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James A. Garfield (1831-1881)

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James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th President of the United States. His death, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure the second shortest in United States history.

Before his election as president, Garfield served as a major general in the United States Army and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a member of the Electoral Commission of 1876. President Garfield, a Republican, had been in office a scant four months when he was shot and fatally wounded on July 2, 1881. He lived until September 19, having served for six months and fifteen days. To date, Garfield is the only sitting member of the House of Representatives to have been elected President.

Contents

[edit] Vita

  • Welsh Ancestry
  • Son of Abram Garfield and Eliza Ballou.
  • 1831-Nov-19 : Birth at a log cabin in Orange Township, now Moreland Hills, Ohio.
  • 1858-Nov-11 : Marriage to Lucretia Rudolph
  • 1861-Nov : Commander of the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Start of Military Career
  • 1862-Oct : Elected to US House of Representatives (Ohio's 19th Congressional District) while still serving in war. Re-elected repeatedly thereafter. He was regarded as one of the most hawkish Republicans.
  • 1880 : Elected both to Senate seat and as US President
  • 1881-Jul-02 : Shot by Assissin.
  • 1881-Sep-19 : Death in Washington D.C.

[edit] Family of James Garfield

On November 11, 1858, he married Lucretia Rudolph. They had seven children (five sons and two daughters):

[edit] Election of 1880

In 1880, Garfield's life underwent tremendous change with the publication of the Morey letter, and the end of Democratic U.S. Senator Allen Granberry Thurman's term. In January the Ohio legislature, which had recently again come under Republican control, chose Garfield to fill Thurman's seat for the term beginning March 4, 1881.[6] However, at the Republican National Convention where Garfield supported Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman for the party's Presidential nomination, a long deadlock between the Grant and Blaine forces caused the delegates to look elsewhere for a compromise choice and on the 36th ballot Garfield was nominated. Virtually all of Blaine's and John Sherman's delegates broke ranks to vote for the dark horse nominee in the end. As it happened, the U.S. Senate seat to which Garfield had been chosen ultimately went to Sherman, whose Presidential candidacy Garfield had gone to the convention to support.

In the general election, Garfield defeated the Democratic candidate Winfield Scott Hancock, another distinguished former Union Army general, by 214 electoral votes to 155. (The popular vote had a plurality of 9,464 votes out of more than nine million cast; see U.S. presidential election, 1880.) He became the only man ever to be elected to the Presidency straight from the House of Representatives and was, for a short period, a sitting Representative, a Senator-elect, and President-elect. Technically, he was the first Senator to be elected President (Warren G. Harding was the second). However, Garfield never actually sat in the Senate, as the term was not scheduled to begin until 1881. Garfield resigned his other positions and accepted the Presidency. He took office as President on March 4, 1881.

[edit] Assassinaton

Garfield was the second US President to be assassinated (the first was Abraham Lincoln). He was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, disgruntled by failed efforts to secure a federal post, on July 2, 1881, at 9:30 a.m.

The President had been walking through the Sixth Street Station of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (a predecessor of the Pennsylvania Railroad) Washington, D.C., on his way to his alma mater, Williams College, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, accompanied by Secretary of State James G. Blaine, Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln (son of Abraham Lincoln) and two of his sons, James and Harry.

The station was located on the southwest corner of present day Sixth Street Northwest and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., a site that is now occupied by the National Gallery of Art. Guiteau was upset because of the rejection of his repeated attempts to be appointed as the United States consul in Paris—a position for which he had absolutely no qualifications.

Garfield's assassination was instrumental to the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act on January 16, 1883.

[edit] 1880 US Census

Household Census for J.A. Garfield taken at Census Place E. D. 39 And 40, Washington, Washington, D.C., District of Columbia. This is while he is serving in the House or Representatives and campaigning to run for the office of President (note occupation listing error.)


 
 Name  Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's BirthplaceMother's Birthplace
James A. GARFIELD   Self   M   Male   W   50   OHIO   U.S. Senator   OHIO   OHIO 
Lucretia GARFIELD   Wife   M   Female   W   42   OHIO   Keeping House   OHIO   OHIO 
Harry GARFIELD   Son   S   Male   W   16   OHIO   Attends School   OHIO   OHIO 
James R. GARFIELD   Son   S   Male   W   14   OHIO   Attends School   OHIO   OHIO 
Mary GARFIELD   Dau   S   Female   W   12   OHIO   Attends School   OHIO   OHIO 
Irving M.D. GARFIELD   Son   S   Male   W   10   DC   Attends School   OHIO   OHIO 
Abram GARFIELD   Son   S   Male   W   7   DC   Attends School   OHIO   OHIO 
Mary MCGRAFF   Other   S   Female   W   25   IRELAND   Servant   IRELAND   IRELAND 

[edit] References 

Retrieved on 2008-02-12
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