Lyman Trumbull (October 12, 1813 – June 25, 1896) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician who represented the state 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 west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
in the United States Senate from 1855 to 1873. Trumbull was a leading abolitionist attorney and key political ally to
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
and authored several landmark pieces of reform as chair of the
Judiciary Committee during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
and
Reconstruction era
The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
, including the
Confiscation Acts, which created the legal basis for the
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...
; the
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment (Amendment XIII) to the United States Constitution abolished Slavery in the United States, slavery and involuntary servitude, except Penal labor in the United States, as punishment for a crime. The amendment was passed ...
, which abolished
chattel slavery; and the
Civil Rights Act of 1866, which led to the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Considered one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses Citizenship of the United States ...
.
Born in
Colchester, Connecticut
Colchester is a New England town, town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 15,555 at the 20 ...
to a prominent political family, Trumbull studied law in
Greenville, Georgia, before moving to Illinois to establish a practice and enter politics. He served as the
Illinois Secretary of State
The secretary of state of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 Secretary of State (U.S. state government), secretaries of state in the United States. The Illinois secretary of ...
from 1841 to 1843 and as a justice of the
Illinois Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...
from 1848 to 1853. As an attorney, Trumbull successfully argued the case ''Jarrot v. Jarrot'', which ''de facto'' banned slavery in the state.
In 1855, Trumbull was elected to the Senate as the choice of the anti-slavery faction of the Illinois legislature, defeating
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
. Lincoln endorsed Trumbull for the election; the two soon became leading members of the new
Republican Party. After the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, Trumbull was a leading moderate Republican, favoring both civil rights for freed slaves and reconciliation with the South.
In
the 1868 impeachment trial of President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
, Trumbull voted to acquit Johnson despite heavy pressure from other Republican senators. He broke with the Republicans in 1870 and was a candidate for the presidency at the
1872 Liberal Republican convention. After returning to the Democratic Party, Trumbull left the Senate in 1873 to establish a legal practice in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. Before his death in 1896, he became a member of the
Populist Party and represented
Eugene V. Debs before the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
.
Education and early life
Lyman Trumbull was born in
Colchester, Connecticut
Colchester is a New England town, town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 15,555 at the 20 ...
on October 12, 1813, to Connecticut's leading political family, which included three Governors and had arrived in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...
from
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...
in 1639. His father, Benjamin Trumbull Jr., was an attorney, farmer, state representative, and the son of the historian
Benjamin Trumbull.
[ Lyman Trumbull is the subject of the second half of this article entitled with his father's name.] His mother, Elizabeth Mather, was a member of the Mather family of prominent
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
Congregationalist clergymen including
Increase Mather
Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a History of New England, New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the sixth President of Harvard University, President of Harvard College (la ...
and
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a Puritan clergyman and author in colonial New England, who wrote extensively on theological, historical, and scientific subjects. After being educated at Harvard College, he join ...
. Lyman was the seventh of eleven children, eight of whom survived into adulthood.

Trumbull attended
Bacon Academy in Colchester, where he studied a traditional course in math, Latin, and Greek.
When he turned eighteen, he teaching in
Portland, Connecticut
Portland ( ) is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut, Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 9,38 ...
;
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
and Colchester. In 1833, he traveled to
Pike County, Georgia, in hopes of becoming a schoolteacher there. Finding no position available, he proceeded to
Greenville, where he was hired as principal of the Greenville Academy.
Trumbull remained at Greenville for three years, where he read law in the offices of
Hiram B. Warner. In 1837, he moved to Belleville, Illinois, where he began a legal practice in the office of
John Reynolds, the former Governor of Illinois.
