Augustus Hill Garland was an
ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
lawyer and politician. He was a senator in both the
United StatesThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and the
Confederate StatesThe Congress of the Confederate States was the legislative body of the Confederate States of America, existing during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865...
, served as
11th Governor of Arkansas and as
Attorney General of the United StatesThe United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
in the first administration of
Grover ClevelandStephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
.
Early life and law career
Garland was born in
Covington, TennesseeCovington is a city in central Tipton County in the State of Tennessee. Covington is the largest city and county seat of, Tipton County. Covington is located in one of just five counties of West Tennessee that are located along the Mississippi River, thus it is in extreme western Tennessee.This...
, on June 11, 1832, to Rufus and Barbara Hill Garland. Along with his parents, his older brother, Rufus, and older sister, Elizabeth, the family moved to Lost Prairie in
ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
in 1833 where his father owned a store. His father died when Garland was still a baby and his mother then wed Thomas Hubbard in 1836. Hubbard relocated the family to
Washington, ArkansasWashington is a city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 148 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Hope Micropolitan Statistical Area.The city is also home to Old Washington Historic State Park....
, near the
Hempstead County seat of
HopeHope is a small city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2008 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,378...
. Garland attended Spring Hill Male Academy from 1838 to 1843 before moving on to
St. Mary's CollegeSt. Mary's College was an institution established in 1821 by William Byrne.St. Mary's was still a functioning college in 1899.St. Mary's College closed in 1976.-Notable alumni:*Clement S. Hill, U.S. Congressman from Kentucky...
in
Lebanon, KentuckyLebanon is a city in Marion County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 6,331 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Marion County. Lebanon is located in central Kentucky, southeast of Louisville. A national cemetery is located nearby....
, and later graduating from St. Joseph's College in
Bardstown, KentuckyAs of the census of 2010, there were 11,700 people, 4,712 households, and 2,949 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,113 housing units at an average density of...
, in 1849.
Garland briefly taught school at Brounstown School in the Mine Creek Community in
Sevier County before returning to Washington to study
lawLaw is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
with
Hempstead County clerk Simon Sanders, later being
admitted to the barIn the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. Each U.S. state and similar jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules for bar admission , which can lead to different admission...
and starting a law practice with his stepfather in 1853. He married Sarah Virginia Sanders on June 14, 1853, with whom he would have nine children, four of whom survived to adulthood. They moved to
Little RockLittle Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
in June 1856 where Garland became a law partner to Ebenezer Cummins, a former legal associate of
Albert PikeAlbert Pike was an attorney, Confederate officer, writer, and Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C...
's. Garland became one of Arkansas's most prominent attorneys and was admitted to the bar of the
Supreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
in 1860.
Entrance into politics
Garland was a supporter of the
WhigThe Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
and
American "Know Nothing"The Know Nothing was a movement by the nativist American political faction of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon Protestant values and controlled by...
parties during the 1850s and was a
presidential electorThe Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election...
in the Arkansas Electoral College for the
Constitutional Union PartyThe Constitutional Union Party was a political party in the United States created in 1860. It was made up of conservative former Whigs who wanted to avoid disunion over the slavery issue...
in the
election of 1860The United States presidential election of 1860 was a quadrennial election, held on November 6, 1860, for the office of President of the United States and the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the American Civil War. The nation had been divided throughout the 1850s on questions surrounding the...
, voting for the party's nominees of
John BellJohn Bell was a U.S. politician, attorney, and plantation owner. A wealthy slaveholder from Tennessee, Bell served in the United States Congress in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He began his career as a Democrat, he eventually fell out with Andrew Jackson and became a Whig...
and
Edward EverettEdward Everett was an American politician and educator from Massachusetts. Everett, a Whig, served as U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State...
.
Civil War
With the election of
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
to the
Presidency of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, more and more
southern statesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
were pressured to secede from the
UnionDuring the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
. Garland opposed secession and consistently advocated Arkansas's continued allegiance to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In 1861, he was elected to represent
Pulaski County at the secession convention in Little Rock where he voiced his opposition to secede, but after President Lincoln called for 75,000 troops in response to the
Battle of Fort SumterThe Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, that started the American Civil War. Following declarations of secession by seven Southern states, South Carolina demanded that the U.S. Army abandon its facilities in Charleston Harbor. On...
, Garland reluctantly supported secession.
