William Lorimer (April 27, 1861September 13, 1934) was a U.S. Representative from the State of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. He subsequently served in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

and was known as the "Blond Boss" in Chicago. In 1912, however, the Senate held Lorimer's election invalid due to the use of corrupt methods and practices including vote-buying.

Biography

Lorimer was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

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. His family immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 1866, first settling in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

and then moving to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

in 1870. Lorimer was self-educated. He had been apprenticed to a sign painter when he was ten. He worked in the Chicago meat-packing houses and for a street railroad company. In 1894, Lorimer was elected to the first of two non-consecutive tenures (1895-1901, 1903–09) in the US House of Representatives. In 1909, he helped to engineer the blocking of the re-election of US Senator

Albert J. Hopkins Albert Jarvis Hopkins (August 15, 1846August 23, 1922) was a Congressman and U.S. Senator from Illinois. Biography Hopkins was born near Cortland, Illinois on August 15, 1846. He was admitted to the bar in 1871 and practiced in Aurora. He ma ...

, a Republican who had been Lorimer's ally, but was now a political foe. With Hopkins' re-election bid finished, Lorimer seemed surprised when a coalition of 55 Illinois State House Republicans and 53 State House Democrats pushed his name to fill the now-vacant seat in the US Senate. At the time, US Senators were elected by state legislatures. Lorimer's name went before the State Senate, and after a contentious campaign, he was elected to the US Senate. He took his seat in March 1909. In 1910, ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' published an admission by Illinois Assemblyman Charles A. White that Lorimer had paid $1,000 for White's vote in the that election. On July 13, 1912, after two Senate investigations and acrimonious debate, the US Senate adopted a resolution declaring "that corrupt methods and practices were employed in his election, and that the election, therefore, was invalid." Lorimer was expelled from office. Many in Chicago believed that Lorimer's ouster was politically inspired and that he was wrongfully deprived of his seat. Such corruption nationwide led to the passage in May 1912, of the Seventeenth Amendment to the US Constitution, providing for direct election of U.S. Senators. When he returned to Chicago he was greeted by a parade and a throng at a meeting in Orchestra Hall. One of the speakers at the meeting was attorney Charles Lederer of Adler & Lederer (now known as

Arnstein & Lehr, LLP Arnstein & Lehr was a national law firm founded in Chicago in 1893, with offices in Chicago, and Springfield, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, and West Palm Beach, Florida. The firm represented business ...

) and a former member of the Illinois General Assembly. He presented a resolution to the meeting reciting the wrong done to Mr. Lorimer, his fight for his seat and the faith of his friends in him. Lorimer served as president of La Salle Street Trust & Savings Bank from 1910 to 1915, and then entered the lumber business. He died in Chicago at age 73, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston.

References

External links

* Th
William Lorimer Papers
are held at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

. * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lorimer, William 1861 births 1934 deaths British emigrants to the United States Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Evanston, Illinois) Illinois politicians convicted of crimes Members of the United States Senate declared not entitled to their seat Politicians from Chicago Politicians from Manchester Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois Republican Party United States senators from Illinois

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

External links