing the mule that appealed to him. This work will be used to good effect by Horatio Alger, who wrote a biography of Garfield's campaign in 1880.
After six weeks, the disease forced Garfield to return home and, during his recovery, his mother and a local education official made him promise to postpone his return to the canal for a year and go to school. Therefore, in 1848, he began at the Geauga Seminary, in the nearby Chester Town. Garfield then said of his childhood, "I lamented that I was born for poverty, and in this childhood chaos, seventeen years passed before I got any inspiration... 17 precious years when a boy with a father and some wealth may have become fixed in a manly manner. "
Maps James A. Garfield
Education sponsorship, education, and career
At the Geauga Academy, which he attended from 1848 to 1850, Garfield studied academic subjects that he had not had time to get. He shines as a student, and is especially interested in language and elocution. He began to appreciate the power that the speaker had over the audience, writing that the speaker's platform "creates some excitement, I love agitation and investigation and glory in defending unpopular truths against popular mistakes." Geauga educates, and Garfield is interested in one of his friends, Lucretia Rudolph, whom he later married. To support himself at Geauga, he works as a carpenter's assistant and as a teacher. The need to go from town to town to find a place as a teacher disgusts Garfield, and then he develops his dislike of what he calls "searching places," which becomes, he says, "the law of my life." In the years that followed, he would surprise his friends by allowing missed positions that could be his with little politics. Garfield attended more churches more to please his mother than to worship God, but at the end of his teenage religious resurrection, and attended many camp meetings, where he was reborn. The next day, March 4, 1850, he was baptized into the Disciples by being drowned in the chilly waters of the Chagrin River.
After leaving Geauga, Garfield worked for a year in various jobs, including teaching. Finding that some New England people work in college, Garfield is determined to do the same, and first finds a school that can prepare him for entrance exams. From 1851 to 1854, he attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later named Hiram College) in Hiram, Ohio, a school run by the Disciples. While there, he was most interested in learning Greek and Latin, but tended to learn about and discuss new things he met. Securing his entry position as a janitor, he was hired to teach while still a student. Lucretia Rudolph also enrolled at the Institute, and Garfield seduced him while teaching his Greek. He developed routine sermon circuits in neighboring churches, in some cases earning a gold dollar per service. In 1854, Garfield had learned that the Institute could teach him and become a permanent teacher. Garfield then enrolled at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, as a third-year student, granted a credit for a two-year study at the Institute after passing a cursory exam. Garfield was impressed with the campus president, Mark Hopkins, who responded warmly to Garfield's letter asking about reception. He said of Hopkins, "The ideal college is Mark Hopkins at one end of the note with a student on the other." Hopkins later stated about Garfield in his lecture, "There is a great general capacity that applies to any subject, no genius pretense, or a spasmodic turnover, but a satisfactory achievement in all directions." After his first term, Garfield was hired to teach handwriting to students near Pownal, Vermont, a post previously former Chester A. Arthur.
Garfield graduated from Williams in August 1856 as salutatorian, giving an address at the beginning. Garfield biographer Ira Rutkow shows that the future of the president at Williams gives Garfield the opportunity to recognize and respect people of different social backgrounds, and despite his origins as an unfamiliar West, he is liked and respected by people New England is socially conscious. "In short," as Rutkow later wrote, "Garfield has a vast and positive first experience with the world outside the Western Reserve of Ohio."
Upon his return to Ohio, a prestigious Eastern title made Garfield an honorable man. He returned to Hiram to teach at the Institute, and in 1857 was appointed president. He does not see education as a field that will realize its full potential. At Williams, he became more politically aware in Massachusetts's highly anti-slavery school environment, and began to regard politics as a career. In 1858, he married Lucretia; they will have seven children, five of whom are safe babies. Immediately after the wedding, he formally entered his name to read the law at a Cleveland company, even though he did his studies at Hiram. He was received at the bar in 1861.
Local Republican leaders invited Garfield to enter politics after the death of Cyrus Prentiss, the alleged candidate for the state seat of the state senate. He was nominated by a party convention on the sixth vote, and was elected, serving until 1861. Garfield's massive effort in the state senate was a bill for Ohio's first geological survey to measure his mineral resources, even though it failed.
Civil War
After the election of Abraham Lincoln as president, several Southern states announced their separation from the Union to form a new government, the Confederation of States. Garfield read military texts while anxiously awaiting the war effort, which he regarded as a holy war against the Power of Slaves. In April 1861, rebels bombarded Fort Sumter, one of the leading federal outposts in the South, beginning the Civil War. Although he had no military training, Garfield knew that his place was in the Union Army.
At the request of Governor William Dennison, Garfield suspended his military ambitions to remain in the legislature, where he helped match funds to raise and equip the Ohio volunteer regiment. After that, the legislature was postponed and Garfield spent the spring and early summer on a talking tour in northeastern Ohio, prompting registrations in the new regiment. After a trip to Illinois to buy a rifle, Garfield returned to Ohio and, in August 1861, received a commission as a colonel at the 42nd Ohio Infantry regiment. The 42nd Ohio was just on paper, so Garfield's first job was to fill his ranks. He did it quickly, recruiting many of his neighbors and his former students. The regiment traveled to Camp Chase, outside Columbus, Ohio, to complete the training. In December, Garfield was ordered to bring the 42nd to Kentucky, where they joined the Ohio Army under Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell.
