Jacob Collamer
United States Senator fromVermont
In office March 4, 1855 – November 9, 1865
Preceded by	Lawrence Brainerd
Succeeded by	Luke P. Poland
Judge of the Vermont Circuit Court
In office 1850–1854
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Abel Underwood
13thUnited States Postmaster General
In office March 8, 1849 – July 22, 1850
President	Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore
Preceded by	Cave Johnson
Succeeded by	Nathan K. Hall
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromVermont's2nd district
In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849
Preceded by	William Slade
Succeeded by	William Hebard
Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
In office 1833–1842
Preceded by	Nicholas Baylies
Succeeded by	William Hebard
State's Attorney ofWindsor County
In office 1820–1824
Preceded by	Asa Aikens
Succeeded by	Isaac Cushman
Personal details
Born	(1791-01-08)January 8, 1791 Troy, New York, U.S.
Died	November 9, 1865(1865-11-09) (aged 74) Woodstock, Vermont, U.S.
Political party	Whig(Before 1854) Republican(1854–1865)
Spouse	Mary Stone
Children	7
Education	University of Vermont(AM)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	Vermont Militia
Years of service	1812–1815
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	4th Regiment, Vermont Detached Militia Brigade 2nd Brigade, 4th Division
Battles/wars	War of 1812

Jacob Collamer (January 8, 1791 – November 9, 1865) was anAmerican politician fromVermont. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives, asPostmaster General in the cabinet ofPresidentZachary Taylor, and as a U.S. Senator.

Born inTroy, New York, and raised inBurlington, Vermont, Collamer graduated from theUniversity of Vermont, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1813. After service in the militia during theWar of 1812, he became active as an attorney, first inRoyalton, and then inWoodstock. Highly regarded in the legal profession, he became a respected prosecutor, legislator, and judge.

Elected to the House of Representatives in 1842, Collamer became a prominentWhig leader and advocate of the anti-slavery cause. President Taylor selected Collamer to serve as Postmaster General followingthe 1848 presidential election. Collamer served until shortly after Taylor's death when he resigned to allow Taylor's successor,Millard Fillmore, to name his own appointee.

Collamer was elected to the Senate as aRepublican in 1855, shortly after the formation of the new party. He became a respected voice against slavery and a prominent supporter of theLincoln administration during theAmerican Civil War. An advocate of more stringent postwarReconstruction measures than those that were favored by Lincoln and his successor,Andrew Johnson, Collamer advocated congressional control of the Reconstruction process. He died in Woodstock and was buried at River Street Cemetery in Woodstock.

Jacob Collamer was born inTroy,New York on January 8, 1791, the son of Samuel Collamer and Elizabeth (Van Arnum) Collamer, and his family moved toBurlington, Vermont in 1795.^[1] He received aBachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of Vermont in 1810,^[2] and after additional study, UVM later upgraded Collamer's degree toMaster of Arts.^[3][4][5] Hestudied law inSt. Albans, Vermont withAsa Aldis, Asahel Langworthy, andBenjamin Swift.^[6] He then relocated toRandolph, Vermont, where he completed his legal studies with attorney William Nutting,^[7] and he wasadmitted to the bar in 1813.^[6] During theWar of 1812, Collamer was appointed a deputy U.S. tax collector for the district that includedOrange County, Vermont, and was responsible for collecting levies in support of the war effort.^[8]

He served as an officer in aVermont Militia unit during the War of 1812.^[9] Appointed as anensign in the 4th Regiment commanded by William Williams,^[10] he served first with an artillery unit on Vermont's border withCanada.^[6] After promotion tofirst lieutenant, Collamer served asaide-de-camp toBrigadier General John French, commander of the militia's 2nd Brigade, 4th Division.^[11][12]

French's unit left Orange County for upstate New York in September 1814 in response to warnings of an imminentBritish invasion fromCanada.^[6] When the brigade was crossingLake Champlain en route toPlattsburgh, Collamer was sent ahead in a boat to inform Vermont Militia commander Samuel Strong that French's troops were on their way.^[6] Collamer was fired on by American sentinels, but was uninjured.^[6] Strong informed Collamer that theBattle of Plattsburgh had taken place the day before, and the British had retreated, so French's troops returned home.^[6]

In 1816, he moved toRoyalton, Vermont, where he continued to practice law.^[6] He remained a resident of Royalton for 20 years, practicing law in partnership withJames Barrett.^[13] Among the prospective attorneys whostudied law under his supervision wasLyman Gibbons, who later served as a justice of theAlabama Supreme Court.^[14] Collamer also served in local offices, including Register ofProbate,Windsor CountyState's Attorney, and member of theVermont House of Representatives.^[15] While serving in the House, Collamer was the main proponent of the legislation that created theVermont Senate in 1836.^[16]

From 1833 to 1842 Collamer was an associate justice of theSupreme Court of Vermont, succeedingNicholas Baylies.^[17][18] In 1836 he moved toWoodstock.^[19] From 1839 to 1845 Collamer was a Trustee of theUniversity of Vermont.^[20]

Elected to theUS House of Representatives in 1842 as aWhig, Collamer served three terms, from1843 to 1849.^[21] He opposed the extension of slavery, theTexas Annexation, and theMexican–American War; supported high tariffs to help American manufacturers and received national recognition for his "Wool and Woolens" speech on tariffs.^[22][23]

Collamer was Chairman of theCommittee on Manufactures (Twenty-eighth Congress) and theCommittee on Public Lands (Thirtieth Congress).^[24]

