James R. Doolittle
The Honorable James R. Doolittle | |
---|---|
![]() Doolittlec. 1860–1875 | |
United States Senator fromWisconsin | |
In office March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1869 | |
Preceded by | Henry Dodge |
Succeeded by | Matthew H. Carpenter |
Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee | |
In office March 4, 1861 – March 4, 1867 | |
Preceded by | William K. Sebastian |
Succeeded by | John B. Henderson |
Wisconsin Circuit CourtJudge for the 1st Circuit | |
In office October 1853 – March 1856 | |
Preceded by | Wyman Spooner |
Succeeded by | Charles Minton Baker |
Personal details | |
Born | Hampton, New York,U.S. | January 3, 1815
Died | July 27, 1897 Providence, Rhode Island,U.S. | (aged 82)
Resting place | Mound Cemetery, Racine, Wisconsin |
Political party | Republican(1854–1871) Democratic(after 1871) |
Spouse |
Mary Lovina Cutting
(m.1837; died 1879) |
Children | 6 |
Alma mater | Hobart College |
Profession | Politician, lawyer |
James Rood Doolittle Sr.(January 3, 1815 – July 27, 1897) was an American politician who served as aU.S. Senator from Wisconsinfrom March 4, 1857, to March 4, 1869. He was a strong supporter of PresidentAbraham Lincoln's administration during theAmerican Civil War.[1][2]
Early life
[edit]Born inHampton, New York,Doolittle was the son of Reuben Doolittle and Sarah Rood. He attendedMiddlebury AcademyinWyoming, New York,and, in 1834, he graduated fromHobart CollegeinGeneva, New York.He subsequently studied law and was admitted to theNew York bar associationin 1837.
Early career
[edit]He then established a law practice inRochester.Doolittle moved toWarsaw, New York,in 1841. From 1847 to 1850, he was thedistrict attorneyforWyoming County.He also served for a time as acolonelin theNew York Statemilitia.
In 1851, Doolittle moved toRacine, Wisconsin,and, in 1853, was elected Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the 1st Circuit, defeating incumbent appointeeWyman Spooner.During his time as judge, he presided over the July 1855 case ofThe State of Wisconsin v. David F. Mayberry,[3]the result of which led to the only recordedlynchingin the history ofRock County, Wisconsin.Doolittle resigned from the court in March 1856.
Senator
[edit]Until the 1850repealof theMissouri Compromise,Doolittle was aDemocrat.He left the party and was elected and then re-elected to the Senate as aRepublicanin 1857 and 1863, respectively. He was a delegate to thePeace Conference of 1861inWashington, DC.
While senator, Doolittle was the Chairman of theCommittee on Indian Affairs.Along with his colleague,Jacob CollamerofVermont,Doolittle represented the minority view for the Mason Report (June 1860), which was prepared by the Senate committee to investigateJohn Brown's raid onHarper's Ferryin October 1859. He also proposed a constitutional amendment to ban secession.
During the Civil War, Doolittle supported many of Lincoln's policies, and he was active in representing Wisconsin's interests onCapitol Hill.During the summer recess of 1865, he visited the Natives west of theMississippi Riveras chairman of theJoint Special Committee on Conditions of Indian Tribes,which was charged with an inquiry into the condition of the Native tribes and their treatment by the US civil and military authorities. In the West, the committee split into subcommittees, which considered different regions with Doolittle participating in the inquiry into Native affairs inKansas,theIndian Territory,andColorado.
The report of the committee,The Condition of the Tribes,was issued on January 26, 1867. Doolittle was accused byThe New York Timesin 1872, while he was under consideration for appointment asSecretary of the Interiorin the projected "reform cabinet" by Democratic presidential candidateHorace Greeley,of suppressing the report, as it contained information exposing the Native ring of fraudulent suppliers of goods to the Native tribes under treaty obligations. TheTimesalleged that the report was printed only after theCincinnati Gazetteobtained a copy of it.[4]
Doolittle took a prominent part in the debate on the various war and reconstruction measures, upholding the federal government but always insisting that thesecedingstates had never ceased to be a part of theUnion.He strongly opposed theFifteenth Amendmentand believed that each state should determine questions ofsuffragefor itself.[5]
Later life
[edit]After he leftCongress,he ran forGovernor of Wisconsinin 1871 as a Democrat. After he lost, he retired from politics.
Doolittle returned to the Midwest and became a lawyer inChicago,Illinoiswhile he maintained his residence in Racine. He served for a year as the acting president of theOld University of Chicago,[6]and he spent many years on its staff as a professor in the law school as well as serving on the Board of Trustees.
He was president of theNational Union Conventionof 1866 in Philadelphia and also of the1872 Democratic National ConventioninBaltimore,which adopted the nomination ofHorace Greeley.He died ofBright's diseaseinEdgewood,Rhode Islandin 1897,[7]and was interred inMound Cemeteryin Racine, Wisconsin.
Personal life and family
[edit]James R. Doolittle married Mary Lovina Cutting on July 27, 1837. They had four sons and two daughters, and were married for 42 years before her death in 1879.[8]
Their son James Jr. became a prominent lawyer in Chicago, and served five years on theChicago Board of Education.[9]
References
[edit]- ^"Wisconsin History website".Archived fromthe originalon June 11, 2011.RetrievedOctober 4,2009.
- ^Political Graveyard site
- ^State of Wisconsin v. David F. Mayberry(1st Cir., Wisconsin Courts, July 11, 1855),Text.
- ^"DOOLITTLE AND THE INDIANS.; What the Senator Knows About Suppressing Reports A Good Secretary of the Interior for Greeley's Reform Cabinet",New York Times,September 8, 1872
- ^Wilson & Fiske 1891.
- ^Goodspeed, Thomas W. (1916).A History of the University of Chicago, Founded by John D. Rockefeller: The First Quarter-Century.University of Chicago Press.pp. 18–19 – viaInternet Archive.
- ^"Doolittle is Dead".The Topeka Daily Capital.July 28, 1897. p. 4.RetrievedJune 3,2015– viaNewspapers.com.
- ^"Obituary".Chicago Tribune.November 12, 1879. p. 4.RetrievedMarch 25,2023– viaNewspapers.com.
- ^"James R. Doolittle Jr".Chicago Tribune.August 9, 1889. p. 2.RetrievedMarch 25,2023– viaNewspapers.com.
Sources
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- United States Congress."James R. Doolittle (id: D000428)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.Retrieved on 2009-04-28
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Wilson, J. G.;Fiske, J.,eds. (1900). .Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography.New York: D. Appleton.
- 1815 births
- 1897 deaths
- People from Hampton, New York
- Doolittle family
- Wisconsin Democrats
- Republican Party United States senators from Wisconsin
- Candidates in the 1868 United States presidential election
- Wisconsin circuit court judges
- Politicians from Racine, Wisconsin
- People from Warsaw, New York
- Politicians from Chicago
- New York (state) lawyers
- Illinois lawyers
- People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War
- 19th-century American judges
- 19th-century American lawyers
- Burials at Mound Cemetery (Racine, Wisconsin)