Buell command
Buell quickly commissioned Garfield the task of driving Confederate troops out of eastern Kentucky, giving him the 18th Brigade for the campaign, which, in addition to 42 himself, included the 40th Ohio Infantry, two Kentucky infantry regiments and two cavalry units. They leave Catlettsburg, Kentucky, in mid-December, progressing through the Big Sandy River valley. The march went on endlessly until Union forces reached Paintsville, Kentucky, on January 6, 1862, where the Garfield cavalry involved rebels in Jenny's Creek. Confederate troops under Brigadier General Humphrey Marshall held the city in much the same amount as Garfield himself, but Garfield put his troops in and tricked Marshall into believing that the rebel forces were outnumbered. Marshall ordered his troops to retreat to Middle Creek fork, on the road to Virginia; Garfield ordered his troops to pursue the Confederacy. They attacked rebel positions on January 9, 1862, in the Battle of Middle Creek, the only Garfield-style battle that was personally commanded. At the end of the battle, the Confederates withdrew from the field, and Garfield sent his troops to Prestonsburg for repeal.
In recognition of his success, Garfield was promoted to brigadier general, at the age of 30. After Marshall resigns, Garfield's command is the only remaining Unity force in eastern Kentucky, and he announces that anyone who has fought for the Confederacy will be granted amnesty if they return to their homes and live in peace and remain loyal to the Union. The proclamation was surprisingly soft, because Garfield now believes war is a crusade for the eradication of slavery. After a small battle in the Pound Gap, the last rebel unit in the area was surrounded, and they retreated to Virginia.
The Promotion of Garfield gave him the 20th Commandment of the Ohio Army Brigade, ordered in early 1862 to join General Major Ulysses S. Grant's army when they advanced to Corinth, Mississippi. Before the 20th Brigade arrived, the Confederate troops under General Albert Sidney Johnston surprised the Grant people in their camps, pushing them back. Garfield's troops got the news about the battle and advanced quickly, joining the rest of the troops on the second day to push back the Confederacy across the field and back down. The action, which was later known as Battle of Shiloh, was the bloodiest war to date; Garfield was exposed to fire almost all day, but appeared to be unharmed. Major General Henry W. Halleck, Grant's superior, took over the combined forces and advanced towards Corinth; when they arrived, the Confederacy had escaped.
That summer Garfield suffered from jaundice and significant weight loss. He was forced to go home, where his wife took care of him back to health. When he was at home, Garfield's friends worked to get him a Republican nomination for Congress, though he refused to politicize with the delegates. He returned to military duty that autumn and went to Washington to wait for his next assignment. During this period of laziness, rumors of extra-marital infidelity caused friction in Garfield's marriage until Lucretia finally chose to ignore it. Garfield repeatedly received a temporary task that was quickly withdrawn, to his frustration. Meanwhile, he served in Fitz John Porter's military court for his delay in the Second Battle of Bull Run. He was convinced of Porter's fault, and voted for his generals to be punished. The trial lasted for nearly two months, from November 1862 to January 1863, and in the end, Garfield was finally assigned as Chief of Staff to Major General William S. Rosecrans.
Chief of staff for Rosecrans
The position of the Chief of Staff for a general is usually held by more junior officers, but Garfield's influence with Rosecrans is greater than usual, with tasks that go beyond communication merely commands for tasks involving the actual management of his Cumberland Army. Rosecrans has a great desire for conversation, especially when he can not sleep; in Garfield, he found "the first person to read well in the Army" and an ideal candidate for discussions that lasted long into the night. The two became close even though Garfield was twelve years younger than Rosecrans, and their talks covered all the topics, mainly religion; Rosecrans, who had moved from Methodism to Roman Catholicism, succeeded in undermining Garfield's view of his faith. Garfield recommends that Rosecrans replace the wing commanders Alexander McCook and Thomas Crittenden, whom he believes is ineffective, but Rosecrans ignored the suggestions. With Rosecrans, Garfield designed the Tullahoma Campaign to pursue and trap the Braxton Bragg Confederate General at Tullahoma. After the initial success of the Union, Bragg retreated towards Chattanooga, where Rosecrans broke down and asked for more troops and supplies. Garfield argues for immediate progress, in line with the demands of Halleck and Lincoln. After the war council and long consideration, Rosecrans agreed to attack.
At the next Chickamauga Battle on September 19 and 20, 1863, the confusion between the commanders of the wings on Rosecrans's command creates a gap in the line, resulting in the defeat of the right wing. Rosecrans concluded that the battle was gone and fell back to Chattanooga to form a defensive line. Garfield, however, thought that part of the army had been held and, with Rosecrans's approval, headed across Missionary Ridge to survey the scene. Garfield was right. His journey became legendary, while Rosecrans's error revived criticism of his leadership. While Rosecrans soldiers managed to avoid a disaster, they were stranded in Chattanooga, surrounded by Bragg troops. Garfield sent a telegram to War Secretary Edwin M. Stanton warned Washington of the need for reinforcements to avoid extermination, and Lincoln and Halleck sent 20,000 troops by train in nine days. Meanwhile, Grant was promoted to commander of the western army, and quickly replaced Rosecrans with George H. Thomas. Garfield was ordered to report to Washington, where he was promoted to major major, a commission he would retreat before taking a seat in the House of Representatives. According to the historian Jean Edward Smith, Grant and Garfield had "guarded relationships", since Grant promoted Thomas to the Cumberland Army commander, instead of Garfield, after Rosecrans was dismissed.
