US Senator, Author, Constitutionalist. After serving for 3 years as a midshipman in the U.S. Navy, he was admitted to the bar in 1833. In 1850 he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives and became well-known for his opposition to the secession movement. He was instrumental in passing measures for the better observance of the Sabbath in cities & for the abolition of a certain class of "concert saloons," prohibiting the employment of females in such establishments. In 1864 he was a presidential elector on the Lincoln ticket. He was a member and vice-president of the Constitutional Convention of 1863, as well as the author of the several clauses of the organic law it enacted requiring the test oath of loyalty as a qualification for jurors, voters, school teachers, lawyers & ministers. He was elected a U.S. Senator in 1867, and served on the committees on naval affairs, Pacific Railroad, contingent expenses and ordnance. During his term he caused an amendment to an appropriation bill declaring that no payment for damages sustained in the Civil War should be made unless the claimant had filed an oath that he had never been in rebellion against the U.S. government, which clause was afterward invalidated by the Supreme Court. In 1871 he was appointed Chief Justice of the United states Court of Claims by President Ulysses Grant.
US Senator, Author, Constitutionalist. After serving for 3 years as a midshipman in the U.S. Navy, he was admitted to the bar in 1833. In 1850 he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives and became well-known for his opposition to the secession movement. He was instrumental in passing measures for the better observance of the Sabbath in cities & for the abolition of a certain class of "concert saloons," prohibiting the employment of females in such establishments. In 1864 he was a presidential elector on the Lincoln ticket. He was a member and vice-president of the Constitutional Convention of 1863, as well as the author of the several clauses of the organic law it enacted requiring the test oath of loyalty as a qualification for jurors, voters, school teachers, lawyers & ministers. He was elected a U.S. Senator in 1867, and served on the committees on naval affairs, Pacific Railroad, contingent expenses and ordnance. During his term he caused an amendment to an appropriation bill declaring that no payment for damages sustained in the Civil War should be made unless the claimant had filed an oath that he had never been in rebellion against the U.S. government, which clause was afterward invalidated by the Supreme Court. In 1871 he was appointed Chief Justice of the United states Court of Claims by President Ulysses Grant.
Bio by: Connie Nisinger
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