Edwin Denison Morgan Signature
Signature from Edwin Denison Morgan (1811-1883) was born in Massachusetts, moved with his family to Connecticut, at age eighteen clerked in his uncle's 1 grocery store, at 22 was elected to the Hartford City Council, and at 26 moved to New York City where he amassed a fortune in merchandising and finance. His success extended to politics with election as a city alderman and two terms in the state senate followed by an appointment as one of the commissioners of emigration.
An antislavery Whig during his early political career, Morgan left the party in 1855 to help organize the Republicans in New York. The next year he became chairman of the Republican National Committee, a position he held until 1862. During his first term as governor, Morgan worked diligently to improve the state's finances and the canal system. His popularity among voters and his reputation for honesty gave him a wide margin of victory in his bid for a second term.
Morgan devoted himself to supporting Abraham Lincoln's war programs, raising and equipping 223,000 men for the Federal army. To give his valuable ally both civil and military authority in the state, and industrial and financial center critical to the war effort, the president appointed Morgan major general with command of the Department of New York.
Morgan labored to counter the strong anti-administration Democratic influences in New York but declined to run for a third term when his moderate stance toward slavery alienated Radicals within party as they agitated for abolition During the remaining months of his term he applied his energies to developing a system of defenses for New York harbor.
Morgan resigned his army commission on Jan. 1, 1863, and shortly before his gubernatorial term expired was elected to the U.S. Senate. Though Andrew Johnson admired Morgan's abilities and nominated him secretary of the treasury in 1865, Morgan opposed many of Johnson's policies, voting to convict the president after his impeachment trial.
Morgan's political career waned after 1869, when he was defeated in his second Senate race. Between 1872 and 1876 Republicans again chose him to head their national committee. He retired from politics after losing the New York gubernatorial contest in 1876.
Signature from Edwin Denison Morgan (1811-1883) was born in Massachusetts, moved with his family to Connecticut, at age eighteen clerked in his uncle's 1 grocery store, at 22 was elected to the Hartford City Council, and at 26 moved to New York City where he amassed a fortune in merchandising and finance. His success extended to politics with election as a city alderman and two terms in the state senate followed by an appointment as one of the commissioners of emigration.
An antislavery Whig during his early political career, Morgan left the party in 1855 to help organize the Republicans in New York. The next year he became chairman of the Republican National Committee, a position he held until 1862. During his first term as governor, Morgan worked diligently to improve the state's finances and the canal system. His popularity among voters and his reputation for honesty gave him a wide margin of victory in his bid for a second term.
Morgan devoted himself to supporting Abraham Lincoln's war programs, raising and equipping 223,000 men for the Federal army. To give his valuable ally both civil and military authority in the state, and industrial and financial center critical to the war effort, the president appointed Morgan major general with command of the Department of New York.
Morgan labored to counter the strong anti-administration Democratic influences in New York but declined to run for a third term when his moderate stance toward slavery alienated Radicals within party as they agitated for abolition During the remaining months of his term he applied his energies to developing a system of defenses for New York harbor.
Morgan resigned his army commission on Jan. 1, 1863, and shortly before his gubernatorial term expired was elected to the U.S. Senate. Though Andrew Johnson admired Morgan's abilities and nominated him secretary of the treasury in 1865, Morgan opposed many of Johnson's policies, voting to convict the president after his impeachment trial.
Morgan's political career waned after 1869, when he was defeated in his second Senate race. Between 1872 and 1876 Republicans again chose him to head their national committee. He retired from politics after losing the New York gubernatorial contest in 1876.