Elihu Washburne, formidable Illinois Republican Congressman

Grand Old Partisan honors Elihu Washburne, born in Maine, September 23rd 1817. He started out as printer's apprentice and then assistant editor of a newspaper. Graduating from Harvard Law School, he moved to Illinois.

During his second of nine congressional terms, this resolutely anti-slavery Whig switched to the Republican Party. He vied for the speakership in 1863. Colleagues called him 'Father of the House' and 'Watchdog of the Treasury'.

Washburne held Abraham Lincoln in high esteem ever since they met in 1840. He supported his first campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1855 and again in 1858 against Stephen Douglas. It was he who met President-elect Lincoln on his arrival to Washington. He would serve as one of his pallbearers.

Outbreak of civil war, Washburne plucked Ulysses Grant from obscurity by recommending his Galena neighbor for promotion to brigadier general. He eye-witnessed the battles of First Bull Run, Vicksburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, Cold Harbor, Petersburg – and was the only civilian present at the Appomattox surrender.

After the war, he opposed the Democrat president, Andrew Johnson, and played a leading role in his impeachment. Washburne served on the Reconstruction Committee and advocated, unsuccessfully, that the government distribute rebel-owned plantations to former slaves. He was the Appropriation Committee's first chairman.

President Grant appointed him Secretary of State. He resigned after just a week to become ambassador to France, remaining there throughout Grant's two terms. During the Franco-Prussian War, Washburne won renown for helping negotiate peace terms. In 1880, he contended for the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominations.

Four of his brothers also became leaders of the early Republican Party. Israel served as Congressman and Governor of Maine, Cadwallader as Congressman and Governor of Wisconsin, William as Congressman and Senator from Minnesota, and Charles as Ambassador to Paraguay. His cousin Peter was Governor of Vermont; cousin Henry, Congressman from Indiana; and cousin William, Governor, Congressman and Senator from Massachusetts

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Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.


Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

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