While living in Belleville in November 1837, Trumbull became aware of the murder of
Elijah P. Lovejoy, an abolitionist minister and newspaper publisher, in nearby
Alton. In a letter to his father, the young Trumbull predicted, "
ovejoy'sdeath and the manner in which he was slain will make thousands of abolitionists, and far more than his writings would have made had he published his paper an hundred years. … As much as I am opposed to the immediate emancipation of the slaves and to the doctrine of Abolitionism, yet I am more opposed to mob violence and outrage, and had I been in Alton, I would have cheerfully marched to the rescue of Mr. Lovejoy and his property."
Early legal, political and judicial career
In 1840, Trumbull was elected from
St. Clair County 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 member of the
Democratic Party. He only served briefly in the House, where his colleagues included
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
and his future Senate colleague
William Alexander Richardson. In 1841,
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...
resigned as Secretary of State of Illinois to become a member of the
Illinois Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...
, and Governor
Thomas Carlin appointed Trumbull to succeed him. Trumbull remained Secretary of State for two years, devoting most of his time to his legal practice while his brother Benjamin cared for the routine duties of the office. In 1843, Governor
Thomas Ford requested Trumbull's resignation after he criticized Ford's position on the State Bank of Illinois. In 1842, the Bank had suspended payments after the value of its notes had fallen to fifty cents on the dollar, and Trumbull considered repeated efforts to legalize the suspension futile and disgraceful. Instead, and contrary to Ford's stated policy, Trumbull called for immediate liquidation of the Bank. His resignation divided the Illinois Democratic Party, with the Trumbull faction including
Virgil Hickox,
Samuel H. Treat,
Ebenezer Peck, and
Mason Brayman. Trumbull then returned to Belleville to practice law and marry Julia Jayne, a physician's daughter and a friend of
Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (Birth name, née Todd; December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) was First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865.
Mary Todd was born into a large and wealthy ...
.
In his private legal practice, Trumbull won a major victory for the abolitionist cause. In 1842, Trumbull and
Gustav Koerner argued the case of Sarah Borders, a woman held under the state's indenture law in Randolph County, before the state supreme court. Trumbull and Koerner argued that slavery had been banned in the state since the
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...
of 1787. They lost their appeal, but shortly thereafter, Trumbull argued on appeal for the plaintiff in ''Jarrot v. Jarrot'', in which an enslaved man, Joseph Jarrot, sued for wages by alleging that he had been held in servitude contrary to Illinois law. In this case, the supreme court accepted Trumbull's argument that no person could be held as a slave in the state of Illinois. The ''Jarrot'' decision, which ''de facto'' abolished slavery in the state, established Trumbull as the leading abolitionist attorney in the state.
In February 1846, Trumbull was a candidate for Governor of Illinois at the Democratic state convention. On the first ballot, he received the most votes but fell short of a majority, and the nomination was given to
Augustus C. French. Trumbull attributed his defeat to Governor Ford, who favored
John Calhoun of Chicago. On the second ballot, Calhoun's delegates voted for French to defeat Trumbull. Instead, Trumbull was nominated for U.S. Representative, but he lost the general election. In 1848, he was elected to the
Supreme Court of Illinois
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the ...
, serving until 1853. In 1852, he was re-elected without an opponent.
United States Senator (1855–73)
1854 U.S. House election
Following the passage of the
Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854, Trumbull, Gustav Koerner (now Lieutenant Governor), and other anti-slavery Democrats began organizing an anti-Nebraska ticket in the 8th congressional district. The district, which was the state's most Democratic, was situated in the
South Central region and centered on
St. Clair County. Although the region had historically been a slaveholding region, a large number of German immigrants following the failed
revolutions of 1848
The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
had settled in St. Clair County. Against the chaotic backdrop of the Kansas–Nebraska debate, neither the Democratic nor Whig parties made formal nominations. Trumbull ran as an anti-Nebraska Democrat, and defeated
Philip B. Fouke, a pro-Nebraska Democrat.
1855 U.S. Senate election
The 1854 elections in Illinois were a crushing defeat for supporters of the Kansas–Nebraska Act and Senator
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...
