Shelby Moore Cullom (November 22, 1829 – January 28, 1914) was an American politician who served in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and as the 17th Governor of Illinois. He was Illinois's longest serving senator.

Life and career

Cullom was born in 1829 in

Monticello, Kentucky Monticello is a city in Wayne County, Kentucky, United States. It is the county seat, seat of its county. Its population was 5,753 at the time of the 2020 United States census. Monticello claims to be "the Houseboat Capital of the World", as nu ...

, a son of Richard Northcraft Cullom and Elizabeth G. "Betsey" (Coffey) Cullom. He moved with his family a year later to Tazewell County, Illinois. During his youth, Cullom assisted his father with farm labor. Cullom attended the Mount Morris Seminary for two years and became a teacher. Cullom's father served as a Whig member of the state legislature, so Cullom became interested in politics. He moved to

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...

in 1853, where he studied law with Stuart & Edwards and was admitted to the bar in 1855. He practiced law in Springfield with Charles S. Zane, and was elected city attorney in 1855. Cullom was elected to the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

as a Whig in 1856, serving one term. With the disintegration of the Whig party, Cullom identified with both the Republican and the American parties. He was a candidate for elector on the American party ticket during the 1856 election. In 1860, he was re-elected to the Illinois House as a Republican, and served as Speaker. Julia Fisher

In 1855, he married Hannah Fisher. She died in 1861, and in 1863 he married her sister Julia. They were married until her death in 1909. With first wife, Cullom was the father of an infant who died at birth in 1861 and was not named, as well as daughters Ella Cullom Ridgely (1856–1902) and Catherine Cullom Hardie (1859–1894). He was elected in 1864 to the Thirty-ninth, and reelected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1871). In 1870, he lost renomination, falling one vote short at a party convention that lasted 186 ballots over five days. Cullom returned to the Illinois House from 1873 to 1874, serving again as Speaker. In 1876, he was elected

Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its we ...

, defeating Lewis Steward by 6,834 votes. He was re-elected in 1880, becoming the first Illinois governor to be re-elected after a four-year term. Under Cullom's governorship, the Southern Illinois Penitentiary was commissioned, the

Great Railroad Strike of 1877 The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. The Great Railroad Strike of 187 ...

was quelled, the

Illinois Appellate Court The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois circuit courts. In Illinois, litigants generally have a right to first appeal from final decisions or judgements of the circuit court ...

was founded, and the Illinois State Board of Health was established. He resigned in 1883 to take office as a US senator;

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

John Marshall Hamilton assumed the governorship in his place. Cullom was elected to the

in 1882, and reelected in 1888, 1894, 1900 and 1906, serving from March 4, 1883, to March 3, 1913. As a Senator, Cullom oversaw the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. He believed that only the federal government had the power to force railroads to provide fair treatment to all of its customers, large and small. This was because corporations, such as

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

, had corrupted many of the railroads' officials into providing them with rebates, and as a whole, the companies in question were more powerful than any state government. Cullom had an interest in the

territories of the United States Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territory, dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indi ...

of the time. Together with Congressman Isaac S. Struble, Cullom pushed the ''Cullom-Struble Bill'', whose sanctions against

polygamy Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...

included exclusion of the

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th st ...

from statehood. The bill was on the verge of passing Congress in 1890, but the legislation was preempted when

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) formally disavowed polygamous marriages with the

1890 Manifesto The 1890 Manifesto (also known as the Woodruff Manifesto, the Anti-polygamy Manifesto, or simply "the Manifesto") is a statement which officially advised against any future plural marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LD ...

. Cullom was appointed by President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

in July 1898 to the commission created by the

Newlands Resolution The Newlands Resolution, , was a joint resolution passed on July 7, 1898, by the United States Congress to annexation, annex the independent Republic of Hawaii. In 1900, Congress created the Territory of Hawaii. The resolution was drafted by R ...

to establish government in the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Apri ...

. He died in 1914 in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and is buried in

Oak Ridge Cemetery Oak Ridge Cemetery is an American cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. The Lincoln Tomb, where Abraham Lincoln, his wife and all but one of their children lie, is there, as are the graves of other prominent Illinois figures. Opened in 1860, it ...

in Springfield. Cullom was a close personal friend and associate of Jacob Bunn and

John Whitfield Bunn :''This article concerns John Whitfield Bunn, Jacob Bunn, and the entrepreneurs who were interconnected with the Bunn brothers through association or familial and genealogical connection.'' John Whitfield Bunn (June 21, 1831 – June 7, 1920)Ill ...

, the Illinois industrialist brothers who contributed to the building of hundreds of millions of dollars of business enterprises by 1900. The village of Cullom, Illinois, is named in his honor.

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1905 photo in automobile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullom, Shelby M. 1829 births 1914 deaths People from Monticello, Kentucky Illinois Whigs Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois Republican Party United States senators from Illinois Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Republican Party governors of Illinois Governors of Illinois Speakers of the Illinois House of Representatives Illinois lawyers Politicians from Springfield, Illinois People from Tazewell County, Illinois 19th-century American lawyers Burials at Oak Ridge Cemetery 20th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly 19th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Life and career

Notes

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Further reading

External links