Edgar Crumpacker | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's10th district | |
| In office March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1913 | |
| Preceded by | Charles M. La Follette |
| Succeeded by | Winfield K. Denton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1851-05-27)May 27, 1851 Westville, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | May 19, 1920(1920-05-19) (aged 68) Valparaiso, Indiana, U.S |
| Party | Republican |
| Relatives | Maurice E. Crumpacker (son) Shepard J. Crumpacker Jr. (cousin) |
| Education | Valparaiso University Indiana University |
Edgar Dean Crumpacker (May 27, 1851 – May 19, 1920) was an American lawyer and politician who served eight terms as aU.S. representative fromIndiana from 1897 to 1913. He was the father ofMaurice E. Crumpacker and cousin ofShepard J. Crumpacker Jr.
Born inWestville, Indiana, Crumpacker attended the common schools andValparaiso Academy,Valparaiso, Indiana.He studied law in the law department ofIndiana University at Bloomington.He wasadmitted to the bar in 1876 and commenced practice inValparaiso, Indiana.
He served as prosecuting attorney for the thirty-first judicial district of Indiana 1884–1888.He served as appellate judge, by appointment of Governor Hovey, from March 1891 to January 1, 1893.
Crumpacker was elected as aRepublican to theFifty-fifth and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1913).
He served as chairman of the Committee on the Census (Fifty-eighth throughSixty-first Congresses).[1]
In 1901, before his chairmanship, he attempted to invokeSection 2 of the14th Amendment to reduce Southern states' representation in theHouse of Representatives because of their suppression ofAfrican American voters.
The language of the Constitution is clear, direct, and mandatory, and it leaves no discretion in Congress whatever...If the negro is not entitled to the protection of political laws, under what laws is he entitled to protection?...the violation of his rights in one particular suggests it in others. This is seen in the alarmingly frequent exhibitions of mob violence against the negro. He has no rights that the white man is bound to respect, and he may be shot down, hanged, or burned at the stake, without regard to legal procedure or sanction, with absolute impunity...Legislation can not put brains into the heads nor character into the lives of the people, but it can set in motion forces that will tend to encourage a healthy and honest growth of civil life. The crisis is on, and unless some decisive steps be taken to arrest it, the negro will slowly but surely drift into a condition practically as bad as slavery.[2]
Specifically, Crumpacker wanted to reduceLouisiana's House seats from 7 to 4,Mississippi's from 7 to 4,North Carolina's from 9 to 6, andSouth Carolina's from 6 to 4. All four of those states hadpassed state constitutions making itnearly impossible for African Americans to vote. Crumpacker's motion to consider revising state apportionments was defeated, 94–136.[2]
He was an unsuccessful politician candidate for reelection in 1912 to theSixty-third Congress losing to DemocratJohn B. Peterson in the1912 United States House of Representatives elections. He resumed the practice of law inValparaiso, Indiana, where he died May 19, 1920.He was interred in Graceland Cemetery.
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's 10th congressional district 1897 – 1913 | Succeeded by |
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromBiographical Directory of the United States Congress.Federal government of the United States.
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