Edward Stanly an American congressman, politician, and orator. He was speaker of the State House and his impartial presiding was hailed by Commoners of both parties as returning dignity to the chamber.
Background
Edward was born on July 13, 1810 and was a native of New Bern, North Carolina, United States, was the son of John Stanly, a Federalist leader and member of Congress, from whom he acquired the nationalistic opinions and intense hatred of the Democratic party which shaped his public life. His mother was the daughter of Martin Frank of Jones County.
Education
His education in the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy at Middletown, Connecticut, where he was a student from 1827 to 1829, tended to strengthen his Federalism.
Career
Having taken up the study of law, he was admitted to the bar in 1832 and began practice in Beaufort County, North Carolina.
He served three terms, distinguishing himself by his eloquence, his readiness in debate, and his numerous quarrels.
Several times he engaged in personal encounters on the floor of the House, and he fought a duel with S. W. Inge of Alabama.
In 1847 be became attorney general of the state, but resigned the next year to return to the legislature. Again elected to Congress in 1848, he supported the compromise measures of 1850. Making his campaign on the abstract issue of secession and declaring his readiness to vote men and money to whip any seceding state back into the Union, he was returned to Congress by an increased majority.
Defeated for reelection in 1853, he removed to California the following year, and in San Francisco won instant success in his profession. He supported Fremont in 1856 as a choice of evils, and in 1857, although he was still a slaveholder, and scarcely in accord with the party, he was nominated for governor by the Republicans, but was defeated.
Secession brought only anger and horror to Stanly's mind, and, unaware of the change of sentiment, he could not rid himself of the belief that the withdrawal of North Carolina from the Union was the result of Democratic deception of the people, and that, if they could be informed of the purposes of the North by one in whom they had confidence, they would renew their allegiance.
He expressed to Lincoln his readiness to undertake such a mission, and to his amazement the latter in May 1862 made him military governor of the state, to foster Union sentiment and promote the establishment of a loyal civil government. Stanly assumed office on May 26, and quickly discovered that he had an impossible task.
He could get no hearing and was despised as a traitor. Soon, moreover, he was in trouble with the abolitionists, and, through them, the ire of Charles Sumner, who had never forgiven Stanly for a bitter speech against him in 1852, was freshly aroused. He found himself unable to protect private property from what he characterized as "the most shameful pillaging and robbery that ever disgraced an army in any civilized land. "
The last straw was the Emancipation Proclamation, to which he was bitterly opposed, and on January 15, 1863, he resigned, returning to California in March. After the war he opposed congressional reconstruction with his accustomed vehemence, and in 1867 left the Republican party to canvass the state against the policy.
His death, following a stroke of apoplexy, occurred in San Francisco.
Achievements
Politics
Stanly was a successful lawyer, but his ambitions were almost wholly political, and in 1837 he was elected to Congress as a Whig. By virtue of his ability, however, he became a leader of his party in the House. Defeated for reelection to Congress in 1843, he was a delegate to the Whig convention in Baltimore in 1844.
Personality
His temper was passionate, and his sarcastic and unrestrained tongue spared neither friend nor foe.
Politicians of the mid-nineteenth century remarked that Stanly bore a strong physical resemblance to William H. Seward, though this resemblance lessened over time.
Quotes from others about the person
He became, as John Quincy Adams expressed it, "the terror of the Lucifer party".
Connections
He was married twice: first to a daughter of Dr. Hugh Jones of Hyde County. She died about 1850, and some ten years later he married Cornelia, a sister of Joseph G. Baldwin, then an associate justice of the supreme court of California. There were no children by either marriage.