Background

Charles Rollin Buckalew was born on December 28, 1821 and was descended from a branch of the Buccleugh family which emigrated from Scotland to France in the sixteenth century and later, during the Huguenot persecutions, emigrated to America. By 1775 one branch of the family, changing its name to Buckalew, had pioneered to Muncy, Pennsylvania.

In 1808, one John McKinney Buckalew acquired a large tract of land in Columbia County, where he married Martha Funston, by whom he became the father of Charles Rollin Buckalew.

Education

The latter's academic education was mainly at Harford Academy, Harford, Pennsylvania. His early career included school-teaching, selling goods in a local store, and the study of law in a local attorney's office.

Career

In 1854 Buckalew served as one of the United States commissioners to ratify a treaty with Paraguay. His position as a lawyer and as a party leader was recognized by his appointment in 1857 by Governor Packer as a member of a commission to revise the penal code of the state. This position, as well as the chairmanship of the state Democratic committee, and his office as state senator, he resigned in 1858 to accept appointment by President Buchanan as minister to Ecuador (letter to Buchanan, June 29, 1858). After his return in 1861, his leadership in his party was recognized by his election in 1863 as United States senator.

His career in the Senate, though dignified and creditable, was not distinguished. His position was a most difficult one, due in part to the turbulent character of national politics, when Democrats generally were subjected to the harshest criticism; and in part to the fact that his party in Pennsylvania was in a measure out of sympathy with the national party, especially on tariff questions.

He opposed the extreme war powers of the Government, the Freedman's Bureau, the impeachment of President Johnson, and other distinctively Republican policies.

He advocated, alike for the nation and the state, a system of proportional representation, and he was influential in minor matters of a noncontroversial nature, as in much-needed improvements in Congressional buildings (Congressional Globe, 1863-69). Upon the expiration of Buckalew's term as federal senator, Pennsylvania was under Republican control. He returned to the state Senate, where his chief activity was as chairman of the committee on constitutional reform.

He was also a delegate to the convention which rewrote the state constitution in 1872-73, and although an outstanding member of the convention, was unable to secure the inclusion of provisions which he particularly favored. A modified form of his view of minority representation was, however, included in the constitution (see his Examination of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, 1883). His later career was marked by his return to national politics as Congressman in 1887.

After the expiration of his second term as Congressman in 1891, he spent the remainder of his life in retirement at his home in Bloomsburg, Columbia County.

He resumed the practice of law when he left Congress in 1891, age 69, in Bloomsburg, Columbia County, where he died on May 19, 1899.

Achievements

• Buckalew served as United States Minister to Ecuador from 1858 to 1861, and was later elected as a Senator from Pennsylvania to the United States Senate, serving from 1863 to 1869. He was then elected to represent two different Pennsylvania Congressional Districts in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1887 to 1891, first representing the 11th District from 1887 to 1889, then the 17th District from 1889 to 1891.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Proportional Representation: Or the Representation of Successive Majorities in Federal, State, Municipal, Corporate and Primary Elections (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Proportional Representation: Or the Represen...)

  • Proportional Representation: Or the Representation of Successive Majorities in Federal, State, Municipal, Corporate and Primary Elections (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Proportional Representation: Or the Represen...)

  • Congressional address

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

  • An Examination of the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Exhibiting the Derivation and History of Its Several Provision, with Observation and Occasional N

    ( The Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and Inte...)

  • Reconstruction: speech of Charles R. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, in the Senate of the United States, January 29, 1868.

    (Originally published in 1868. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)

  • **REPRINT** Buckalew, Charles Rollin, 1821-1899. Proportional representation; or, The representation of successive majorities in federal, state, municipal, corporate and primary elections. By Charles R. Buckalew ... With an appendix. Ed. by John G. Freeze. Ph**REPRINT**
  • Representative reform--the cumulative vote: Speech of Charles R. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, at the assembly buildings, Philadelphia, Tuesday evening, November 19, 1867; (with an appendix)
  • Opinion of Hon. Charles R. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, on the impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Politics

Entering politics at the age of twenty-four, by the traditional route of the local prosecuting attorney's office, he rapidly assumed local political leadership and within five years was elected as Democratic state senator. This position he retained from 1850 to 1858, supporting such policies as the reform of the penal code and the relinquishment by the state of its transportation facilities to private corporations. In 1872 he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor.

Personality

Buckalew's modesty, moderation, and disinclination to depend on the arts of political maneuvering, qualities admirable no doubt in themselves, unfitted him for effective participation in the troubled course of events.

Connections

His wife, Permelia Stevens Wadsworth, was a member of a Connecticut family notable in colonial history.

Father:

John McKinney Buckalew

Mother:

Martha Funston

Wife:

Permelia Wadsworth Buckalew

1827–1903

Daughter:

Alice Mary Buckalew Waller

1856–1930

Son:

Warren Jay Buckalew

1848–1882