Jacob Collamer
Encyclopedia
Jacob Collamer was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician from Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

.

Biography

Jacob Collamer was born in Troy
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He graduated from the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...

 at Burlington
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....

, served in the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

, studied law in St. Albans, Vermont
St. Albans, Vermont
Places named St. Albans, Vermont:*St. Albans , Vermont, town in Franklin County, Vermont, established in 1763**St. Albans Raid, 1864*St. Albans , Vermont, city in Franklin County, Vermont, established in 1902...

, was admitted to the bar in 1813, and served as an officer in a militia unit during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

. In 1816, he moved to Royalton, Vermont
Royalton, Vermont
Royalton is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,603 at the 2000 census. It includes the villages of Royalton, South Royalton, and North Royalton...

, to open a law practice. He remained a resident of Royalton for twenty years, where he became partner to Judge James Emmett Barrett
James Emmett Barrett
James Emmett Barrett was a United States federal judge.Born in Lusk, Wyoming, Barrett was in the United States Army from during World War II, from 1942 to 1945, and received an LL.B. from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1949...

 in a successful law practice, served as register of probate and state’s attorney, represented Royalton
Royalton, Vermont
Royalton is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,603 at the 2000 census. It includes the villages of Royalton, South Royalton, and North Royalton...

 in the Vermont House of Representatives
Vermont House of Representatives
The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members. Vermont legislative districting divides representing districts into 66 single-member districts and 42 two-member...

 for four terms, and from 1833 until 1842 was associate justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont
Vermont Supreme Court
The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont and is one of seven state courts of Vermont.The Court consists of a chief justice and four associate justices; the Court mostly hears appeals of cases that have been decided by other courts...

. Elected to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 in 1842 as a Whig, he advocated the annexation of Texas
Texas Annexation
In 1845, United States of America annexed the Republic of Texas and admitted it to the Union as the 28th state. The U.S. thus inherited Texas's border dispute with Mexico; this quickly led to the Mexican-American War, during which the U.S. captured additional territory , extending the nation's...

, supported the Mexican-American War and the tariff, and received national recognition for his "Wools and Woolens" speech.

Collamer served as Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...

 under President Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...

. He became a circuit court judge in Vermont from 1850 to 1854. In 1855, he was elected to the Senate
United States Senate
The 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...

 as a conservative, anti-slavery Republican. Throughout his career in Congress, he concentrated on land and tariff issues. He defended his position even when in the minority, as exemplified in his vigorous minority report as a member of the Committee on Territories, chaired by Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...

. He was one of two senators who refused to vote for the Crittenden Amendment, which proposed resubmitting the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution
Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas . The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H. Lane and other free-state advocates...

 for Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

 to popular vote. Along with his colleague, James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, Collamer represented the minority view for the so-called Mason Report (June 1860), prepared by the Senate committee which investigated the John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...

 raid on Harper's Ferry of October 1859. Collamer opposed the Reconstruction Plan of President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham 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...

, advocating congressional control instead. He had received the presidential nomination from Vermont in 1860 but withdrew after the first ballot.

From 1855 to 1862 he was the last president of the Vermont Medical College. Reelected to the Senate in 1861, he served until his death on November 9, 1865, at his home in Woodstock, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

.

In 1881, the state of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 donated a marble statue of Collamer to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection
National Statuary Hall Collection
The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol comprises statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history...

.

External links

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