. With overwhelming numbers in the state legislature, anti-Nebraska men were positioned to elect a new United States Senator to succeed
James Shields, whose term expired in 1855.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
, an ardent moderate critic of Douglas and the Act, was an early candidate for the seat. In
a speech on October 16, 1854, Lincoln delivered a moral, legal, economic, and historical case against slavery which won him the endorsement of many anti-slavery members of the upcoming Illinois legislature, including
Owen Lovejoy and
John A. Logan. The Senate was to consist of nine Whigs, thirteen regular Democrats, and three anti-Nebraska Democrats allied with Trumbull. The House was composed of forty-six anti-Nebraska men and twenty-eight Democrats.
The election was initially contested between Shields, Lincoln, and Trumbull. On the first ballot, Trumbull received only five votes. After the sixth ballot, Democrats swapped Shields for Governor
Joel Aldrich Matteson, who had not actively supported the Nebraska bill. Trumbull had still not yet received more than eleven votes. On the ninth and tenth ballots, Matteson came within three votes of a majority, while Trumbull passed Lincoln. After the tenth ballot, Lincoln asked his supporters to vote for Trumbull to prevent a Matteson victory, and Trumbull won a majority by a single vote. At a reception later that night, Lincoln congratulated Trumbull on his victory.
When he entered the Senate in December 1855, Trumbull's credentials were challenged by Senator
Lewis Cass
Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782June 17, 1866) was a United States Army officer and politician. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He was also the 1 ...
of Michigan, who argued (on behalf of some Illinois legislators) that Trumbull was not eligible to be elected under the Illinois State Constitution, which barred state judges from holding any other office. On March 5, 1856, Trumbull was seated by a vote of 35 to 8.
Antebellum period (1855–61)
Debate with Stephen A. Douglas and switch to Republican Party
On March 12, 1856, Trumbull delivered a speech in the Senate on the
civil violence in Kansas. In it, he criticized the majority report of the Committee on Territories, submitted by his Illinois colleague
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...
, which defended the actions of "
border ruffian
Border ruffians were Proslavery thought, proslavery raiders who crossed into the Kansas Territory from Missouri during the mid-19th century to help ensure the territory entered the United States as a Slave states and free states, slave state. ...
s" against claims of
electoral fraud
Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...
. The speech sparked a debate between the two, in which Douglas said Trumbull's claim to be a member of the Democratic Party was a "libel" and that his junior colleague had been elected by "Black Republicans," "Know-Nothings," and "Abolitionists." The Trumbull-Douglas debate lasted into the summer, and further established Trumbull's position as a leading force in anti-slavery politics. His speeches won praise from his colleagues
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American ...
and
Salmon P. Chase and served to dispel doubts from anti-slavery Lincoln men in Illinois.
In June 1856, at Lincoln's urging, Trumbull attended the
first Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Trumbull and Lincoln agreed to promote a conservative candidate for the presidential nomination, but it went to the more radical
John C. Frémont
Major general (United States), Major-General John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was a United States Army officer, explorer, and politician. He was a United States senator from California and was the first History of the Repub ...
, who had faint hope of victory. After the convention, Lincoln and Trumbull turned their focus to electing a Republican ticket in Illinois, and they were successful despite Frémont's failure to carry the state. As the debate over the Kansas Territory progressed to its admission as
a slave or a free state, Trumbull and Lincoln were joined by Douglas in opposition to the so-called
Lecompton Constitution, which guaranteed the property rights of slaveholders in the new state. In a speech on the Lecompton Constitution, Trumbull further argued that the ''Dred Scott'' decision, which offered a decision on an issue not before the court, was an illegitimate usurpation by the Supreme Court. Trumbull also contributed $2 to a fund to defray Dred Scott's legal fees.
