Ebenezer Hoar | |
|---|---|
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's7th district | |
| In office March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875 | |
| Preceded by | Constantine Esty |
| Succeeded by | John Tarbox |
| 30thUnited States Attorney General | |
| In office March 5, 1869 – November 22, 1870 | |
| President | Ulysses Grant |
| Preceded by | William Evarts |
| Succeeded by | Amos Akerman |
| Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court | |
| In office 1859–1869 | |
| Preceded by | Benjamin Thomas |
| Succeeded by | Marcus Morton |
| Judge of the Court of Common Pleas | |
| In office 1849–1855 | |
| Member of theMassachusetts Senate | |
| In office 1846–1848 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (1816-02-21)February 21, 1816 Concord, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | January 31, 1895(1895-01-31) (aged 78) Concord, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Party | Whig (Before 1854) Republican (1854–1895) |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Harvard University (AB,LLB) |
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (February 21, 1816 – January 31, 1895) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist from Massachusetts. He served asU.S. Attorney General from 1869 to 1870, and was the first head of the newly createdDepartment of Justice. Hoar assisted PresidentUlysses S. Grant in appointing twoUnited States Supreme Court justices and was himself nominated to the Court. His nomination was rejected by theUnited States Senate, in part for his positions onpatronage reform. In 1871, Hoar was appointed by Grant to the United States high commission that negotiated theTreaty of Washington between the U.S. and the United Kingdom, helping to settle theAlabama Claims.
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar was born inConcord, Massachusetts, on February 21, 1816, toSamuel and Sarah Hoar (née Sherman).[1] Hoar came from a long line of Puritan ancestry. His family had emigrated to America in 1640, initially settling inBraintree, Massachusetts.[2] Hoar was sent to a religious private female teacher at the early age of two. By the age of three, Hoar was able to read the Bible fluently as an adult.[3] By four, Hoar was fully literate, having surpassed his older sister in reading and writing. As Hoar grew up he was known for quick thinking and witty sayings.[4] In 1831, Hoar enteredHarvard University at the age of fifteen.[5] Upon graduation in 1835, he moved West and served as an instructor at a school for girls inPittsburgh.[6] After teaching, he traveled toKentucky and heard the famous politicianHenry Clay speak, then returned toConcord to study law at his father's office.[7] In 1837, Hoar returned to Harvard where he studied law for eighteen months and for six months in the law office ofEmory Washburn. On September 30, 1839, he passed the bar and had received aLL.B. degree fromHarvard Law School, whereupon he practiced law in 1840 in Concord and Boston.[8]
In the 1840s, Hoar began his political career as an anti-slavery member of theWhig Party. Hoar stated that he was aConscience Whig rather than aCotton Whig, who represented the Massachusetts textile interests and the Southern cotton industry.[9]
In 1846, Hoar was elected to theMassachusetts Senate. In 1848, Hoar worked with his father to form theFree Soil Party of Massachusetts. The new party opposed the extension of slavery in the Western territories.[9]
In 1849, Hoar was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Boston and served until 1855.
In 1859, Hoar was appointed as an associate justice of theMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. While on the bench Judge Hoar was known for his critiquing of younger lawyers; one of those who impressed Hoar wasOliver Wendell Holmes Jr.[9]
After theAmerican Civil War, Hoar opposedthe impeachment of PresidentAndrew Johnson.[9]
On March 5, 1869,PresidentUlysses S. Grant appointed Hoar the 30thAttorney General of the United States.[10] All of Grant's appointments, including Hoar, were initially a shock to the Senate, since Grant chose his cabinet independently from leaders of the Republican Party.[11][12] The Senate immediately approved all of Grant's appointments, and press reaction was generally optimistic, applauding Grant's cabinet as one free from "trickery and corruption."[11] Hoar served as Grant's principal legal and political advisor, since Grant had never held public elected office until his election to the presidency.[11][13] In July 1870, Hoar became the first attorney general to head theDepartment of Justice, created to strengthen the enforcement and investigation powers of the President.
