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Benjamin Alden Bidlack Edit Profile

Diplomat politician

Benjamin Alden Bidlack was an American diplomat and politician. He also was a Democratic member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Background

Benjamin Bidlack was born on September 8, 1804, at Paris, New York, United States. His father, Benjamin Bidlack, was the great-grandson of Christopher Bidlack, who settled at Windham, Connecticut, in the late seventeenth century. His mother's name was Lydia Alden. His parents were among those Connecticut pioneers who settled in the Wyoming Valley north of Philadelphia, a great many of whom were martyrs to their patriotism in the massacre during the Revolution.

Education

Benjamin received his early education at Wilkes-Barre and read law in the office of Garrick Mallery.

Career

Shortly after his admission to the bar, Bidlack was appointed deputy attorney for Luzerne County. In 1833 he participated in the purchase of the newspaper Republican Farmer, upon the subsequent sale of which he established and edited the Northern Eagle, the first paper published in Pike County. A brief period (1835 - 1836) in the Pennsylvania legislature as the representative of Luzerne County gave him a taste for legislation which eventuated in two terms in the federal Congress (1841 - 1845) as a Democrat. Failing to be reelected in 1844, he secured, through the influence of a fellow Pennsylvanian, the new secretary of state, Buchanan, an appointment as chargé d'affaires in New Granada, one of three republics formed by the splitting up of the United States of Colombia. It is significant that the principal pending business of the mission consisted of the claims of American citizens, including Simeon Toby, president of the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, who was interested in the Brig Josephine claim.

Leaving his wife and the rest of his family, Bidlack arrived at his post in company with one son on December 1, 1845. He immediately set to work upon the settlement of the claims with remarkable success. Six months later in the course of negotiations looking toward the abolition of differential duties the question of interoceanic communication came to the fore. British and French interests were active in their attempts to secure rights for the construction of a macadamized road or a railroad. Bidlack repeatedly wrote the State Department for instructions, but through the impossibility of rapid communication with the Department and the latter's distraction to more pressing affairs nearer home in Mexico, he was forced to proceed with the negotiation of a treaty concerning trans-isthmian communication or let the matter go by default to one of the other countries.

Bidlack chose the first alternative and on December 2, he concluded and signed a general treaty of peace, friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and New Granada, including the abolition of differential duties and the right of way across the Isthmus of Panama by any mode of communication in return for a guarantee of neutrality and of Granada's sovereignty over the Isthmus. This did not reach the Department until January 28. Meanwhile, the Department had authorized Bidlack to negotiate a treaty about the differential duties only. Consequently President Polk was surprised and at first inclined to consider the treaty an "entangling alliance, " but eventually (June 10, 1848) it was ratified. Buchanan, in notifying Bidlack of this action, congratulated the latter "upon the association of your name with this instrument. It has been most favorably received by the public, and, I doubt not, will be of great and lasting advantage to both countries. " Repeated requests for leave of absence to visit his wife and family having been denied or ignored, Bidlack died at his post in the following February.

Achievements

  • Benjamin Bidlack was known for his service as United States Chargé d'Affaires of Colombia, which post he held from 1845 to 1849. Bidlack successfully negotiated a treaty and secured for the United States the right to build a canal or railroad across the Isthmus of Panama. The American residents of Bogota erected a monument to his memory.

Politics

Bidlack was a member of the Democratic party. He was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Congresses.

Connections

An early marriage with Fanny, daughter of James Stewart, proved of short duration, and on September 8, 1829, Bidlack married Margaret, daughter of William Wallace.

Father:
Benjamin Bidlack

Mother:
Lydia (Alden) Bidlack

Spouse:
Fanny (Stewart) Bidlack

Spouse:
Margaret (Wallace) Bidlack