Edmund G. Ross

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Edmund Gibson Ross (December 7, 1826Template:Spaced ndashMay 8, 1907) was an American politician who represented Kansas after the American Civil War and was later governor of the New Mexico Territory. His vote against convicting President Andrew Johnson of "high crimes and misdemeanors" allowed Johnson to stay in office by the margin of one vote. As the seventh of seven Republican U.S. Senators to break with his party, he proved to be the person whose decision would result in conviction or acquittal. When he chose the latter, the vote of 35–19 in favor of Johnson's conviction failed to reach the required two-thirds vote. Ross lost his bid for re-election two years later.

Early life

Ross was born in Ashland, Ohio, on December 7, 1826, the third of fourteen children born to Sylvester Ross Sr. and Cynthia (Rice) Ross.<ref name="KHS">Template:Cite web</ref> He was educated locally and at age 11 was apprenticed as a printer at the Huron, Ohio, Commercial Advertiser.<ref name="KHS"/> In 1841 he moved to Sandusky, Ohio, to join the staff of the Sandusky Mirror, which was owned by his brother Sylvester.<ref name="KHS"/> For several years in the late 1840s and early 1850s, Ross was employed as a journeyman printer and typesetter, traveling throughout Ohio and to several nearby states to accept temporary work whenever it was available.<ref name="Ruddy">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp A Democrat who opposed slavery, in 1852, he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he worked on first the Milwaukee Free Democrat and then the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel.<ref name="KHS"/>Template:Rp In 1854, Ross was one of several Milwaukee residents who came to the aid of Joshua Glover, an escaped slave who had been recaptured and was being held at the local jail.<ref name="Ruddy"/>Template:Rp The group stormed the jail, freed Glover, and enabled his escape to Canada.<ref name="Ruddy"/>Template:Rp At the founding of the Republican Party, Ross' anti-slavery leanings caused him to join the new organization.<ref name="KHS"/>

Early career

An opponent of slavery, during the 1850s dispute over whether to admit Kansas to the union as a free state or a slave state, Ross moved to Topeka, Kansas, as did several of his family members, who were also opponents of slavery.<ref name="KHS"/> The dispute sometimes resulted in violence, and Ross joined the antislavery side's militia.<ref name="KHS"/> He became a leader of the free state movement as publisher of the Topeka Tribune from 1856 to 1858 and founder of the Kansas State Record in 1859.<ref name="KHS"/> He joined the board of directors of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and was one of its chief promoters.<ref name="KHS"/> In 1859, Ross was elected a delegate to the Kansas constitutional convention of 1859 to 1861.<ref name="KHS"/>

Military service

A supporter of the Union during the Civil War, Ross joined the Union Army as a private in 1862. He was commissioned as a captain in command of Company E, 11th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. The regiment took part in several battles in the southwestern and western United States, including Second Battle of Lexington, Battle of Little Blue River, Second Battle of Independence, Battle of Byram's Ford, Battle of Westport, Battle of Mine Creek, and Battle of Platte Bridge Station/Battle of Red Buttes. He was promoted to major during the war and was mustered out after the surrender of the Confederacy in 1865.

United States Senator

After the war, Ross returned to Kansas to continue his newspaper career and was editor of the Kansas Tribune from 1865 to 1866.<ref name="KHS"/> In 1866, the governor of Kansas appointed Ross to the U.S. Senate as a Republican, filling the vacancy caused by the death of James H. Lane.<ref name="KHS"/> The state legislature subsequently elected him to complete Lane's term, and he served from July 19, 1866, to March 3, 1871.<ref name="KHS"/> He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the term which began on March 4, 1871. During his Senate service, Ross served as chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills (Fortieth Congress) and the Committee on Engrossed Bills (Forty-first Congress).