Lincoln-Douglas campaign of 1858 and presidential election of 1860
Despite Douglas's apparent ''volte-face'' on slavery in Kansas, which won him support from several Republicans in Congress, Trumbull and Lincoln resolved to unseat him in the 1858 elections. Trumbull took an active part in the strenuous campaign, calculated to exploit Douglas's poor health and reputation for inconsistency. Some themes of Trumbull's 1856 Senate debates with Douglas formed the bases for Lincoln's arguments, including the question which elicited Douglas's famous
Freeport Doctrine. On August 7 in Chicago, Trumbull addressed accusations that the Republican Party stood for racial equality by stating, "We, the Republican Party, are the white man's party. We are for free white men and for making white labor respectable and honorable, which it can never be when
negro slave labor is brought into competition with it". After Lincoln narrowly lost the election to Douglas, he reassured Trumbull that he would not seek the other Senate seat in 1860, writing, "I cannot conceive it possible for me to be a rival of yours or to take sides against you in favor of any rival."
Despite his loss, Lincoln's effective campaign and an 1860
speech at the Cooper Union Institute raised his national profile, and he was put forward as the
favorite son of Illinois for the upcoming
1860 Republican National Convention
The 1860 Republican National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention that met May 16–18 in Chicago, Illinois. It was held to nominate the Republican Party (United States), Republic ...
. Trumbull and Lincoln both believed
William H. Seward, the leading Republican candidate, was too radical to carry Illinois, and they searched together for a conservative Republican who could carry their home state. Several options, including
John McLean,
Nathaniel Banks, and
Edward Bates were considered but ruled out. Instead, Lincoln himself gained the support of Indiana and Pennsylvania at the convention, followed by New England, to secure his own nomination for the presidency. In the fall, Lincoln carried the state of Illinois against Douglas and won the presidency against a divided opposition, while Trumbull ensured his own re-election to the Senate by a single legislative seat. Following their successes, Lincoln wrote to Trumbull, advising him to resist calls to compromise with the South on the extension of slavery in order to stave off growing threats of secession. Consistent with that position, Trumbull delivered a speech in the Senate opposing the
Crittenden Compromise.
As a top Lincoln ally, Trumbull fielded many calls from office seekers after the election, hoping to win his favor and an appointment from the new president. Trumbull advised Lincoln, both personally and in his capacity as Senator, on appointments in Illinois and to his cabinet. Trumbull advised against the appointment of
Simon Cameron
Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799June 26, 1889) was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Ameri ...
as Secretary of War, which ultimately ended in scandal for the Lincoln administration. Trumbull's and Lincoln's Illinois ally
Norman B. Judd was appointed
envoy to Prussia over
Gustav Koerner. At the special session of Congress which Lincoln called on July 4, 1861, to address the secession crisis, Trumbull was elected by his fellow senators as chair of the
Committee on the Judiciary, a role he would hold for the remainder of his years in the Senate.
Civil War (1861–65)
Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862
As war broke out during the emergency session of Congress, Trumbull introduced only one successful piece of legislation,
the Confiscation Act of 1861. This Act to permit the seizure of contraband used in rebellion was drafted by Trumbull to include persons held in slavery employed in military or naval work against the Union war effort. It was the first step toward eventual universal emancipation.
A
second Confiscation Act was introduced in December 1861 as a reaction to the stated policies of several rogue generals and military officials, including Frémont, Secretary Cameron, and
David Hunter
David Hunter (July 21, 1802 – February 2, 1886) was an American military officer. He served as a Union general during the American Civil War. He achieved notability for his unauthorized 1862 order (immediately rescinded) emancipating slaves ...
, who sought to establish universal emancipation through their military authority and whose orders were reversed by President Lincoln. As drafted by Trumbull, the initial bill provided that ''all'' property held by rebels was immediately forfeited to the United States but preserved the rights of Southern citizens who claimed loyalty to the Union. Trumbull's bill explicitly denied military officers the right to adjudicate claims, instead requiring them to accept any claim of loyalty as valid. The bill was amended by Senator
Jacob Collamer to provide for due process of law. President Lincoln still initially intended to veto the bill under the belief that permanent forfeitures constituted a violation of the Constitution's bar on
perpetual punishment of treason, but he was convinced to sign it by Senator Ira Harris of New York, and it became law. Ultimately, the Second Confiscation Act was never enforced except as it applied to slavery, where it served as the legal basis for the
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...
of 1862.
