George Franklin Edmunds

Background

George F. Edmunds was born on a farm near Richmond, Vermont on February 1, 1828.

Education

He attended the local schools and was privately tutored. Edmunds began studying law as a teenager, spending time in both the office of his brother in law and the office of David A. Smalley and Edward J. Phelps.

Career

Edmunds was admitted to the bar as soon as he was eligible in 1849 and served in both houses of the Vermont legislature between 1854 and 1862: he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1854, served until 1860, and was Speaker from 1857 to 1860. While in the State Senate, Edmunds was chosen to serve as President pro tempore. After the death of U. S. Senator Solomon Foot in March 1866, Governor Paul Dillingham turned to Edmunds, who had favorably impressed Dilingham during their service together in the State Senate. Edmunds subsequently won reelection in 1868, 1874, 1880 and 1886, and served from April 1866 until resigning in November 1891. In 1868 he was chairman of the committee set up to determine the procedure for the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson and voted for his conviction. He was author of two major acts, that appointing a commission to decide the election of 1876, disputed between Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes, and that suppressing polygamy in the territories in 1882. In 1882 President Chester A. Arthur nominated Senator Roscoe Conkling to replace the retiring Ward Hunt as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. When Conkling declined, Arthur chose Edmunds, who also declined. While serving in Congress he continued to practice law, as did many other members of Congress at the time. He held retainers from railroads and other corporations, including those which could be affected by Senate action. He twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination: in 1880 and in 1884. During Reconstruction he was usually aligned with the "radicals, " and even after his retirement he had influence as an opponent of his party's "imperialistic" policies following the Spanish-American War. While serving in Congress he continued to practice law, as did many other members of Congress at the time. He held retainers from railroads and other corporations, including those which could be affected by Senate action. Edmunds served as chairman of the Committee on Pensions from 1869 to 1873, the Committee on the Judiciary from 1872 to 1879 and again from 1881 to 1891, the Committee on Private Land Claims from 1879 to 1881 and the Committee on Foreign Relations in 1881. He was President pro tempore of the Senate from 1883 to 1885 and chairman of the Republican Conference from 1885 to 1891. He also wrote most of the Antitrust Act of 1890 that was named after Senator John Sherman. Edmunds resigned from the Senate in 1891 in order to start a law practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later retired to Pasadena, California where he died on February 27, 1919.

Achievements

• Edmunds Elementary and Middle Schools in Burlington opened as the city's high school in 1900 on land donated by Edmunds. Mount Rainier's Edmunds Glacier and the town of Edmonds, Washington (despite the spelling) are named for him. The Vermont Historical Society maintains the George F. Edmunds Fund, which awards an annual prize for student research and writing on Vermont history. His birthplace in Richmond, Vermont is a privately owned residence and farm, and marked by a Vermont Historic Sites Commission sign.

Membership

Vermont House of Representatives, Vermont Senate

Personality

An acerbic debater, he often favored the status quo or slow progress. He was known for making his colleagues feel the sting of his criticisms, and some thought him better at merely opposing than offering constructive alternatives. David Davis joked that he could make Edmunds vote against any measure by simply phrasing the request for votes in the New England town meeting way: "Contrary-minded will say no. " One friend trying to interest him in a presidential bid pleaded, "But, Edmunds, think how much fun you would have vetoing bills. "

Quotes from others about the person

• One southern correspondent in 1880 wrote, "When I look at that man sitting almost alone in the Senate, isolated in his gloom of hate and bitterness, stern, silent, watchful, suspicious and pitiless, I am reminded of the worst types of Puritan character. .. You see the impress of the purer persecuting spirit that burned witches, drove out Roger Williams, hounded Jonathan Edwards for doing his sacred duty, maligned Jefferson, and like a toad squatted at the ear of the Constitution it had failed to pervert. " One Democrat with no reason to appreciate him wrote a colleague that among all the Republicans, "Edmunds made the most impression upon me. I couldn't help admiring his clear and incisive way of putting a question, although it appeared to me that his manner is occasionally very irritating. This manner of his is very much that of a lawyer employed as counsel in a case, who therefore makes ex parte statements, and thinks it fair to make all manner of allegations. "

Connections

In 1852 Edmunds married Susan Marsh Lyman (1831-1916), a niece of George Perkins Marsh. They had two daughters, Mary (1854-1936) and Julia (1861-1882).

marriage::

Susan Marsh Lyman