Careers of Congress
Selection in 1862; Year Civil War
While serving in the army in early 1862, Garfield was approached by friends about running for Congress from the new district of Ohio, the 19th district. He worries that he and other generals appointed by the state will get a job that is not clear, and running for Congress will allow him to continue his political career. The fact that the new Congress will not hold its first regular session until December 1863 will allow him to continue his war service for a while. On medical leave, he refused to campaign for nominations, handed them to political managers who secured him at a local convention in September 1862, at the eighth vote. In October, he defeated D.B. Woods with a margin of two to one in the general election for seats at the 38th Congress.
Immediately after the nomination, Garfield was ordered to report to War Secretary Edwin Stanton in Washington to discuss his military future. There, Garfield meets Finance Minister Salmon P. Chase, who befriends him, sees him as a younger version of him. The two men agreed politically, and both were part of the Radical Republican wing. As soon as he took his seat in December 1863, Garfield was frustrated that Lincoln seemed reluctant to press the South hard. Many radicals, led at home by Thaddeus Stevens in Pennsylvania, wanted the property of the rebels confiscated, but Lincoln threatened to veto every bill that would do so widely. Garfield, in the House floor debate, supported such laws and, discussing the Great British Revolution, hinted that Lincoln might be thrown out of office for refusing the bill. Although Garfield had supported the Emancipation Proclamation of Lincoln, the congressman was amazed that it was "... a strange phenomenon in world history, when second-class Illinois lawyers were instrumental in pronouncing words that would forge an unforgettable time in all future times."
Garfield not only liked the abolition of slavery, but also believed that the leaders of the rebellion had lost their constitutional rights. He supports the seizure of southern estates and even the exile or execution of the rebel leaders as a means of ensuring the destruction of permanent slavery. Garfield feels Congress is obliged "to determine what law is necessary to ensure equal justice for all faithful, regardless of color." Garfield further supported Lincoln when Lincoln took action against slavery. At the beginning of his tenure, he was different from his party in some problems; it is a single Republican vote to end the use of the gift in recruitment. Some financially capable recruits have used the reward system to buy a way out of service (called a turnover), which Garfield deems to be reprehensible. Garfield gave a speech indicating a deficiency in the existing draft law: that of 300,000 was summoned to register, nearly 10,000, the rest claimed the exemption or gave money or a replacement. Lincoln appears before the Military Affairs committee where Garfield serves, demands more effective bills; even if it requires him re-election, Lincoln believes he can win the war before his term ends. After many false starts, Garfield, with the support of Lincoln, gets a share of the draft bill that does not include the turn.
Under Chase's influence, Garfield became a staunch supporter of the dollar supported by the gold standard, and therefore a strong opposite of the "greenback"; he was very sorry, but understood, the need for suspension of payment of gold or silver during the emergency presented by the Civil War. Garfield voted for the Radical Republicans in passing the Wade-Davis bill, which was designed to give Congress more authority over the Reconstruction, but was defeated by Lincoln's veto.
Garfield does not consider Lincoln to be eligible to be re-elected, but no viable alternative appears to be available. "He might be the man, though I think we can do better." The Ohioan attended a party convention and promoted Rosecrans as a Lincoln couple, but the delegation chose Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson. Both Lincoln and Garfield were re-elected. By this time, Chase had left the Cabinet and was appointed Supreme Court Justice, and his relationship with Garfield became further.
Garfield took legal practice in 1865 as a means to improve his personal finances. His efforts took him to Wall Street where, the day after the Lincoln assassination, the riotous crowd took him to a spontaneous speech to placate him: "Peoples, clouds and rounded darkness about him, his pavilion is dark waters and thick clouds from the sky!" Justice and judgment are the founding of the throne, His compassion and righteousness will go before his face! Fellow citizens! God is in power, and the Government in Washington is alive! "The speech, without mentioning or praising Lincoln, according to Garfield biographer Robert G. Caldwell"... as important as what he does not contain as he does. " In the years that followed, Garfield got more praise for Lincoln; A year after Illinoisan's death, Garfield stated that, "The greatest of all these developments is the character and fame of Abraham Lincoln," and in 1878 it was called Lincoln "... one of the few great rulers whose wisdom increased with power."
Reconstruction
Garfield is a strong supporter of blacks blacks because he has been removed, although he acknowledges that the African-American idea as politically the same as the whites gives him a "strong sense of disgust." The new president, Johnson, sought the rapid recovery of the Southern states during the months between his accession and the congressional meeting in December 1865; Garfield hesitantly supported this policy as an experiment. Johnson, an old friend, sought Garfield's support, and their conversation led Garfield to assume that the differences between the president and the Congress were not great. When Congress convened in December (for a disappointed Johnson without elected representatives of the Southern states, who were excluded), Garfield urged conciliation with his colleagues, though he feared that former Democrats might join other Democrats to gain political control if he rejoined the party. Garfield predicted the conflict even before February 1866 when Johnson vetoed the bill to extend the life of the Freedmen Bureau, accused of aiding former slaves. In April, Garfield concluded that Johnson was "crazy or drunk with opium."
The conflict between the branches of government was a major issue of the 1866 campaign, with Johnson taking a campaign trail in Swing Around the Circle and Garfield facing opposition in his party in his home district. With the South still not getting the votes and public opinion of the North behind them, Republicans earn a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. Garfield, having overcome his challenger at his district nomination convention, was easily re-elected.
Garfield opposed preliminary talks about President Johnson's impeachment when the Congress convened in December 1866. However, he backed the law to limit Johnson's powers, such as the Appointment of the Office, which confines Johnson in removing the presidential candidate. Disturbed by committee duties, he rarely speaks in connection with these bills, but is a Republican vote loyal to Johnson. Because of the court case, he was absent on the day of April 1868 when the Parliament buried Johnson, but immediately gave a speech aligning himself with Thaddeus Stevens and others seeking Johnson's abolition. When the president was released in court before the Senate, Garfield was shocked, and blamed the proceedings on the lead officer, Chief Justice Chase, his former mentor.
By the time Ulysses S. Grant succeeded Johnson in 1869, Garfield had moved from the remaining radicals (Stevens, their leader, had died in 1868). He praised the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 as a victory, and he preferred to accept Georgia back to Union as a matter of rights, not politics. In 1871, Garfield opposed part of the Ku Klux Klan Act, saying, "I have never been more confused with a law." He is torn between his anger at these "terrorists" and his attention to the freedom threatened by the powers granted by the bill to the president to enforce the action through the suspension of habeas corpus.
Rates and finance
Throughout his political career, Garfield loves the gold standard and denounces efforts to increase the money supply through the issuance of paper not supported by gold, and then, through a free and unlimited silver currency. In 1865, Garfield was placed in the House Ways and Means Committee, a much-awaited opportunity to focus on financial and economic issues. He denounced his opposition to the greenback, saying, "Everyone who does his own for paper money will come down in the midst of a public disaster, covered with the curse of the crushed." In 1868 Garfield gave a two-hour speech about the currency in the House, which was widely welcomed as his best speech; in it he advocated a resumption of gradual payment of the specie, that is, the government pays silver and gold, rather than paper money that can not be exchanged.
Rates have been raised to high levels during the Civil War. After that, Garfield, who did an in-depth study of financial affairs, advocated a move toward free trade, although the standard Republican position was a protective tariff that would allow the American industry to grow. This split with his party might have made it his place on the Ways and Means Committee in 1867, and although Republicans held a majority in the House until 1875, Garfield remained from the committee during that time. Garfield came to the seat of the powerful Building Allocation Committee, but it was Cara and Means, with his influence on fiscal policy, which he really wanted to live. Part of the reason Garfield was denied a place in Cara and Sarana was the opposition of influential Republican editor, Horace Greeley.
In September 1870, Garfield, then chair of the House Banking Committee, led an investigation into the Black Friday Panic scandal. The committee's investigation of corruption was conducted thoroughly, but found no alleged offense. Garfield blamed the availability of fiat money to finance the speculation that led to the scandal.
Garfield was not at all interested in the re-election of President Grant in 1872 - until Horace Greeley, who emerged as a Democratic and Liberal Republican candidate, became the only serious alternative. Garfield argues, "I would say that Grant does not deserve nomination and Greeley is not fit to be elected." Both Grant and Garfield won a great victory in re-election.
CrÃÆ'Â © dit Mobiland scandal; Salary Salary
The CrÃÆ' © dit Mobilier of America scandal involved corruption in the financing of the Union Pacific Railroad, part of a transcontinental railway that was completed in 1869. Officers and directors of Union Pacific secretly bought control of the company CrÃÆ' © dit Mobilier of America, then contracted with company to have it do the construction of the railway. Highly inflated invoices filed by firms are paid for by trains, using federal funds adjusted to subsidize projects, and companies are allowed to buy Union Pacific securities at face value, well below market levels. Crà ©  © dit Mobilier shows big profits and share profits, and handed out huge dividends. High costs mean that Congress is asked to use more funds. One of the train officials who controls Crà ©  © dit Mobilier is also a congressman, Oakes Ames from Massachusetts. He offered some of his colleagues a chance to buy CrÃÆ' © dit Mobilier stock at face value, well below what was sold for in the market, and the railway got additional appropriation.
The story broke out in July 1872, in the middle of a presidential campaign. Among those named were Vice Presidents (and former House Speaker) Schuyler Colfax, second auxiliary couple from Grant (Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson), Speakers James G. Blaine of Maine, and Garfield. Greeley was lucky enough to capitalize on the scandal. When Congress reunites after the election, Blaine, trying to clear her name, demands a House investigation. Evidence before the special committee frees Blaine. Garfield had stated, in September 1872, that Ames had offered him, but he repeatedly rejected it. Testifying before the committee in January, Ames alleged that he had offered Garfield ten shares of stock at face value, but Garfield never took the stock, or paid for it. A year has passed, from 1867 to 1868, before Garfield finally refused. Garfield, who appeared before the committee on January 14, 1873, confirmed many of these things. Ames testified a few weeks later that Garfield agreed to take stock on credit, and it was paid for by a large dividend of the company. The two men differed in the amount of about $ 300 Garfield earned and then paid back, with Garfield thinking of it as a loan and Ames getting a dividend.
The Garfield biographer did not want to forgive him at Crà ©  © at Mobilier, with Allan Peskin writing, "Did Garfield lie? Not exactly Did he say the truth? Not entirely, was he damaged? Not even Garfield's enemies never claimed that his involvement... affects his behavior. "Rutkow writes that" Garfield's real violation is that he consciously refuses to the House inquiry committee that he agrees to accept the shares and that he also receives a $ 329 dividend. " Caldwell suggested that Garfield "... while he was telling the truth [before the committee], certainly failed to say the whole truth, clearly avoided an answer to certain vital questions and thus gave the impression of a mistake worse than he was guilty." Crà ©  © dit Mobilier is a corrupt organization that has been poorly concealed, even mentioned on the floor of Congress, and editor Sam Bowles wrote at the time that Garfield, in his position on the committee dealing with finances, "... has no more right to care about this very important thing, rather than the guard must snore at his post. "
Another problem that caused Garfield difficulties in the 1874 re-election bid was the so-called "Salary Salary" of 1873, which increased compensation to members of Congress by 50 percent, retroactively to 1871. Garfield was responsible, as Chair of the Allocation Committee, to pastor the bill of ratification legislative through DPR; during the debate in February 1873, Massachusetts Representative Benjamin Butler offered the increase as an amendment, and regardless of Garfield's opposition, he passed the House and eventually became law. The law is very popular in the House, because almost half of its members are rotten ducks, but the public is angry, and many of Garfield's constituents blame him, although he refuses to accept the increase. In a bad year for Republicans, who lost control of the House for the first time since the Civil War, Garfield held his closest congressional election, winning with just 57 percent of the vote.
Minority leader; Hayes Administration
With the Democratic takeover of the House in 1875, Garfield lost his position from the Allocation Committee. Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives appoints Garfield as a member of the Republican Ways and Means. With many of his leadership rivals being defeated at Democrat landslide in 1874, and Blaine elected to the Senate, Garfield is seen as the leader of the Republican floor and the Chairman may have to party regain control of the room.
When the 1876 presidential election approached, Garfield was faithful to the nomination of Senator Blaine, and fought for the former Speaker nomination at the Republican National Convention in 1876 in Cincinnati. When it became clear, after six ballots, that Blaine could not win, the convention nominated Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes. Although Garfield has supported Blaine, he maintains a good relationship with Hayes, and wholeheartedly supports the governor. Garfield hopes to retire from politics after his term ends to devote himself full-time to legal practice, but to help his party, he seeks re-election, and won it easily in October. The celebration was short, when Garfield's youngest son, Neddie, got sick from a whooping cough shortly after the congressional election, and soon died.
When Hayes appeared to have lost the next month's presidential election to Democrat Samuel Tilden, Republicans launched efforts to reverse the results in the Southern states where they held governors: South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. If Hayes wins the three states, he will take the election with one election vote. Grant asked Garfield to serve as a "neutral observer" in the Louisiana recount. Observers immediately recommend to the state election commission that Hayes is declared the winner - Garfield recommends that all West Feliciana Parish voices, who have given Tilden a large part, are discarded. The Republican governors of the three countries certified that Hayes had won their country, with anger from Democrats, who had state legislative bodies submitting rival letters, and threatened to prevent counting of electoral votes - under the Constitution, Congress was the final referee of the election. Congress then passed the bill establishing the Electoral Commission, to determine the winner. Although he opposed the Commission, feeling that Congress should count votes and declare a winning win, Garfield was appointed to it over objections from Democrats that he was too partisan. Hayes emerged victorious by Commission 8 to 7, with all eight votes cast by Republican politicians or appointed from the party to the Supreme Court. As part of an agreement in which they recognize Hayes as president, South Democrats secure the removal of federal troops from the South, ending the Reconstruction.
Although the Senate's seat will be thrown out by the Ohio General Assembly after John Sherman's resignation to become Minister of Finance, Hayes needs Garfield's expertise to protect him from a hostile congressional agenda, and asks him not to look for him. Garfield, as the key legislator of the president, gained great prestige and respect for his role. When Congress debated what became the Bland-Allison Act, for the government to buy large quantities of silver and exchange it into a very legitimate dollar coin, Garfield battled against this deviation from the gold standard, but it was imposed on Hayes's veto in February 1878..
Garfield during this time purchased a property in Mentor who later called Lawnfield reporter, and from there he would do the first successful front porch campaign for the presidency. Hayes suggested that Garfield run for governor in 1879, seeing it as a possible path to put Garfield in the White House. Garfield preferred to seek election as a senator, and devoted his efforts to see that Republicans won the election in 1879 for the General Assembly, with ruling Democratic candidate Allen G. Thurman. Republicans swept legislative elections. His rival was discussed for the chair, like Sherman's Secretary, but he had presidential ambitions (which he sought Garfield support), and other candidates fell by the wayside. Garfield was elected to the Senate by the General Assembly in January 1880, although his term did not begin until March 4, 1881.
