Background
Alexander Ramsey was born on September 8, 1815 near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Elizabeth Kelker and Thomas Ramsey. His ancestry was Scotch and German.
Alexander Ramsey was born on September 8, 1815 near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Elizabeth Kelker and Thomas Ramsey. His ancestry was Scotch and German.
At the age of eighteen he entered Lafayette College, but he left before completing his course to study law.
As a youth Ramsey, who was orphaned at the age of ten, was employed in the store of a grand-uncle, was clerk in the office of register of deeds, and worked for a time as a carpenter, meanwhile pursuing his studies as best he could.
After his admission to the bar in 1839 he practised law at Harrisburg and became a zealous worker in the interests of the Whig party.
In 1840 he was secretary of the Pennsylvania electoral college, and the year following, chief clerk of the House of Representatives. From 1843 to 1847 he represented his district in Congress.
In 1848, as chairman of the Whig central committee of Pennsylvania, he labored diligently for the election of Zachary Taylor, who, after his inauguration, rewarded Ramsey with a commission as governor of the newly organized territory of Minnesota. When Ramsey assumed his new duties, on June 1, 1849, he found himself governor of a large territory, of which only a small portion, containing a few thousand white inhabitants, was open to settlement, the remainder being Indian country. After declaring the territorial government established, he ordered an election and when the first legislature assembled in September he read a message abounding in practical suggestions for the benefit of the territory, many of which were later adopted.
The outstanding event of his territorial administration was the negotiation in 1851 of treaties of cession with the Sioux, with Ramsey as one of the two government commissioners, which opened an immense area in southern Minnesota to settlement. He was later charged with fraud in the conduct of the negotiations; but the United States Senate, after an investigation, completely exonerated him. His territorial governorship ended in 1853, with the appointment of a Democratic governor under President Pierce, and he retired to private life in St. Paul, devoting much of his attention to judicious investments in real estate.
He was mayor of St. Paul in 1855. In 1857 he was defeated by only a few votes as Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota, soon to be admitted as a state. Two years later, however, he was elected to that office by a decisive majority, and he was reëlected in 1861. During his administration the legislature, following his recommendations, materially reduced state expenses, simplified county government, and took effective measures to safeguard the state's school lands against premature sale at low prices.
Ramsey's official duties were greatly complicated by the responsibilities connected with the Sioux outbreak of 1862 and the Indian war following it and with providing troops for the Civil War. He was in Washington when Fort Sumter was fired on, and made the first offer of armed troops to Lincoln. Ramsey retired from the governorship in July 1863 to take his place in the United States Senate, to which he had been elected the preceding January. His senatorial career, which was extended by a reëlection in 1869 to twelve years, was marked by the industry and practical ability that had characterized his administrations as governor.
He served on several important committees, and as chairman of the committee on post offices and post roads he made important contributions to postal reform. From 1879 to 1881 he was secretary of war under President Hayes, and in 1882 he was made chairman of the commission to carry out the provisions of the Edmunds bill to suppress polygamy in Utah. Upon his resignation from the commission in 1886 he retired permanently to private life.
He was president of the Minnesota Historical Society from 1849 to 1863 and from 1891 to 1903 and was the author of several papers in the Minnesota Historical Collections.
Ramsey is described by a contemporary as "the finest specimen of a physical man in the Northwest". He was clear-headed, cautious, and judicious, above all a man of practical sense. He was a shrewd politician and an excellent judge of human nature, with a gift for making friends. Although he was not an orator, his public addresses were forceful and direct. One of the first counties established in Minnesota bears his name.
On September 10, 1845, he married Anna Earl Jenks. They had three children, two of whom died in childhood.