Criticisms of wartime policy and 1864 election
Trumbull remained a loyal supporter of the Union war effort throughout the Civil War. However, he publicly opposed allegedly excessive or unconstitutional wartime policies, including some
Copperhead arrests pursuant to the suspension of the
writ of habeas corpus, the suppression of the ''
Chicago Times'', and alleged corruption in the Department of War. In 1863, following
the Union defeat at Fredericksburg, Trumbull was one of a committee of Republican Senators who requested the resignation of Secretary Seward after private comments Seward had made earlier in the war, criticizing the "most vehement opponents" of slavery, were leaked. Lincoln rejected their accusations and their efforts to attribute military inefficiency to Seward.
As the war effort stalled in January and February 1864, Trumbull became estranged from Lincoln politically and began to privately predict the President would fail to be reëlected or even nominated by the Republican Party. Despite his initial misgivings, Trumbull delivered speeches in favor of Lincoln's reëlection in October.
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Because the Confiscation Acts were justified by
the President's power to prosecute war, Lincoln's
1862 emancipation order did not extend to slavery in states which remained loyal to the Union or beyond the war's end. Proposals to ban slavery permanently by constitutional amendment were offered throughout the war and referred to the Judiciary committee. In January 1864, Senator
John B. Henderson of Missouri, himself a slave holder, proposed a resolution amending the Constitution to include, "Slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, shall not exist in the United States." On February 10, Trumbull reported out a version of the Henderson resolution which more closely adopted the language of the Northwest Ordinance:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Trumbull spoke at length in its favor, arguing there could be no doubt that the Civil War originated in the institution of slavery and the hostilities between its proponents and opponents. Therefore, he argued, the amendment was proposed to permanently remove all doubt as to the illegitimacy of slavery. In the same speech, Trumbull made his private criticisms of the Lincoln administration public, focusing on the conduct of General-in-Chief
Henry Halleck
Henry Wager Halleck (January 16, 1815 – January 9, 1872) was a senior United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory: "Old Brains". He was an important part ...
. The amendment passed the Senate easily on April 8, 1864, but it was stalled in the House until February 1, 1865. Section 2 was the subject of significant controversy and negotiation with Southern legislatures, but the amendment was ultimately ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures in December.
Reconstruction and break with Republican Party (1865–73)
As the Civil War came to a close, Trumbull opposed the radical "state suicide" theory of reconstruction advanced by
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American ...
, which held that the seceded states had ceased to exist and therefore should be administered by Congress as territories under the Constitution. Instead, Trumbull favored the unconditional restoration of all states which could elect loyally unionist governments, consistent with President Lincoln's
ten percent plan and as modeled by the readmitted state of Louisiana.
However, Trumbull did join the radical Republicans in arguing that under an expansive reading of the Thirteenth Amendment, Congress could bar laws and practices, including sharecropping or racial discrimination, which amounted to or threatened the reintroduction of slavery.
Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
On January 5, 1866, Trumbull introduced two major pieces of Reconstruction legislation: the
Second Freedman's Bureau Act and the
Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Trumbull's Freedman's Bureau bill, expand the authority of the Freedman's Bureau and provided for the temporary reassignment of abandoned lands to freed slaves. The bill was vetoed by Johnson.