Legal career and other activities
Garfield was one of three lawyers who filed arguments for petitioners in the famous Supreme Supreme Court case in 1866. His client was a pro-Confederate northern man who had been found guilty and sentenced to death by the military. court for treason activities. The case is changing on whether defendants should instead be tried by civil courts, and result in the decision that civilians can not be tried in military tribunals while civil courts operate. The oral argument was Garfield's first court appearance. Jeremiah Black had made him a junior partner the year before, and had assigned the case to him in the light of a highly respected speech. With the result, Garfield instantly gained a reputation as a superior appeal lawyer.
During Grant's first term, dissatisfied with public service, Garfield pursued legal opportunities, but refused the offer of partnership when it was informed that his prospective partner was a "desperate and moral" reputation. In 1873, after Chase's death, Garfield appealed to Grant to appoint Judge Noah H. Swayne as Chief Justice. Grant, however, appoints Morrison R. Waite.
Garfield thinks that the grant of land granted for railroad expansion is an unfair practice. He also opposed some monopolistic practices by the company, as well as the forces sought by unions. Garfield supports the proposed establishment of US civil servants as a means to free officials from aggravated aggressive office seekers. He especially wants to eliminate the common practice in which government workers, in exchange for their positions, are forced to kick back the percentage of their wages as political contributions.
In 1876, Garfield showed his mathematical talents when he developed evidence of the Pythagorean trapezoid theorem. His findings are placed in the New England Journal of Education . The mathematical historian William Dunham writes that Garfield's trapezoid work is "really very clever proof."
Presidential Elections 1880
Republican Nomination
After being elected to the Senate with the support of Sherman, Garfield entered the campaign season of 1880 committed to Sherman as his choice for a Republican presidential candidate. Even before the convention began, some Republicans, including Wharton Barker of Philadelphia, regarded Garfield as the best choice for nominations. Garfield denied interest in the position, but the attention was enough to make Sherman suspicious of his lieutenant ambitions. In addition to Sherman, the initial favorites for the nominees were Blaine and former President Grant, but several other candidates also drew delegates.
When the convention started, Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York, floor leader for the Grant army (known as the Stalwart faction), proposed that the delegates promise to support the eventual candidate in the general election. When three West Virginia delegates refused to be so attached, Conkling tried to expel them from the convention. Garfield got up to defend the men, giving eager speeches in defense of their right to make judgments. The crowd turned against Conkling, and he pulled the motion. The show pleases Garfield's supporters, who now believe more than ever that he is the only person who can attract the majority of the voices of the delegates.
After a speech in favor of another front runner, Garfield got up to put the Sherman name in the nomination; his nomination speech was well received, but the delegates garnered a bit of excitement for Sherman's idea as the next president. The first vote showed Grant leading with 304 votes and Blaine in second with 284; Sherman 93 put him in third. Subsequent ballots quickly pointed to a deadlock between Grant's and Blaine's forces, with no 379 votes required for the nomination. Jeremiah McLain Rusk, a member of the Wisconsin delegation, and Benjamin Harrison, a delegate from Indiana, attempted to break the deadlock by diverting some anti-Grant voices to the prospective dark horse - Garfield. Garfield earned 50 votes at the 35th vote, and the stampede began. Garfield protested to other members of his Ohio delegation that he was not looking for nominations and never intended to betray Sherman, but they refused to object and gave him a ballot. In the next round of elections, almost all the Sherman and Blaine delegates shifted their support to Garfield, giving him 399 votes and a Republican nomination. Most of Grant's troops backed the former president to the end, creating a minority of unsatisfied Stalwart in the party. To get the faction's support for tickets, former New York customs collector Chester A. Arthur, a member of Conkling's political machine, was chosen as a vice-presidential candidate.
Campaign against Hancock
Though including Stalwart on the ticket, the hostilities between Republicans were carried away from the convention, and Garfield traveled to New York to meet with party leaders there. After convincing the Stalwart people to put aside their differences and unite for the upcoming campaign, Garfield returned to Ohio, leaving an active campaign to others, as was traditional at the time. Meanwhile, Democrats settled in their candidate, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock from Pennsylvania, a career military officer. Hancock and Democrats expect to bring South Solid, while most of the North is considered a safe area for Garfield and the Republic; most of the campaign will involve several nearby countries, including New York and Indiana.
The practical differences between the candidates are few, and Republicans begin a campaign with the familiar theme of waving bloody clothes: reminding Northern voters that the Democratic Party is responsible for secession and four years of civil war, and that if the Democrats hold their powers will retreat. profit from the war, defame the Union veterans, and pay the Confederate veteran pensions out of the federal treasury. With fifteen years elapsed since the end of the war, and the Union generals at the top of both tickets, the bloody shirt diminished in value in attracting voters. With a few months before the election, the Republic changed its tactics to emphasize tariffs. Seizing on the Democratic platform calls for "tariffs for income only", Republicans tell the North workers that Hancock's presidency will undermine the tariff protection that keeps them in good work. Hancock made the situation worse when, trying to attack moderation, he said, "The tariff question is a local question." This method proved effective in uniting the North behind Garfield. In the end, fewer than two thousand votes, over 9.2 million popular voters vote, separating the two candidates, but at Electoral College Garfield had an easy victory over Hancock, 214-155.
Presidency, 1881
Cabinet and inauguration
Among his election and inauguration, Garfield is busy with assembling a cabinet that will build peace between factions fought against Conkling and Blaine. The Blaine delegation has given a lot of support for Garfield's nomination, and Maine senators have received a place of honor: the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Blaine was not only the president's closest adviser, she was obsessed to know everything that happened at the White House, and even said there were spies stationed there when she was not around. Garfield nominated William Windom of Minnesota as Treasury Secretary William H. Hunt of Louisiana as Secretary of the Navy, Robert Todd Lincoln as Secretary of War, and Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa as Minister of the Interior. New York was represented by Thomas Lemuel James as Postmaster General. Garfield pointed to Wayne MacVeagh from Pennsylvania, Blaine's enemy, as Attorney General. Blaine attempted to sabotage the appointment by convincing Garfield to appoint MacVeagh's opponent William E. Chandler, as Public Defender under MacVeagh. Only the Senate's rejection of Chandler prevented MacVeagh's resignation over the matter.
Disturbed by the cabinet maneuvers, Garfield's inaugural address does not conform to its oratoral standards. At one high point, Garfield emphasized the civil rights of African-Americans, saying "Freedom will never be able to produce fullness of blessing as long as the law or its administration places the smallest barrier in the path of every virtuous citizen." After discussing the gold standard, the need for education, and the unexpected condemnation of Mormon polygamy, the speech ended. The audience applauded, but the speech, according to Peskin, "however sincerely intended, betrays his hasty composition with the flatness of the tone and the specificity of the subject matter."
Garfield's appointment against James made Conkling angry, the faction opponent of the Postmaster General, who demanded the appointment of compensation for his fraction, such as the position of the Minister of Finance. The resulting squabble occupied most of Garfield's presidency. Hostilities with Conkling reached a peak when the president, under Blaine's encouragement, nominated Conkling's enemy, Judge William H. Robertson, to become a Collector of New York Ports. This is one of the prize patronage positions below the cabinet level, and then held by Edwin A. Merritt. Conkling lifts the principle of respectable courtesy of time in an effort to defeat the nomination, of no use. Garfield, who believes the practice is corrupt, will not back down and threaten to withdraw all nominations unless Robertson is confirmed, intending "to resolve whether the president enlisted the Senate clerk or the US Executive." Finally, Conkling and his New York counterpart, Senator Thomas C. Platt, resigned from their Senate seats to seek justification, but found only further insults when New York legislators elected others in their place. Robertson was confirmed as a Collector and Garfield's victory was very clear. For the disappointed Blaine, the winning Garfield returned to his goal to balance the interests of party factions, and nominated a number of Stallwart Conkling friends to offices.
Reform
Grant and Hayes have advocated for civil service reform, and in 1881, civil service reform associations have been organized with new energy across the country. Garfield sympathizes with them, believing that the destroyer destroys the presidency and diverts attention away from the more important issues. Some reformers are disappointed that Garfield has advocated limited ownership only to small office seekers and has promised his old friends, but many remain loyal and support Garfield.
Corruption at the post office is also shouting for reform. In April 1880, there was a congressional investigation into corruption at the Post Office Department, where the profiteering ring was supposedly stealing millions of dollars, securing fake letter contracts on the star route. After getting the contract with the lowest bid, the cost to run the mail route will be increased and the profit will be shared among the ring members. That year, Hayes discontinued the implementation of new star route contracts. Shortly after taking office, Garfield received information from Attorney General MacVeagh and Postmaster General James about post corruption by a supposedly ringleader, Second Postmaster Assistant General Thomas J. Brady. Garfield demanded Brady's resignation and ordered a prosecution that would end in a trial for conspiracy. When told that his party, including his own campaign manager Stephen W. Dorsey, was involved, Garfield directed MacVeagh and James to eradicate corruption in the Post Office Department "to the bone", wherever they were. Brady resigned and was eventually charged with conspiracy. After two trials of "star route" rings in 1882 and 1883, the jury found Brady innocent.
Civil rights and education
Garfield believes that the key to improving African American civil rights status will be found in education assisted by the federal government. During the Reconstruction, free people have obtained citizenship and the right to vote that allows them to participate in government, but Garfield believes their rights are eroded by white and Southern Illiteracy, and fear that blacks will become permanent "peasants" America. He responded by proposing a "universal" educational system funded by the federal government. Congress and the northern white community, however, have lost interest in African-American rights, and federal funding for universal education found no support in Congress during Garfield's time. Garfield also works to appoint some African-Americans to important positions: Frederick Douglass, recorder of action in Washington; Robert Elliot, special agent for the Treasury; John M. Langston, minister of Haiti; and Blanche K. Bruce, register to the Treasury. Garfield believes that Southern support for the Republican party can be obtained with the interests of "commercial and industrial" rather than racial issues and begins to reverse Hayes's policies to reconcile the Southern Democrats. He appointed William H. Hunt, a Republican from the Republic of Louisiana, as Secretary of the Navy. To break the power of the resurgent Democrat Party in the Solid South, Garfield received patronage advice from the Virginia Senator William Mahone from the independent Bacacial Reading Party, hoping to add an independent force to the Republicans there.