One of Hoar's first duties as Attorney General was to rule on the appointment of New York businessmanAlexander T. Stewart as Secretary of the Treasury. Stewart was opposed by SenatorsCharles Sumner andRoscoe Conkling, who cited a 1789 law prohibiting any Secretary who was "concerned or interested in carrying on the business of trade or commerce."[14][15] Stewart had proposed he renounce his legal title to any retail business until after his potential term ended. However, Hoar advised Grant that Stewart's plan was legally impractical.[16] Taking Hoar's advice, Grant instead appointedGeorge S. Boutwell as Secretary of the Treasury.[16] Boutwell's appointment, however, made Hoar's continuance in Grant's Cabinet tenuous, since both Boutwell and Hoar were from Massachusetts during an era in which it was traditional and politically expedient to have no more than one presidential cabinet member from any single state.[17]
On December 14, 1869,[18] President Grant nominated Hoar to theassociate justice seat on theUnited States Supreme Court created by theJudiciary Act of 1869. The nomination engendered much controversy. As Attorney General, Hoar had alienated senators by notconsulting them before recommending to the president nominees for circuit judge. In addition, senators were indignant about Hoar's positions on patronage reform and about his previous opposition to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.[19] The nomination was referred to theSenate Judiciary Committee, which recommended against confirmation. On February 3, 1870, the Senate rejected Hoar 24-33 in a roll call vote.[18]
Grant had an additional associate justice to fill in December 1869, whenRobert C. Grier retired. Grant nominated Secretary of WarEdwin Stanton to succeed Grier.[20] Stanton was swiftly confirmed, but died soon thereafter before he took office.[21]
On Hoar's advice, Grant nominatedWilliam Strong andJoseph P. Bradley to fill the twin vacancies.[21] Both were easily confirmed.[18]
One hour after both Strong and Bradley were submitted to the Senate, the Supreme Court ruled inHepburn v. Griswold that the 1862Legal Tender Act that had authorized the Treasury to print paper money as legal tender was unconstitutional.[21] President Grant, Hoar, and his entire cabinet had been against the Court's 4–3Hepburn ruling, believing that the nation's money supply would be reduced and that this would ruin the economy.[22] On March 31, 1870, Hoar went before the Supreme Court and argued that theHepburn decision caused instability in the national economy, in case the country needed to print money during an emergency, as had been done during theAmerican Civil War.[23] One year later, with justices Strong and Bradley on the bench, the Court reversed theHepburn ruling in a 5–4 decision, making paper money legal tender.[23] Although President Grant and Hoar were accused of packing the Court, Strong and Smith's names had been submitted to the Senate prior to theHepburn decision.[23][24]
Hoar was a moderate Republican who opposed federal intervention in protecting African American citizens duringReconstruction.[25][26] Hoar believed that Southerners would behave responsibly and find a way to protect African Americans.[25] President Grant, however, had lost faith in the Southerners to comply with constitutional and federal law that protected African Americans.[25]
In May 1870, Congress passed the first of threeanti-terrorism laws known asEnforcement Acts to counter Klan violence in the South. In order to increase the federal government's investigative and enforcement powers, Congress created theDepartment of Justice andSolicitor General in June 1870.[27] President Grant was under increased pressure to replace Hoar with a moreRadical Attorney General, one who did not oppose federal intervention to stop lawlessness in the South.[28]
In June 1870, President Grant sent Hoar a letter that requested his resignation without explanation.[29]
Hoar was initially shocked at the sudden resignation request, and went to see Grant, having previously taken pardon requests to Grant at the White House. President Grant told Hoar that Southern Senators wanted a Southerner in the cabinet and that he needed support from Southern Senators.[29]
Hoar complied and sent Grant a letter of resignation. Controversy ensued when Grant's personal secretaries allowed Hoar's resignation letter to be disclosed to the press.[28] None of Grant's other cabinet members knew that Grant had asked for Hoar's resignation.[30][31]
Hoar remained in Grant's cabinet until November 1870, when his successorAmos T. Akerman was sworn in. Akerman was from Georgia and aggressively supported Reconstruction and the federal protection of African American civil rights.[31][32]
Hoar was one of five United States members of a joint high commission with the United Kingdom to settle Civil War claims, and also territorial claims in relation to the Dominion of Canada. The commission's work led to the signing of theTreaty of Washington in 1871. The treaty defined a method of international arbitration to settle disputed sovereign maritime and territorial issues, and also clarified the rules for maritime trade between Canada and the United States. The issues deferred to arbitration were: the Alabama Civil War claims, other claims and counterclaims growing out of the Civil War, the San Juan water boundary with the Dominion of Canada in Puget Sound, and Nova Scotia fishery rights.
A subsequent joint arbitration commission, acting under the treaty, issued a decision in September 1872, rejecting American claims for indirect war damages but ordering Britain to pay the United States $15.5 million (~$361 million in 2024) as compensation for the Alabama claims.[33][34][35]
Hoar was elected as aRepublican to the43rd Congress (1873–75). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1874 and returned to practicing law.
Hoar chaired the 1875 centennial celebration of theBattles of Lexington and Concord, held in Concord and attended by many leading individuals of the day, including President Grant.[33] He also served on the board of overseers ofHarvard University from 1868 through 1882.
While studying law at Harvard, Hoar met Caroline Downes Brooks (1820–1892) of Concord. The two married on November 20, 1840. Their marriage produced seven children, Caroline, Samuel, Charles Emerson, Clara Downes, Elizabeth, and Sherman; Sarah Sherman died an infant. The Hoar marriage was happy; however, Caroline had suffered from illness for many years.[36]
Caroline was the half-sister of US RepresentativeGeorge M. Brooks of Massachusetts.
Hoar's fatherSamuel Hoar was an influential lawyer and politician. Through his mother, Sarah Sherman, E. Rockwood Hoar was the grandson of American founding fatherRoger Sherman andRebecca Minot Prescott. Hoar's brotherGeorge Frisbie Hoar served as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1877 to his death in 1904. Hoar's children include U.S. RepresentativeSherman Hoar (1860–1898) and Samuel Hoar (1845–1904). Hoar's grandchildren include Massachusetts State Senator and Assistant Attorney GeneralRoger Sherman Hoar. Hoar's first cousinRoger Sherman Baldwin was a U.S. Senator and Governor of Connecticut. Another first cousin,William Maxwell Evarts, was a U.S. Senator and Secretary of State (and immediately preceded Hoar asU.S. Attorney General), and yet another one,Sherman Day, was a California State Senator, 1855–56, U.S. Surveyor General, 1868–71, and an original trustee of theUniversity of California. Hoar is distantly related to political commentatorTucker Carlson.[37]
Hoar died in Concord in 1895. He is interred in Concord'sSleepy Hollow Cemetery.
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| Preceded by | Associate Justice of theMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court 1859–1869 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Attorney General 1869–1870 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 7th congressional district 1873–1875 | Succeeded by |
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