Richard Yates Sr. | |
|---|---|
 Yatesc. 1860–73 | |
| United States Senator fromIllinois | |
| In office March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1871 | |
| Preceded by | William A. Richardson |
| Succeeded by | John A. Logan |
| 13th Governor of Illinois | |
| In office January 14, 1861 – January 16, 1865 | |
| Lieutenant | Francis Hoffmann |
| Preceded by | John Wood |
| Succeeded by | Richard J. Oglesby |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois | |
| In office March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1855 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas L. Harris |
| Succeeded by | Thomas L. Harris |
| Constituency | 7th district (1851–53) 6th district (1853–55) |
| Member of theIllinois House of Representatives | |
| In office 1842–1845 1848–1849 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 18, 1815 Warsaw, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | November 27, 1873(1873-11-27) (aged 58) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Party | Whig (until 1854) Republican (after 1854) |
| Children | Richard Yates Jr. |
| Alma mater | Illinois College Transylvania University |
| Profession | Politician |
| Signature |  |
Richard Yates Sr. (January 18, 1815 – November 27, 1873) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13thgovernor of Illinois from 1861 to 1865 during theAmerican Civil War. He also represented the state in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855 and theUnited States Senate from 1865 to 1871.
Yates is considered[by whom?] one of the most effective war governors and was nicknamed the "Soldiers' Friend". He took energetic measures to secureCairo, Illinois, andSt. Louis, Missouri, against rebel attack. He helped organize the Illinois contingent of Union soldiers and commissionedUlysses S. Grant, among others, as a colonel for an Illinois regiment.[1] He supported theEmancipation Proclamation.[2][3] As a senator, he supported the impeachment and removal of PresidentAndrew Johnson from office.[4]
Yates was born in a log cabin inWarsaw, Kentucky.[5] His family was ofEnglish descent[5] and moved to Illinois in 1831. He studied atMiami University andGeorgetown College and graduated fromIllinois College inJacksonville, Illinois, in 1835. He then studied law atTransylvania University inLexington, Kentucky. He was admitted to the bar in 1837 and commenced practice in Jacksonville.[6]
Yates served as a member of theIllinois House of Representatives from 1842 to 1845 and 1848 to 1849.[6] In 1850, he was elected as aWhig to the United States House of Representatives, where he was the youngest member of theThirty-second Congress. He was reelected to Congress in 1852.[7] During Yates' second term in Congress, the repeal of theMissouri Compromise reignited theanti-slavery controversy. He opposed the repeal, which opened the possibility of slavery expanding into Kansas,[8] and became identified with the newRepublican Party. Illinois Democrats redrew the boundaries of his district to favor their candidate, and Yates narrowly lost his bid for a third term in Congress.[9]
Yates then worked for a time as president of a railroad company. Remaining politically engaged, he campaigned on behalf of Republican presidential candidateJohn C. Frémont in the1856 election.[9] He was known as an excellent orator.[10] He had a weakness forwhiskey, though at times he strove to exercise temperance.[11] In later years, he was often conspicuously drunk, even at public functions.[12] By 1867 he had "resolve[d] to quit drink altogether" but was unable to persist in this resolution.[13]
In 1860 he was elected governor as a Republican; he andAbraham Lincoln, with whom he was friendly, supported each other's campaigns in Illinois.[14] Yates's inaugural address denied that states had any right to secede from the Union and declared that "a claim so presumptuous and absurd could never be acquiesced in"; he also predicted that the Union would "in the end, be stronger and richer and more glorious, renowned and free, than it has ever been heretofore, by the necessary reaction of the crisis through which [they were] passing."[15]
Governor Yates continued to be an outspoken opponent of slavery, and at the opening of the Civil War was very active in raising volunteers.[6] He convened the legislature in extra session on April 12, 1861, the day after the attack onFort Sumter, and took military possession ofCairo, garrisoning it with regular troops. Illinois banks made $1,000,000 available to Yates to equip the new Illinois troops raised in response to Lincoln's call.[16] At Yates's suggestion, Lincoln authorized Illinois troops to protect thefederal arsenal in St. Louis.[16]
In Governor Yates's office, GeneralUlysses S. Grant received his first distinct recognition as a soldier in the Civil War, being appointed by Yates as mustering officer for the state, and afterward colonel of the21st Illinois regiment.[6] Yates would also secure military commissions forJohn A. Logan,John A. McClernand, andJohn M. Palmer (all prominent Democrats).[17] Lincoln disregarded a hint from Yates that he would accept a commission as brigadier general on the grounds that Yates was too important as a loyal governor.[18] After theBattle of Shiloh, Yates personally took hospital supplies to the succor of the wounded from his state, as did the wartime governors of Wisconsin (Salomon) and Indiana (Morton). Such humanitarian gestures cemented Yates's popularity, and the governor enjoyed the nickname of the "Soldiers' Friend".[19] In September 1862, Yates attended the LoyalWar Governors' Conference inAltoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately gaveAbraham Lincoln support for hisEmancipation Proclamation.[2][3]
During the Civil War, Yates benefited from his relations with Lincoln to bring significant federal financial resources to the State of Illinois and Chicago in particular.[citation needed] Chicago became the location for the largest prisoner of war encampment,Camp Douglas, which had been erected on the former estate of Lincoln's political opponent, the late SenatorStephen A. Douglas (similarly, the estate of Confederate generalRobert E. Lee in Arlington, Virginia was taken over by the government for use as a military cemetery). During this period, Yates enlisted the services of former Chicago MayorJames Hutchinson Woodworth, a Republican with strong anti-slavery views similar to those of Yates, to oversee the disbursement and management of the federal funds received.[20]
In his 1863 annual message, Yates denounced the talk among some secession sympathizers that the Union might be reconstructed to the exclusion of New England.[21]
After the Emancipation Proclamation, the Democratic-dominated Illinois legislature proved increasingly uncooperative. Yates, fearing that the Democrats had been infiltrated by the pro-secessionKnights of the Golden Circle,[22] dissolved the Illinois legislature on June 10, 1863, declaring that "the past history of the Assembly hold[s] out no reasonable hope of beneficial results to the citizens of the State, or the army in the field, from its further continuance".[23]
After his service as governor ended, Yates was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1865, to March 3, 1871. While in the Senate, Yates was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Thirty-ninth andForty-first Congresses) and Chairman of the Committee on Territories (Fortieth Congress). He was identified as an associate and "disciple" ofCharles Sumner, theRadical senator from Massachusetts.[24] During theimpeachment proceedings againstAndrew Johnson, Yates spoke in favor of convicting the president, whom he described as a "most pestilent disturber of public peace ... who, through murder succeeded to the chief command and seeks to betray us to the enemy."[4]
Yates did not seek reelection to the Senate. After leaving the Senate, he was appointed by President Grant as a United States commissioner to inspect aland subsidy railroad. He died suddenly inSt. Louis, Missouri on November 27, 1873. He is buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery,Jacksonville, Illinois.[6]
In 1923 a statue of Yates byAlbin Polasek was erected on theIllinois State Capitol grounds.
His son,Richard Yates Jr., was also active in Illinois politics, and also became governor of Illinois.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Illinois 1860 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Illinois 1861–1865 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 2) from Illinois 1865–1871 Served alongside:Lyman Trumbull | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's 6th congressional district March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's 7th congressional district March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853 | Succeeded by |
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| Class 3 | ||
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| People | |
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