Edward Bates
- ️Wed Sep 04 1793
| Edward Bates | |
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| In office March 5, 1861 – November 24, 1864 |
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| President | Abraham Lincoln |
| Preceded by | Edwin M. Stanton |
| Succeeded by | James Speed |
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| Born | September 4, 1793 Belmont, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | March 25, 1869 (aged 75) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican, Whig, Republican |
| Profession | Lawyer, Politician |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Volunteer |
| Rank | sergeant |
| Battles/wars | War of 1812 |
Edward Bates (September 4, 1793 – March 25, 1869) was a U.S. lawyer and statesman. He served as United States Attorney General under Abraham Lincoln from 1861 to 1864. He was the brother of Frederick Bates and James Woodson Bates, who also became politicians in western territories and states.
Biography
Born in Goochland County, Virginia on his family's plantation Belmont, Bates attended school in Maryland. He served in the War of 1812 before moving to St. Louis, Missouri Territory in 1814.
Bates studied the law with Rufus Easton and boarded with his family. Easton was Judge of the Louisiana Territory, the largest jurisdiction in U.S. history after the Louisiana Purchase. After being admitted to the bar, Bates worked as a partner with Easton. In 1817 the two organized the James Ferry, which ran from St. Charles, Missouri to Alton, Illinois. Easton had founded the latter town, naming it after his first son Alton.[1]
Bates's private practice partner was Joshua Barton, who would be the first Missouri Secretary of State. Barton became infamous for fighting duels on Bloody Island (Mississippi River). In 1816 Bates was the second to Barton in a duel with Thomas Hempstead, brother of Edward Hempstead, the Missouri Territory's first Congressional representative. The fight ended without bloodshed. Barton would be killed in a duel on the island in 1823.
Bates' first foray into politics came in 1820, when he was elected as a member of the state's constitutional convention. He next was appointed as the new state's attorney general. In 1822, Bates was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives. He moved up to the United States House of Representatives for a single term (1827–1829). He was elected to the State Senate from 1831 to 1835, then to the Missouri House from 1835. He ran for the U.S. Senate, but lost to Democrat Thomas Hart Benton.
Bates became a prominent member of the Whig Party during the 1840s. During this time he became interested in the case of the slave Polly Berry, who gained her freedom decades after having been held illegally in the free state of Illinois for several months. She had Bates argue as her attorney to gain the freedom of her daughter Lucy Berry, then about age 14, according to the principle of partus. As the mother had been proved a free woman, her daughter also gained her freedom.[2]
In 1850 President Millard Fillmore asked Bates to serve as U.S. Secretary of War, but he declined. Charles Magill Conrad accepted the position. At the Whig National Convention in 1852, Bates was considered for the vice-presidential slot on the ticket, and he led on the first ballot before losing on the second ballot to William Alexander Graham.
After the breakup of the Whig Party in the 1850s, Bates became a Republican, and was one of the four main candidates for the party's 1860 presidential nomination. He received support from Horace Greeley, who later switched to supporting Abraham Lincoln.[3] The next year, after winning the election, Lincoln appointed Bates as his Attorney General, an office Bates held from 1861 until 1864. Bates was the first Cabinet member to hail from the region west of the Mississippi River.
Bates returned to Missouri after leaving Lincoln's cabinet. He died in St. Louis in 1869.
Marriage and family
Bates married Miss Coulter from South Carolina. They had 17 children together.[3] Her brother David Coulter lived in St. Louis, and her sister Caroline J. Coulter married Hamilton R. Gamble, also of the city.[4]
Bates was happy with his large family. During the Civil War, their son Fleming Bates served with the Confederates and John C. Bates, served in the Union Army. Their youngest son, Charles, was still at West Point during the war.[3]
See also
- Polly Berry, free black woman who hired Bates to represent her to gain her enslaved daughter's freedom (1844)
- Lucy Berry, 14-year-old slave freed in suit brought by her mother Polly Berry and argued by Bates
References
- ^ Bruce Adamson, For Which We Stand; the Life of Rufus Easton
- ^ Lucy A. Delaney, From the Darkness Cometh the Light: or Struggles for Freedom, St. Louis: J. T. Smith, 1891, Electronic edition, University of North Carolina, accessed 22 Apr 2009
- ^ a b c "Cabinet and Vice President: Edward Bates", Mr. Lincoln's White House, The Lincoln Institute, 1999-2011, accessed 4 January 2011
- ^ Dennis K. Boman, Lincoln's Resolute Unionist: Hamilton Gamble, Dred Scott Dissenter and Missouri's Civil War Governor, Louisiana State University Press, 2006, pp. 1-7, accessed 26 February 2011
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: BATES, Edward
- Cain, Marvin R. Lincoln’s Attorney General: Edward Bates of Missouri. Columbia : University of Missouri Press, 1965.
- Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York : Simon & Schuster, 2005.
- Judah, Charles and George Winston Smith. The Unchosen. New York : Coward-McCann, 1962.
External links
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by (none) |
Missouri State Attorney General 1820–1821 |
Succeeded by Rufus Easton |
| Preceded by Edwin M. Stanton |
United States Attorney General Served under: Abraham Lincoln March 5, 1861 – November 24, 1864 |
Succeeded by James Speed |
| United States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by John Scott |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's At-large congressional district March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1829 |
Succeeded by Spencer D. Pettis |
| v · d · eUnited States Attorneys General | |
|---|---|
|
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| v · d · eCabinet of President Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vice President |
Hannibal Hamlin (1861–1865) • Andrew Johnson (1865) |
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| Secretary of State |
William H. Seward (1861–1865) |
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| Secretary of the Treasury |
Salmon P. Chase (1861–1864) • William P. Fessenden (1864–1865) • Hugh McCulloch (1865) |
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| Secretary of War |
Simon Cameron (1861–1862) • Edwin M. Stanton (1862–1865) |
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| Attorney General |
Edward Bates (1861–1864) • James Speed (1864–1865) |
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| Postmaster General |
Montgomery Blair (1861–1864) • William Dennison (1864–1865) |
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| Secretary of the Navy |
Gideon Welles (1861–1865) |
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| Secretary of the Interior |
Caleb Blood Smith (1861–1862) • John Palmer Usher (1863–1865) |
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