Andrew Johnson impeachment

File:Vote on the Impeachment of President Johnson, 1868 (1).jpg

Illustration published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of Senator Ross casting his vote against conviction on the eleventh article of impeachment during the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson

Ross is best known for casting the decisive vote which acquitted Andrew Johnson during his 1868 presidential impeachment trial. Some people have claimed that Ross voted against the conviction due to concerns about his colleague Samuel C. Pomeroy receiving patronage from Benjamin Wade, and as a means to receive patronage favors from Johnson. Others claim Ross cast his vote because he genuinely believed that Johnson had the right to replace Edwin M. Stanton, since he had been appointed during the Lincoln Administration. Still others give voice to the opinion that, though the Kansas Senator did believe Johnson guilty of breaking the Tenure of Office Act, he did not believe that offense worthy of impeachment. Kansas newspapers thought clearly that Ross voted against his radical leanings in supporting Johnson because of the influence of his old Civil War colonel, Thomas Ewing Jr., an ardent Johnson supporter at the time.<ref>Ronald D. Smith, "Thomas Ewing Jr., Frontier Lawyer and Civil War General," Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008, Template:ISBN. See the discussion at pp. 292–299.</ref> Later in life, Ewing wrote Ross that he felt Ross was "preeminent for courage" among men—not only for his physical courage in battle but also for opposing Johnson's conviction. "In making [that] decision, you knew perfectly well that it could consign you to private life and the vehement denunciation of almost all your party friends."<ref>Thomas Ewing Jr. to Ross, July 16, 1894, Thomas Ewing Jr. Papers, Kansas State Historical Society.</ref> However, there is significant evidence that suggests Ross was bribed, although a subsequent House of Representatives investigation found no proof.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Edmund G. Ross is one of eight U.S. Senators featured in Profiles in Courage, the 1956 Pulitzer Prize-winning history co-written by then-Senator John F. Kennedy in commemoration of past acts of political courage in Congress.

Later career

Upon retirement from the Senate, Ross went back into the newspaper business briefly, launching a publication in Coffeyville, Kansas.<ref>Ross, Edmund G. – KS-Cyclopedia – 1912 Template:Webarchive</ref> He left the Republican Party after 1872 and was affiliated with the Democrats.<ref name="KHS"/> In 1880, he ran unsuccessfully for governor of Kansas. A trip to New Mexico in 1882 had a positive effect on his health and he moved there permanently.<ref name="KHS"/> He studied law and passed the bar, afterwards practicing in Albuquerque and beginning work on a history of the Johnson impeachment.<ref name="KHS"/>

From 1885 to 1889, Ross served as governor of New Mexico Territory, appointed by President Grover Cleveland.<ref name="KHS"/> He served as secretary of the New Mexico Bureau of Immigration from 1894 to 1896. In 1896, he published his book History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Time caused Kansans to look on Ross more favorably with respect to his role in the Johnson impeachment. In 1907, General Hugh Cameron of Lawrence visited Ross in New Mexico and brought testimonials from many citizens of Kansas.<ref name="KHS"/>

Death

Ross died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 8, 1907. He was interred at Fairview Memorial Park Cemetery in Albuquerque.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Family

In 1848, Ross married Fannie Lathrop (1827–1899) in Sandusky, Ohio.<ref name="KHS"/> Their children included Lillian, Arthur, Pitt, Flynt, Edmundie, Kay and Fannie.

Further reading

• Bumgardner, Edward (1949). The Life of Edmund G. Ross. The Fielding-Turner Press, Kansas City, Missouri. Template:ISBN?
• Lamar, Howard R. "Edmund G. Ross as Governor of New Mexico Territory." New Mexico Historical Review 36#3 (1961): 177+
• Roske, Ralph J. "The Seven Martyrs?." American Historical Review 64#2 (1959): 323–330. in JSTOR
• Ruddy Richard A. (2013). Edmund G. Ross: Soldier, Senator, Abolitionist online review

External links

Template:CongBio Retrieved on 2009-03-18

• Template:Gutenberg author
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• Andrew Johnson: Saved by a Scoundrel
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