Edmund Gibson Ross

Background

Edmund Gibson Ross was born at Ashland, Ohio, the son of Sylvester F. and Cynthia (Rice) Ross.

Education

When he was about ten years old he was apprenticed to a printer at Huron.

Career

After learning the trade, Ross traveled for some years as a journeyman printer. He lived for a time at Janesville, Wis. , and for four years at Milwaukee, where he was foreman of the job printing office of the Sentinel. Although born a Democrat, Ross, in his own words, was "baptized in politics in the old Abolition party of 1844. " Joining the Republican party in 1856, with the spirit of a crusader he led a colony of free-state settlers, heavily armed, to Kansas, driving an oxteam all the way. Here he began a period of great activity against the pro-slavery party.

In 1857 he and his brother bought the Topeka Kansas Tribune, and two years later founded the Kansas State Record (Topeka), which they sold in 1862. He was a member of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention of 1859 from Wabaunsee. In 1862 he enlisted in the 11th Kansas Regiment and later recruited a company and became its captain. A brave and dashing soldier, he was promoted to major in 1864, and served on the Missouri border until the war ended.

In 1865 he became editor of the Lawrence Tribune. The following year he was appointed to the United States Senate to succeed James H. Lane, who, mentally deranged, partly because of criticism of his support of President Johnson, had committed suicide. Interestingly enough, Ross was one of his critics. The appointment was popular and in 1867 the legislature elected him to fill out the term.

He entered the Senate an intense Radical and an earnest opponent of Johnson. He voted for all the radical measures of reconstruction, including the tenure-of-office act, of which, however, he was quite doubtful. When Johnson removed Stanton in January 1868, Ross voted for the Senate resolution declaring the act illegal. After the President's impeachment, however, he was insistent that Johnson should have a fair trial and voted on many questions with the known opponents of conviction, notably in connection with the admission of evidence for the defense.

The rumor spread among the Radicals that Ross was "shaky, " and he was continually importuned by them, flooded with letters and telegrams from Kansas. At this time he rather favored conviction, but the character of the pressure upon him made him doubtful. In answer to a telegram of instruction from Kansas, he replied: "I have taken an oath to do impartial justice and trust I shall have the courage and the honesty to vote according to the dictates of my judgment and for the highest good of the country" (Scribner's, post, p. 521). His final conclusion to vote against conviction for lack of evidence, was reached in face of the belief that he would thereby secure his own political destruction. He said later: "I almost literally looked down into my own grave. Friends, position, fortune, everything that makes life desirable to an ambitious man, were about to be swept away by the breath of my mouth, perhaps forever" (Ibid. , p. 524). The burst of bitter denunciation which followed the first vote fell most heavily on Ross. He was a "poltroon and traitor, " it was said; "littleness had borne its legitimate fruit"; "Kansas repudiates you as she does all perjurers and skunks, " were the words of a telegram from his home state (Dewitt, post, p. 545).

Charges of corruption were made and every species of pressure known to politicians was exerted. Ross "bore the ordeal with the fortitude of a stoic and the inscrutability of a sphinx" (Ibid. , p. 574), and again voted "not guilty. " Immediately thereafter he demanded an investigation of the charges against him, but none was ever made.

Several times, however, he defended his position in the Senate (Congressional Globe, 40 Cong. , 2 Sess. , pp. 2598-99, 4513-17). During the remainder of his term, which ended in 1871, he was an independent. He favored the absolute repeal of the tenure-of-office act, and supported the Fifteenth Amendment although he believed that Congress had power to grant Negro suffrage.

At the conclusion of his term he returned to Kansas and published a weekly newspaper at Coffeyville. In November 1879 he began to edit the Lawrence Standard and in February of the following year bought the Leavenworth Press and merged the two. He left the Republican party in 1872, partly because of its treatment of him, but also because of his dislike of the protective system and the character of Grant's administration.

For the rest of his life he was a Democrat, although he violently opposed Bryan and free silver. In 1876 he was a Democratic candidate for elector and in 1880 for governor, but was badly beaten. Two years later he moved to New Mexico and became again a journeyman printer. Cleveland appointed him governor of the territory in May 1885, and he filled the position for four stormy years of struggle with what he asserted was a corrupt ring, antagonizing Democrats as well as the Republican legislature. In 1893 he was an unsuccessful candidate for reappointment. He spent the rest of his life in Albuquerque. Shortly before his death a messenger brought him greetings from the governor and legislature of Kansas, expressing appreciation of his conduct in the impeachment trial.

Achievements

• Ross was best known for casting the decisive vote which acquitted Andrew Johnson during his 1868 Presidential Impeachment trial. He was also the founder the Kansas State Record (Topeka). Edmund G. Ross is one of eight U. S. Senators featured in "Profiles in Courage", the 1956 Pulitzer Prize-winning history co-written by then-Senator John F. Kennedy and Theodore Sorensen in commemoration of past acts of political courage in Congress.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Osage Indian lands

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

  • The Pilgrim and the Cavalier in Kansas

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • A Reminiscence of the Kansas Conflict

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by the House of Representatives, and his trial by the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors in office, 1868
  • Report Of The Governor Of New Mexico To The Secretary Of The Interior (1887)

Personality

He was utterly fearless, honest, and of good ability, but lacked tact, was brusque and headstrong, and, in the words of an opponent, "rejoiced in opposition. "

Connections

In 1848 Ross married, at Sandusky, Fanny M. Lathrop, the daughter of Rodney Lathrop of New York. He had two sons and three daughters.

Father:

Sylvester F. Ross

Mother:

Cynthia (Rice) Ross

Spouse:

Fanny M. Lathrop

References

• Edmund G. Ross: Soldier, Senator, Abolitionist
• Edmund G. Ross: A man of courage
• The Life Of Edmund G. Ross: The Man Whose Vote Saved A President