Confederate Congress
Garland served in the
Provisional Confederate CongressThe Provisional Confederate Congress, for a time the legislative branch of the Confederate States of America, was the body which drafted the Confederate Constitution, elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy, and designed the first Confederate flag...
and was later elected to the
Confederate House of RepresentativesThe Congress of the Confederate States was the legislative body of the Confederate States of America, existing during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865...
in the
First Confederate CongressThe First Confederate Congress was the first regular term of the legislature of the Confederate States of America. Members of the First Confederate Congress were chosen in elections mostly held on 6 November 1861.-Sessions:...
in 1861 where he was a member of the Committees on Public Lands, Commerce and Financial Independence, and the Judiciary. He was reelected in 1863 and in 1864 was appointed to the
Confederate States SenateThe Congress of the Confederate States was the legislative body of the Confederate States of America, existing during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865...
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Charles B. MitchelCharles Burton Mitchel was a Democratic Party politician from Arkansas who represented the state in the U.S...
. In Congress, he made efforts to establish a
Supreme CourtA supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
of the
Confederate StatesThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
and supported the administration of
PresidentThe President of the Confederate States of America was the Head of State and Head of Government of the Confederate States of America, which was formed from the states which declared their secession from the United States, thus precipitating the American Civil War. The only person to hold the...
Jefferson DavisJefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
aside his opposition to the laws suspending the
writIn common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
of
habeas corpus is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
. He returned to Arkansas in February 1865 to help facilitate the return of the state to the Union.
Ex parte Garland
At the end of the
Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Garland was pardoned by
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
on July 15, 1865. Despite this pardon, he was prohibited from practicing law due to a provision passed by the
United States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
on January 24, 1865, stripping the law licenses of all lawyers who worked with the
ConfederateThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
government or military. Garland became the petitioner in the case of
Ex parte GarlandEx parte Garland, , was an important United States Supreme Court case involving the disbarment of former Confederate officials.-Case:In January 1865 the Congress of the United States passed a law that effectively disbarred former members of the Confederate government by requiring a loyalty oath be...
in which he made the argument that it was unconstitutional and a violation of
ex post factoAn ex post facto law or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions committed or relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law...
. On January 14, 1867, by a vote of five to four, the Court agreed. The ruling caused considerable uproar in the north, but gave hope that the judicial system could be used to prevent the implementation of the
Reconstruction ActAfter the end of the Civil War, as part of the on-going process of Reconstruction, the United States Congress passed four statutes known as Reconstruction Acts...
that had recently been passed by Congress. He then pushed the Supreme Court to hear the case of
Mississippi v. JohnsonMississippi v. Johnson 71 U.S. 475 was the first suit to be brought against a President of the United States in the United States Supreme Court. The state of Mississippi attempted to sue President Andrew Johnson for enforcing Reconstruction. The court decided, based on a previous decision of...
which challenged the constitutionality of those acts, however the Court refused.
Post-war political career
Garland was elected to the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
for a term beginning in 1867, but was not allowed to take the seat as Arkansas had not yet been readmitted to the
UnionThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He continued practicing law and observing the political scene from a distance. In 1872, with the
Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
split into three factions,
Arkansas DemocratsThe Democratic Party of Arkansas is the local branch of the United States Democratic Party in the state of Arkansas. It is responsible for promoting the ideologies and core values of the national Democratic Party in Arkansas.-History:...
sought Garland to help elect Democrats into the
state legislatureThe Arkansas General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Arkansas Senate with 35 members, and the lower Arkansas House of Representatives with 100 members. All 135 representatives and state senators...
and had been considered for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. During the conflict known as the
Brooks-Baxter WarThe Brooks–Baxter War was an armed conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the United States, in 1874 between factions of the Republican Party over the disputed 1872 election for governor...
, he sided with
Governor Elisha BaxterElisha Baxter was the tenth Governor of the State of Arkansas.-Biography:Elisha Baxter was born in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Baxter received an appointment to the United States Military Academy but his father would not allow him to attend.In 1852 Baxter moved to Arkansas and opened a...
and was a primary strategist for him. He was an advisor and constitutional scholar at the next
state constitutional conventionA constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
and, with strong support from the Democratic Party, was elected
Governor of Arkansas.
Governor of Arkansas
Garland was faced with a number of problems after taking office as Governor including turmoil in the state over threatening groups like the
Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, an ongoing congressional investigation over the Brooks-Baxter conflict and the state debt of
$The dollar is the name of the official currency of many countries, including Australia, Belize, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.-Etymology:...