Entering the presidency, Garfield had little foreign policy experience, so he relied heavily on Blaine. Blaine, a former protectionist, now agrees with Garfield about the need to promote more free trade, especially in the western hemisphere. Their reasons are twofold: first, Garfield and Blaine believe that increasing trade with Latin America will be the best way to prevent Great Britain from dominating the region. Second, by encouraging exports, they believe they can increase America's prosperity. Garfield allowed Blaine to hold a Pan-American conference in 1882 to mediate disputes between Latin American countries and to serve as a forum for talks on increased trade. At the same time, they hope to negotiate peace in the Pacific War which is then fought by Bolivia, Chile and Peru. Blaine liked a resolution that would not produce Peru that produced any territory, but Chile, which in 1881 had occupied the Peruvian capital, Lima, rejected any settlement that restored the previous status quo . Garfield sought to extend American influence in other fields, calling for the renegotiation of the Clayton-Bulwer Agreement to enable the United States to build canals through Panama without British involvement, as well as to reduce British influence in the strategic Kingdom of Hawaii. Garfield and Blaine's plans for US involvement in the world extend even beyond the Western Hemisphere, when he seeks commercial agreements with Korea and Madagascar. Garfield is also considering increasing US military forces overseas, asking the Hunt Navy Secretary to investigate naval conditions with an eye toward expansion and modernization. In the end, this ambitious plan became useless after Garfield was murdered. Nine countries had accepted the invitation to the Pan-American conference, but the invitation was withdrawn in April 1882 after Blaine withdrew from the cabinet and Arthur, Garfield's successor, canceled the conference. The Navy's reforms continued under Arthur, if on a simpler scale than Garfield and Hunt had imagined, eventually ending up in the development of the Evolution Squadron.
Administration and cabinet
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Murder
Guiteau and photo shoot
Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker, at Baltimore and Potomac Railway Station in Washington, DC on July 2, 1881. After eleven weeks of intensive care and another Garfield died in Elberon, New Jersey, the second from four presidents were killed, following Abraham Lincoln.
Guiteau had followed various professions in his life, but in 1880 decided to get federal office by supporting what he hoped would be a winning Republican ticket. He composed a speech, "Garfield vs. Hancock", and printed by the National Committee of the Republic. One way to persuade voters of that era was through an orator who explained the candidate's abilities, but with Republicans looking for more famous people, Guiteau received little chance to speak. On one occasion, according to Kenneth D. Ackerman in his book on Garfield's nomination and murder, Guiteau could not finish his speech because of nervousness. Guiteau, who considers himself a Stalwart, considers his contribution to Garfield's victory enough to justify the consul's position in Paris, despite the fact that he does not speak French, or a foreign language. Guiteau has since been described by a medical expert as a narcissistic schizophrenic; author Kent Kiehl rate him as a clinical psychopath.
One of President Garfield's toughest duties was to see the office seekers, and he saw Guiteau at least once. White House officials advised Guiteau that he approached Blaine, because his consul was in the State Department. Blaine also saw the public regularly, and Guiteau became a regular in these sessions. Blaine, who had no intention of giving Guiteau an unqualified position for and not obtained, only stated that the Senate impasse over Robertson's candidacy made it impossible to consider the Paris consulate, which required confirmation of the Senate. After the New York senator resigns, and Robertson has been confirmed as a Collector, Guiteau suppresses his claim, and Blaine tells him that he will not accept the position.
Guiteau believes that he has lost his position because he is a Stalwart. The office seeker decided that the only way to end the internecine warfare in Republicans was for Garfield to die - even though he had no personal against the president. Arthur's succession will restore peace, he feels, and brings rewards to fellow Stalwarts, including Guiteau.
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was considered coincidental because of the Civil War, and Garfield, like most people, saw no reason why the president should be preserved; Garfield's movements and plans were often printed in newspapers. Guiteau knew the president would leave Washington for a cooler climate on July 2, and made plans to kill him before that. He bought weapons that he thought would look good in the museum, and followed Garfield a few times, but each time his plans were frustrated, or he lost his courage. His chances shrunk to one - Garfield's departure by train to New Jersey on the morning of July 2, 1881.
Guiteau hides himself in the women's waiting room at Sixth Street Station in Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, where Garfield is scheduled to depart. Most of Garfield's cabinets plan to accompany him at least part of the way. Blaine, who will remain in Washington, comes to the office to meet her. The two men were chatting and did not pay attention to Guiteau before he took out his revolver and shot Garfield twice, once behind and once in the arm. It was 9:30 am. The killer tried to leave the station, but was quickly arrested. When Blaine recognized him and Guiteau made no secret of why he shot Garfield, the killer motivation to benefit Stalwarts accomplished much with the initial news of the shootings, causing anger against the faction.
Treatment and death
Garfield is hit by two shots; someone glanced at his arm while the other pierced his back, crushed his ribs and pinned himself in his stomach. "God, what is this?" she cried out. Guiteau, when he was taken away, stated, "I'm doing it, I'm going to jail for that, I'm Stalwart and Arthur will be President."
Among them at the station was Robert Todd Lincoln, who had sixteen years earlier witnessed his father die of a murderous bullet. Garfield was taken on a mattress to a private office, where several doctors examined him, examining wounds with unwashed fingers. Upon his request, Garfield was brought back to Pu House
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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