The Civil Rights bill was proposed in response to a growing number of discriminatory "
black codes" which sought to restrict the civil liberties of the newly emancipated and compel them to work for little or no wages. Trumbull's bill proposed citizenship be extended to all persons of African descent born in the United States and banned discrimination on account of race, color, or previous condition of slavery. Debate over the bill focused on whether Congress had constitutional authority to pass the law, which Trumbull justified under Section 2 of the newly ratified Thirteenth Amendment, arguing:
ongress hasa right to pass any law which, in our judgment, is deemed appropriate, and which will accomplish the end in view, secure freedom to all people in the United States. The various state laws to which I have referred, — and there are many others, — although they do not make a man an absolute slave, yet deprive him of the rights of a freeman; and it is perhaps difficult to draw the precise line, to say where freedom ceases and slavery begins, but a law that does not allow a colored person to go from one county to another is certainly a law in derogation of the rights of a freeman. A law that does not allow a colored person to hold property, does not allow him to teach, does not allow him to preach, is certainly a law in violation of the rights of a freeman, and being so may properly be declared void.
Though the Civil Rights bill passed both houses of Congress easily, it too was vetoed by Johnson. In a response to Johnson's veto, Trumbull concluded by saying, "If the bill now before us... cannot be passed, then the constitutional amendment proclaiming freedom to all the inhabitants of the land is a cheat and a delusion." Both houses overrode Johnson's veto in April 1866, the first override of a presidential veto of major legislation in United States history.
Despite this legislative success, some Republicans still feared that Congress lacked the constitutionality authority to pass the Civil Rights Act and that it would be repealed by a subsequent Democratic Congress.
[Rosen, Jeffrey. ''The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America'', p. 79 (MacMillan 2007).][Newman, Roger. ''The Constitution and its Amendments'', Volume 4, p. 8 (Macmillan 1999).] Parallel to the debate over its passage, Congress debated a constitutional amendment to ensure citizenship and civil rights against discrimination on the basis of race. A concurrent resolution requesting the President to transmit the proposed amendment to the governors of the states was passed by both houses of Congress on June 18, 1866. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1868, after ratification was made a precondition for readmission by the seceded states.
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
During President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
's
impeachment trial
An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment. Differences exist between governments as to what stage trials take place ...
, Trumbull was one of seven Republican senators disturbed by their belief that
Thaddeus Stevens
Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792August 11, 1868) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, being one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Histo ...
and
Benjamin Wade and those of similar position had manipulated the proceedings against Johnson in order to give a one-sided presentation of the evidence. Trumbull in particular noted:
Once set the example of impeaching a President for what, when the excitement of the hour shall have subsided, will be regarded as insufficient causes, as several of those now alleged against the President were decided to be by the House of Representatives only a few months since, and no future President will be safe who happens to differ with a majority of the House and two-thirds of the Senate on any measure deemed by them important, particularly if of a political character. Blinded by partisan zeal, with such an example before them, they will not scruple to remove out of the way any obstacle to the accomplishment of their purposes, and what then becomes of the checks and balances of the Constitution, so carefully devised and so vital to its perpetuity? They are all gone.
All seven senators, resisting the pressure imposed on them, broke party ranks and defied public opinion, voting for acquittal, although they knew their decision would be unpopular. In addition, they were joined by three other Republican senators (
James Dixon,
James Rood Doolittle,
Daniel Sheldon Norton) and all nine Democrats in voting against conviction. None of the Republicans who voted against conviction were reelected (though it should be pointed out that Senators at that time were not subject to popular vote but rather were chosen by the state Legislatures prior to ratification of th
17th Amendment- and thus the whim of the Party in power in said Legislatures). After the trial, Congressman
Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts conducted hearings in the House on widespread reports that Republican senators had been bribed to vote for Johnson's acquittal. Butler's hearings and subsequent inquiries revealed evidence that some acquittal votes were acquired by promises of patronage jobs and cash cards.
Post-Senate career
After leaving the Senate in 1873, Trumbull set up a law practice in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. He worked in private practice except for a brief period when he ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor (as a Democrat)
in 1880. In January 1883, Trumbull was given a
seat of honor at the dedication of the Pullman Arcade Theatre in
George Pullman
George Mortimer Pullman (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) was an American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the Pullman (car or coach), Pullman sleeping car and founded a Pullman, Chicago, company town in Chicago for t ...