17,000,000. With help from the finance board, the debt was significantly lowered in two years time. Garland was a strong supporter of better education. He urged the legislature to establish schools for the
blindBlindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
and deaf, successfully advocated in appointing a new president for the Arkansas Industrial University, today the
University of ArkansasThe University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
, and helped found the Branch Normal College, today the
University of Arkansas at Pine BluffThe University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is a historically black university located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, United States. Founded in 1873, it is the oldest HBCU and the second oldest public institution in the state of Arkansas . UAPB is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
, which made education more accessible for African-Americans. Under his administration, he also oversaw the creation of the Arkansas Bureau of Statistics and the Arkansas Bureau of Agriculture, Mining and Manufacturing.
United States Senate
Garland ran successfully for the United States Senate in 1876 and was reelected in 1883. In the Senate, he served as a member of the Committees on
Public LandsThe United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and nuclear waste policy, territorial policy, native Hawaiian matters, and public lands....
, the
TerritoriesThe United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and nuclear waste policy, territorial policy, native Hawaiian matters, and public lands....
and the
JudiciaryThe United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...
, serving as chairman of the Territories Committee in the
46th CongressThe Forty-sixth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1879 to March 4, 1881, during the last two years of...
. As a Senator, he made efforts to bring about
tariff reformProtectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
, internal improvements such as the regulation of
interstate commerceThe Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution . The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." Courts and commentators have tended to...
and a federal prison system, federal aid to education and civil service reform.
Attorney General
Garland resigned from the Senate in 1885 after accepting the appointment of
Attorney General of the United StatesThe United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
by newly elected
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Grover ClevelandStephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
, becoming the first Arkansan to receive a
cabinetThe Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
post. Not long after taking office, he became embroiled in a political scandal. While serving in the Senate, Garland became a
shareholderA shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
in and attorney for the Pan-Electric Telephone Company which was organized to form regional telephone companies using equipment developed by J. Harris Rogers. The
Bell Telephone CompanyThe Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts on July 9, 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company — the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company...
brought suit against Pan-Electric for
patent infringementPatent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or...
after it was discovered that their equipment was similar to that of Bell's. Garland was ordered to bring a suit in the name of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to invalidate the Bell patent, breaking their monopoly of telephone technology, but refused to do so. However, while Garland was on vacation in the summer,
Solicitor GeneralThe United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 2011 and sworn in on June...
John GoodeJohn Goode, Jr. was a prominent Virginia Democratic politician who served in the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War and then was a three-term postbellum United States Congressman, as well as the acting Solicitor General of the United States.-Biography:Goode was born in Bedford...
authorized the suit. A year long congressional investigation and constant public attention effected his work as Attorney General, however, despite having to serve under a cloud of suspicion, he was supported by President Cleveland. Garland was also the first, and to date only, United States cabinet secretary to be
censuredIn the United States, a motion of censure is a congressional procedure for reprimanding the President of the United States, a member of Congress, or a judge. Unlike impeachment, in the United States censure has no explicit basis in the federal constitution. It derives from the formal condemnation...
by Congress when, in 1886, Garland failed to provide documents about the firing of a
United States AttorneyUnited States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
.
Later life and death
President Cleveland lost reelection to
Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
in the
1888 electionThe 1888 election for President of the United States saw Grover Cleveland of New York, the incumbent president and a Democrat, try to secure a second term against the Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, a former U.S. Senator from Indiana...
and Garland left office at the end of Cleveland's term in 1889. He resumed practicing law in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and published a number of books, including
The Constitution As It Is (1880),
Experience in the Supreme Court of the United States, with Some Reflections and Suggestions as to that Tribunal (1883),
Third-Term Presidential (1896),
Experience in the Supreme Court of the United States (1898) and
Treatise on the Constitution and Jurisdiction of the United States Courts (1898). On January 26, 1899, while arguing a case before the Supreme Court, Garland suffered a
strokeA stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
and died a few hours later in the
CapitolThe United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
. He was interned
Mount Holly CemeteryMount Holly Cemetery is the original cemetery in the Quapaw Quarter area of downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, and is the resting place for numerous Arkansans of note...
in
Little Rock, ArkansasLittle Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
.
Honors
- Garland County, Arkansas, Garland, Arkansas
Garland is a town in Miller County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Texarkana, Texas - Texarkana, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 352 at the 2000 census.Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn was born in Garland.A...
, and Garland, Texas-Climate:* The average warmest month is July.* The highest recorded temperature was in 2000.* On average, the coolest month is January.* The lowest recorded temperature was in 1989.* The maximum average precipitation occurs in May....
, were named in his honor.
External links