Collamer served asPostmaster General under PresidentZachary Taylor. Appointed at the start of theTaylor's administration in 1849, he served until resigning in July 1850.^[25] Collamer resigned shortly after Taylor's death to enable PresidentMillard Fillmore to name his own appointee.^[26]

As Postmaster General, Collamer was criticized by Whig partisans of thespoils system because he was reluctant to remove localDemocratic postmastersen masse so they could be replaced by Whigs.^[27] Among his accomplishments was the introduction of a permanent system for usingpostage stamps; Collamer sent the first letter using one, a note addressed to his brother inBarre, Vermont in which he recommended saving the stamp because if the system worked, it might be valuable to collectors.^[28]

Upon returning to Vermont, Collamer was appointed a judge of the newly created state Circuit Court, where he served until 1854.^[29] He was succeeded on the bench byAbel Underwood, who served until the state Circuit Court was abolished in an 1857 court reorganization.^[30]

Collamer was a longtime trustee of and lecturer at the Vermont Medical College in Woodstock and served as President of the Board of Trustees.^[31]

In 1855 Collamer was elected to theSenate as a conservative, anti-slaveryRepublican.^[32] In his first term, Collamer was Chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills (Thirty-fourth Congress).^[33]

In 1856, Collamer received several votes forVice President at theRepublican National Convention.^[34]

In the Senate, he defended his positions vigorously even when he was in the minority.^[35] When theCommittee on Territories, chaired byStephen A. Douglas, recommended passage of theCrittenden Amendment, which proposed resubmitting for popular vote the pro-slaveryLecompton Constitution forKansas, Collamer andJames R. Doolittle ofWisconsin refused to vote in favor but instead crafted a persuasive minority report explaining their opposition.^[36]

Collamer also represented the minority view in June 1860, when the select committee chaired byJames Murray Mason issued its report onJohn Brown's raid onHarper's Ferry.^[37] Mason argued that Brown's raid was the work of an organized abolitionist movement, which needed to be curtailed with federal authority.^[38] Collamer and Doolittle countered that Brown and his followers had been caught and punished and that further government action was not necessary.^[38]

Collamer's years on the bench helped develop his reputation as the best lawyer in the Senate.^[39] His colleagues were known to pay close attention to his remarks on the Senate floor even though he spoke infrequently and even then too quietly to reach the entire chamber or the galleries.^[40]Charles Sumner referred to Collamer as the "Green-MountainSocrates"^[40] and called him the wisest and best balanced statesman of his time.^[41]

At the1860 Republican National Convention, Collamer received thefavorite son votes of Vermont's delegates and withdrew after the first ballot.^[42] Reelected to the Senate in 1861, he served until his death.^[43]

In 1861, Collamer authored the bill to invest the President with new war powers and give Congressional approval to the war measures thatAbraham Lincoln had taken under his own authority at the start of his administration.^[44]

Collamer was the lead senator of the nine Republicans who visited Lincoln in 1862 to argue for change in the composition of his cabinet by persuading him to replace hisSecretary of State,William Henry Seward.^[45] Having been encouraged to confront Lincoln by claims of cabinet disharmony from Lincoln'sSecretary of the Treasury,Salmon P. Chase, the senators changed their minds during the meeting after Chase was maneuvered by Lincoln into backtracking on his initial argument.^[46]

Again a member of the majority once theDemocrats from the southern states left the Senate during the war, Collamer was Chairman of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads (Thirty-seventh toThirty-ninth Congresses) and the Committee on the Library (Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses).^[47]

After the war, Collamer opposed theReconstruction of plans of Presidents Lincoln andAndrew Johnson and was an advocate of Congressional control over the process of readmitting formerConfederate states to the Union.^[22]

Collamer died at his home in Woodstock on November 9, 1865^[21] and was buried in Woodstock's River Street Cemetery.^[48][49]

Collamer received thehonorary degree ofLL.D. from the University of Vermont in 1850 andDartmouth College in 1855.^[50]

In 1881, the state ofVermont donated amarble statue of Collamer created byPreston Powers to theU.S. Capitol'sNational Statuary Hall Collection.^[51] Each state is represented by two statues, and Vermont's are likenesses of Collamer andEthan Allen.^[52][53]

In 1817, Collamer married Mary Stone, who died in 1870.^[54] Their children included Elisabeth, Harriet, Mary, Edward, Ellen, Frances, and William.^[55]

Collamer's home at 40 Elm Street in Woodstock is part of theMarsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park's Civil War Home Front Walking Tour.^[56][57]

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)

• United States Congress."Jacob Collamer (id: C000628)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Jacob Collamer atFind a Grave

• 
  The Zachary Taylor Administration, 1849 Daguerreotype byMathew Brady
  From left to right:William Ballard Preston,Thomas Ewing,John M. Clayton,Zachary Taylor,William M. Meredith,George W. Crawford, Jacob Collamer andReverdy Johnson in 1849
• 
  Jacob Collamer in U.S Statuary Hall
• 
  Jacob Collamer during the Civil War

• 1791 births
• 1865 deaths
• Politicians from Troy, New York
• Vermont Republicans
• United States postmasters general
• Members of the Vermont House of Representatives
• Vermont lawyers
• State's attorneys in Vermont
• People of Vermont in the American Civil War
• American militiamen in the War of 1812
• University of Vermont alumni
• Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court
• Republican Party United States senators from Vermont
• Taylor administration cabinet members
• Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
• 19th-century United States senators
• 19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly

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