's company town.
He became a
Populist
Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...
in 1894. According to Almont Lindsey's 1942 book, ''The Pullman Strike,'' Trumbull took part in defending
Eugene Debs and other labor leaders of the
American Railway Union
The American Railway Union (ARU) was briefly among the largest labor unions of its time and one of the first Industrial unionism, industrial unions in the United States. Launched at a meeting held in Chicago in February 1893, the ARU won an early ...
, who had been convicted for violating a federal court injunction during the 1894
Pullman railroad strike. Trumbull was part of the three-member legal team, which included
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the 19th century for high-profile representations of trade union causes, and in the 20th century for several criminal matters, including the ...
, when their ''habeas corpus'' case ''
In re Debs
''In re Debs'', 158 U.S. 564 (1895), was a labor law case of the United States Supreme Court, which upheld a contempt of court conviction against Eugene V. Debs. Debs had the American Railway Union continue its 1894 Pullman Strike in violatio ...
'' was heard by the
US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
in 1895.
Trumbull died at his home in Chicago on June 25, 1896, and was buried at
Oak Woods Cemetery.
Personal life
Trumbull married Julia M. Jayne on June 21, 1843. Jayne, the daughter of a prominent Springfield physician, had been a bridesmaid in the wedding of
Mary Todd and
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
the prior November. At the Trumbull wedding,
Norman B. Judd served as groomsman. Their marriage lasted twenty-four years.
Their son,
Walter Trumbull, was a member of the
Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition to survey what is now
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...
. In 1871, Senator Trumbull spoke in favor of the establishment of the Park and in favor of the preservation of natural beauty against the threat of private ownership.
[Amstutz, Jacquelyn R. ''The Art of Thomas Moran and William Henry Jackson: Its Influence on the Formation of Yellowstone National Park'', Bowling Green: Jacquelyn R. Amstutz, 1981, p. 88]
Memorials
During his explorations in the west
John Wesley Powell named Mt. Trumbull (and now the
Mt. Trumbull Wilderness) in
northwestern Arizona after the Senator. His house in Alton, the
Lyman Trumbull House, is a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
. Trumbull has a street named after him in the city of Chicago; Lyman Trumbull Elementary School in Chicago was named after the Senator. Trumbull Park and adjacent Trumbull Park Homes in Chicago are named after the Senator.
See also
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List of members-elect of the United States House of Representatives who never took their seats
References
Bibliography
Biographies
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Correspondence
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Scholarly articles
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Further reading
Remarks of Hon. Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, on seizure of arsenals at Harper's Ferry, Va., and Liberty, Mo., and in vindication of the Republican party and its creed, in response to Senators Chesnut, Yulee, Saulsbury, Clay and Pugh. Delivered in the United States Senate December, 6, 7, and 8 1859Speech of Hon. Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, on introducing a bill to confiscate the property of rebels and free their slaves : delivered in the Senate of the United States, December 5, 1861
Speech of Hon. Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, on amending the Constitution to prohibit slavery. Delivered in the Senate of the United States, March 28, 1864
Speech of Hon. Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, on the Freedmen's bureau--veto message; delivered in the Senate of the United States, February 20, 1866
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Trumbull, Lyman
1813 births
1896 deaths
19th-century American lawyers
19th-century Illinois state court judges
Bacon Academy alumni
Democratic Party United States senators from Illinois
Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers
Illinois Democrats
Illinois Liberal Republicans
Illinois Populists
Illinois Republicans
Justices of the Supreme Court of Illinois
Lawyers from Chicago
Liberal Republican Party United States senators
Members of the Illinois House of Representatives
Moderate Republicans (Reconstruction era)
People from Belleville, Illinois
People from Colchester, Connecticut
People of the Reconstruction Era
People of Illinois in the American Civil War
Republican Party United States senators from Illinois
Secretaries of state of Illinois
Union (American Civil War) political leaders
19th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly
19th-century United States senators