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Joseph Weldon Bailey Sr. (October 6, 1862 – April 13, 1929), was a
United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...
, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, lawyer, and Bourbon Democrat who was famous for his speeches extolling
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
causes of his time, such as opposition to woman suffrage or restrictions on
child labor Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...
. He served as a Congressional Representative between 1891 and 1901, and as the House Minority leader from 1897 until 1899. In 1901, he was elected to the Senate, serving until 1913. Historian Elna C. Green says that Bailey "was known in Texas as a rigorous defender of
states' rights In United States, American politics of the United States, political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments of the United States, state governments rather than the federal government of the United States, ...
, constitutional conservatism, and governmental economy. His opponents considered him the symbol of privilege and
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in government."


Biography

Born in Crystal Springs in Copiah County outside
Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...
, Bailey attended the
University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...
at
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, where in 1879 he joined the prestigious Delta Psi fraternity (AKA St. Anthony Hall). He graduated with a law degree from Cumberland University in 1883 and was admitted to the bar in Mississippi that same year. He moved to Gainesville, Texas, in 1885, where he continued to practice law. He had been politically active as a Democrat in both Mississippi and his new home and had a reputation as an excellent public speaker who promoted
Jeffersonian democracy Jeffersonian democracy, named after its advocate Thomas Jefferson, was one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The Jeffersonians were deeply committed to American republicanism, wh ...
. He was elected to the House in 1891 and quickly distinguished himself as leading advocate for free silver, which contributed to his election as Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives in 1897. He exerted considerable influence on his colleagues, but also struggled to unify his divided caucus. On April 14, 1897, some House Democrats, led by David A. De Armond sought to block a three day adjournment, a maneuver understood as a repudiation of Bailey's cooperative relationship with Republican Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed. Bailey's most severe disappointment as minority leader came in 1898, when he argued that congressmen who had accepted commissions to serve in the army without resigning from Congress had violated the Ineligibility Clause of the Constitution. Despite Bailey's advocacy, a majority of Democrats opposed a motion to consider a resolution which would have removed several members from Congress who had simultaneously held commissions during the
Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...
. The next day, Bailey declared that he would not be a candidate for minority leader in the next Congress. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1901. His political career was tarnished by an assault against Senator Albert J. Beveridge, an Indiana Republican. Subsequent investigations brought to light suspicious income and financial ties that Bailey had to the burgeoning oil industry. Nevertheless, financial allegations against Bailey in 1906 threatened his reelection to the Senate, a task then the prerogative of the Texas legislature, rather than party voters. His tenure ended on January 3, 1913 when he resigned his Senate seat. After his defeat by Pat M. Neff in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1920, Bailey moved to
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to practice law. On April 13, 1929, he died in a courtroom in Sherman, Texas, having just sat down after completing an argument.


References


Further reading

* Acheson, Sam Hanna. ''Joe Bailey, The Last Democrat'' (New York, 1932) * Gould, Lewis. ''Progressives and Prohibitionists: Texas Democrats in the Wilson Era'' (U of Texas Press, 1973),


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Joseph W. 1862 births 1929 deaths Minority leaders of the United States House of Representatives People from Crystal Springs, Mississippi Democratic Party United States senators from Texas People from Gainesville, Texas Politicians from Dallas University of Mississippi alumni Texas lawyers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas 19th-century American lawyers Bourbon Democrats 20th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives