Michael Crawford Kerr (March 15, 1827 – August 19, 1876) was an American lawyer and legislator who served as the first
Democratic speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House or House speaker, is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United ...
after the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
.
Early life
He was born at
Titusville, Pennsylvania and educated at the Erie Academy. He graduated from the
University of Louisville School of Law in 1851. He moved to
New Albany, Indiana in 1852 and was a member of the
State Legislature from 1856 to 1857.
Political career
He was elected to Congress in 1864 as a
War Democrat, having vigorously opposed the
Copperhead element in his district. He won the praise of Republican Governor
Oliver P. Morton for helping suppress illegal conspiracies by Copperheads.
[Jacob Piatt Dunn, ''Indiana and Indianans'' (1919]
vol 2 p 651-2 online
/ref>
Kerr 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 ...
as a Democrat from Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
from 1865 to 1873. In Congress he was looked upon as one of the leaders of the Democratic Party. He strongly opposed the Republican policy of Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
in the Southern States. He was not re-elected in 1872.
His hard money views on financial questions did not meet with favor in his agrarian constituency, where he openly antagonized the inflationists and the Greenback element and favored the resumption of specie payments. In 1874, however, after a sharp contest he won the seat back, and on his re-entry into Congress was elected to the speakership. He presided as Speaker at only the first session of the Forty-fourth Congress and died of consumption shortly after its adjournment.
See also
*
Notes
Bibliography
* Halsell, Willie D., ed. "Advice from Michael C. Kerr to a Reconstructed Rebel Congressman." ''Indiana Magazine of History'' 33 (September 1941): 257–61.
* Smith, William Henry. ''The history of the state of Indiana'' (1897
p. 798-800 online
*Stampp, Kenneth. ''Indiana politics during the Civil War'' (1949)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Michael C.
1827 births
1876 deaths
People from Titusville, Pennsylvania
Speakers of the United States House of Representatives
People from New Albany, Indiana
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana
University of Louisville School of Law alumni
19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in Virginia
19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
19th-century members of the Indiana General Assembly